Mountain Mama's Point Of View

  Mr. BoJangles here again. Eddie and I were discussing some of the things we heard our mom say to our dad. Look closely and you will see that Eddie's upper lip is scrunching up into a snarl as he defends Mom. I was annoyed, so I stuck my tongue out at him. That just made things escalate (this means get worse, in case you didn't know. I didn't know until Mom told me.). Mom is not a fan of loud dog fights and she stepped in immediately. We had to go to different areas and sit.  "Do not look at each other, do not breathe on each other, do not touch each other, and do not say anything to each other!" said Mom. That is a whole lot of "do nots", don't you think? Then Mom told us that this was what she said to her children and if they did not obey, she would tie their hands together. Actually, she never had to actually tie them together, just threaten to. How would that work with us dogs? Ho would we walk? It would be six legs to coordinate. How would we p...

  The rain let up long enough to mow on Thursday, then was back with a vengeance. Saturday was a dreary day, then Sunday started out okay, but more storms came in the evening and through the night.  Today has been like someone keeps turning a light switch on and off. One minute sunny and hot, the next the skies darken and a wonderful breeze blows through chilling my sweaty self.  After the nice dinner we enjoyed at the Murphy Chop House, we went on to hit a coule of grocery stores we frequent in Murphy. There is a fairly new Save A Lot there. The other Save A Lot stores all seemed to have closed during the pandemic. No one bothered to remove the store signs, so when I saw this one I figured it was closed, as well. Happy to have unfamiliar aisles to roam, I found a few bargains the first time we went. This time, maybe I should have lowered my expectations! The store has now acquired that old grocery store smell that permeates old grocery stores. You know the smell. Like de...

  The story of the missing package continues .... No word from FedX or Home Depot, other than the preprinted call tag from FedX to pick up the bathroom fan we never recieved. I had pretty much put it out of my mind. Walmart made me whole when they refunded the first package I didn't get. I figured HeWho could fight his own battle from the recliner for the fan. I was outside, piddling in the garden, as is my routine when I heard a truck coming down the drive. It was a neighbor. He is a truck driver and he found the package from Home Depot when he came home form a run. He said he lived at house #4. See what I mean about the numbering of the various addresses here? We chatted a moment, as one does and he admitted that he found another package, as well. It was my first package. This means that the FedX driver dropped off our packages at two different addresses, since they located the package of Juicy Fruit gum at the other address. Does this mean the FedX drivers just toss out packages...

  I think my thermostat is broken. The one that regulates my body temperature. One minute I am sweating buckets, the next I am freezing. Our temperature here is pretty moderate. Only going to reach 72 today. I came in from just a few minutes outside (okay, make an hour) and my clothes were soaked. I jumped in the shower with cool water running. By the time the water runs through my hair and down my back it is hot. I even turn it to cold and shower. Then upon drying off, I am covered with sweat again. I dried off 4 times before putting clothes on. This is not normal! I had a box fan blowing in my direction the entire time. Then we got on the road with the air conditioning at full blast on me. Went into a restarant to eat and suddenly I was covered in goose bumps and freezing! I am not normal! We went out to dinner at a chop house we had wanted to try. I opted for crab cakes and it was so good. Too bad my belly filled before I finished, but It was just as good the next day for lunch....

  Hi everyone, it is me, Mr. BoJangles, the cute one. I am sitting with my Dad. Mom has been trying to trick me into cutting my nails! As you can see, she was not successful. Mom thinks herself to be quite clever, but, with me, she has met her match! You should see Toni Louise! So far she has avoided the camera. Not that she is very photogenic under normal circumstances, but she should defininitely stay hidden for the time being. I watched Mom set up for her attack. She had the extension cord out, so I knew something was up. Then I saw her get the clippers out and plug them in. These are the very same clippers she attacked Dad with. She did an okay job on him, but he wasn't trying to escape. Toni is not all that bright, you know. She just doesn't pay attention unless there is food involved. Mom picked her up and was talking to her and petting her. Toni snuggled into Mom's neck and looked quite content. Mom sat down in a chair out on the porch and Toni was in total oblivion ...

  The saga of the missing packages continues. You recall that my regular FedX driver was taking some time off. I know this because he told me so. He was on his way to backing down the drive when I stopped him at the top of the drive where I was mulching enthusiastically (meaning I was covered in mulch up to my armpits). This guy is a talker and I was in my mulch throwing zone. He must have been ahead of schedule as he settled in for a long chat. His dad is in kidney failure and requires dialysis. He is taking time off to learn how to administer it so his dad can be at home instead of a hospital. He is a bit worried that the condition might be hereditary. He is quite overweight himself and talked about changing his eating habits. Do I look like a priest? Why do people seem to want to confide in me? During this time of misplaced packages, HeWho had ordered a fan to replace the one in the bathroom that has not worked since we moved in. Maybe he decided to order it from Home Depot just...

  So far we have 4 missing packages. I just got a notification of another delivery from Walmart. This one is for the very expensive dogfood that is poultry free for my allergy ridden Eddie. Now I will have to call Walmart and get another refund, since nobody told FedX they are dropping packages at the wrong address. One package for a new fan for the one in the bathroom is from Home Depot and they issued an inquiry to FedX. Bottom line here is that they have payment and we don't have what we paid for. I put this down to tend to my daily chores and got carried away in a garden. Happens all the time. One minute I am fully engrossed in a blog, the next I am pausing for just a second to take care of feeding the turtle, then the dogs need water and might as well feed them, too. I go out on the porch to get dog food and suddenly I am pulling just one weed and decide to mow. I was just going to mow the front, but since the mower is already in the back, I decide I might as well mow it. Then...

