Yesterday I posted about the gourds and pumpkins that showed up early. I didn’t include a picture of the pumpkins. These are “Lazy Gardner” pumpkins.
The actual pumpkins looked a little rough this week when I got them…but they’ll be fine outside tucked in with mums.
Here’s the pumpkin that rotted and seeded. It was a “Turk’s Turban” and is in the upper part of the cabinet in this picture from last year.
A bit early but still a nice surprise!
I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago that I was reading “Flight Behavior” by Barbara Kingsolver. The author enjoys pulling readers into the relationships in the book…to allow us (the readers) to see things from other folks’ perspectives. However, the final pages are the ones that have lingered with me. In this book, which I hope I don’t spoil for anyone, the monarch butterflies…the King Billies...are wintering in East Tennessee vs. Mexico. There are many factors as to why…the changing climate, availability of milkweed, etc., but it’s not a good thing. It seems to be an impossible situation.
However, there is an inkling of hope as a few of the monarchs survive the winter in spite of all of the perils. We don’t know their final outcome, but we are given hope that they may be evolving and adapting to the new “now.”
And even though it’s not “time” to put out fall decor if you’re a person who follows that type of thing (I am), these guys are tired of lying around on the ground. They are “done” and I’m adapting.
Not just one…but a bunch! A “gang” or a “gaggle”!
If you follow Pinterest, Southern Living and all the other places that feature pretty autumn pictures NEXT month, you know that I’m early in placing these pretty gourds in my foyer. What else is there to do???
This continues to be a year of change for us…our family is changing, my transition to not working is occurring, and our “dear girls” Gracie and Luckie are getting so old that they will not be with us much longer. Not all these changes are welcome or wanted, but we’re like the King Billies, we’ll adapt.
Thank you for reading RiverCliff Cottage. I hope all your changes are good ones!!
Hi! If I have misspelled words in this post, it’s my stupid laptop. The keyboard is not working right. It is under warranty but what a lot of trouble!
Mike and I are going to be working on our house again during the next 6-9 months. We’re getting the hardwood redone, redoing the kitchen counters, and fixing up this and that. I’m still working part-time for a few more weeks but I’ve already started one of the projects. Our “powder room” is dated, and we are starting there. By the way, when did “half bath” become “powder room?”
Here’s the room tonight…
I’m changing the light, the mirror, the spigot and the paint…maybe some of the cabinet hardware. I still enjoy Lisa Snead’s painting…but I can’t keep it and change the paint. Here’s a glimpse of her work…
Here ‘s the brassy spigot…I had wondered about painting it, but I just went ahead and bought new.
Tomorrow we’re removing the mirror which is glued to the wall. Guess who gave me instructions on this? My True Love…
http://www.lowes.com/creative-ideas/bed-and-bath/remove-a-bathroom-mirror/project
I hope this works!
Polecats — that’s what my daddy called them. I call them skunks, or something that rhymes with “Bittle Ones of Itches.”
So these Bittle Ones of Itches used to treat me with respect. Of course, that is when I had young dogs that didn’t mind getting stinky. Now, since Luckie and Gracie’s retirement, and their hunting is more aligned with eating fried worms on the driveway (see picture below), the Bittle Ones of Itches are taking over.
My beehives are behind fencing because of them. Carefully constructed so a skunk cannot dig under the fence, the Bittle Ones of Itches are climbing over or squeezing through the fencing. They sit out in front of the hives and when the bees fly out to protect their hive, the skunks eat them. They can destroy a hive.
It’s war. I was thinking of shooting them. I can shoot a 22; it’s easy — however, everyone says there is still a bad stinking problem. Someone suggested trapping them as a more humane resolution but who wants to check the trap? Not me. John Rhoton of Poor Valley Bees came up with the fix!
A welcome mat of sorts…
But it’s a special welcome mat…look closer.
Aha! Some Bittle Ones of Itches are not going to have happy paws when they try to get my bees! It’s a great resolution. They’ll leave unharmed except for an “ouchy” on their feet, and my bees will live another day.
Have you ever heard of Jeff Foxworthy? If you haven’t, you won’t get this and it’s time for you to leave now and Google. He came to mind last night when I was sitting at Sam’s Club fooling with my Iphone and decided to “check in” and somehow indicated that I was at the “Walmart Restaurant” …waiting on Mike as he got his weekly Sam’s Club fix. I looked awful and was stranded in the truck with the dogs. Just.call.me.loser. It’s not so bad.
But I was really channeling Jeff Foxworthy today when Mike stuck his head in the door and said “do you want to go eat Mexican?” and I grabbed my purse and walked out to go, and here’s what my ride looked like…
Are you speechless? As it turned out, El Potrillo in Gate City was closed for vacation. Or maybe they saw us coming and slapped the vacation sign on the door and hid? We’ll never know.
We finished up the garage sale today. I learned a lot. I had advertised the sale in the newspaper which was $40, but that was a waste. By the time people from Bristol got here, the good stuff was gone. By putting pictures on Facebook as well as advertising on Facebook, I was able to connect with enough people around Mendota to sell everything. The added fun was seeing my neighbors…where else would Trish AND Rico be able to shop together?
So a bit after Rico and Trish came by, Mike returned to the house to wash the truck. He was bending here and there, and all of a sudden, his pants fell down. Talk about tomatoes that aren’t ripe!!!
But these tomatoes ARE ripe. BIll Jones of Hiltons grows these pretty tomatoes.
I added basil from my patio…and them some cheese…are you hungry yet?…
Sprinkled a little of this on the whole thing…I also added some sea salt.
Beautiful!
Even if you don’t think it is beautiful, it sure is a lot