  Remember what the driveway looked like way back when my SheShed was delivered? 150 feet of weeds and clover trying to look like grass. With years of fallen leaves covering debris to be discovered and totally lacking in curb appeal. I finally finished mulching! I lost count of the number of bags I used, but the Walmart I frequent ran completely out of the red mulch and I had to go to a different one for the last three bags. One of the live edge boards had the bark fall off in one piece. I saved it. I think HeWho thought I was taking it to the burn barrel. See it, right there in the middle? I filled it with Miracle Grow soil and put it in the garden. Then I carefully transplanted some Zinnias in it. There is a gopher tunneling in this part of the garden. He/she is grabbing roots and pulling my plants down into the tunnel, leaving a small hole where they once were. Well, let's see it try to get these!! This is what the "woods" between the She Shed and our tiny abode looked...

  I woke in a good mood. Feeling better after resting for two days. I just brewed a second cup of coffee, as this will be a two cup kind of day. On May 20th I recieved a text from Walmart telling me a package had been delivered. Nothing too unusual about that. I find it easier to order some things on line, as opposed to actually going to the store. The store carries the items, but are sometimes out of stock. I order all of our over the counter supplements, dog food and such on line. Easier than making a list (that I sometimes forget to even look at in the store) and forgetting to pick up. When I looked around all the likely places and could not find the package that had been confirmed to be delivered and could not find it, I made a mental note to look again the next day. Never found, I would remember it at the oddest times (remember, I sometimes lay awake unable to sleep). I got another notification yesterday. Walmart has an exclusive contract with FedX, or so says the usual driver...

  My first harvest of peas ..... and one lone bluberry. The two blueberry bushes I bought are thriving, so next year should give me more than one blueberry. Tomorrow I should get the same amount of peas and make a meal for me. HeWho is not a fan of sweet peas. The dogs love them and I do, too. The daylilies I planted last season are putting on quite a show. I should be able to split them next year and have twice as many. The maple tree I brought with us seems to have decided to stay. I worked at the other end of the embankment, in the partial shade yesterday. I had these iris left from splitting the giant iris and decided to put them here. I had planned to get more mulch spread. I don't know if it was the heat, or just fatigue catching up with me, but I was done by 1o'clock and couldn't muster up any more energy for the remainder of the day. I looked down at my nearly finished steps and decided to take the long way down. There is still work to do on the steps and I am not a...

  It bloomed! I was happy to see a new bloom when I woke this morning. It motivated me to keep going out the door to more gardens. Then I realized I was still in my night shirt. I changed into play clothes and Eddie and I sauntered out to the vegetable garden. I picked up poop, while he made more. It reminded me of seeing something on Facebook that made me gag. It was on a garden site and the person was bragging about the size of her vegetables. Her/his dog was pictured, as well. Then came the comment that I could not believe! They seemed to give the dog all the credit for the magnificent harvest they would have ...... because he fertilized the garden!! I have gone to great lengths to prevent this from happening in my garden. Now I don't know if I would accept free vegetables from just anyone! In other news, I have spending my insomniac hours wisely. As you know, I stalk Marketplace for deals. last season I found someone giving away wood. Not firewood, but cut pieces they deemed un...

  Hi, it is me, Bo, the cute one. You all know how much I enjoy being the youngest in our pack of canines. Canine is another word for dog, in case you didn't know. Sometimes my mom will say that we need a new puppy. She says the puppy would be for me! She said I need a new playmate. I don't remember telling her this! Today she came in from her gardens and she was holding something in her hand. Eddie was on the porch and he was the first one to meet this creature in Mom's hand. Mom was singing a song to this small animal. Something about Peter Cottontail.  While Eddie was sniffing Mom's hand, I asked Toni Louise if she knew who this Peter Cottontail was and she had never heard of anyone by this name. Dad finally opened the screen and let me onto the porch. I was so excited. I could smell this creature, but I still didn't know what it was. I had smelled this smell before! I smelled this smell when I gained my freedom and ran up the drive. I smelled this smell a lot! I...

  This will be a no picture post. You will all be glad when you read the subject content. I may or may not have mentioned that we finally saw the surgeon who will be removing the appendix stump. But first, the colonoscopy. Despite being told by the surgeon from the trauma surgeon group taking care of the abcess that both the colonoscopy and the surgery could be done together. The young surgeon who told us this looked to be about 14 to me, for a minute I thought Doogie Howser was back and we were filming a new episode. Not a good idea, colonoscopy first, then after pathology reports come back, surgery. This way if he needs to do any additional surgery, it can be done. So today is the prep day. I carefully read all the instructions aloud and if I ever doubted that he was tuning my voice out, it is now proven that I am right!  Yesterday was supposed to be soft, easily digested food, no red meat, no fibrous veggies, etc. I explained this to him upon awakening, then asked what he m...

  I suppose stranger things have happened, but here we are in June and my Christmas cactus is trying to bloom. Since it is "inside", actually on the enclosed porch, I haven't paid much attention to it, just occasionally sticking my finger in to see if the dirt is dry. Most of my time is spent outside when the weather permits, sometimes even if the rain is light. Remember how the narrow space behind my porch looked when I first saw it? Looks a little different now. The drop off is still the same, but it doesn't look so .... desolate now. I didn't get the azalea bush that lies at the beginning of the side garden in this shot. It was a bit scaggly, but is looking a lot healthier now that it is getting regular attention. I am trying to propogate some tiny stems and some have died, but three of them look promising. Not all of my efforts have been in the upper gardens or even the raised beds. When all the vegetable seedlings went into the raised beds, I found myself lef...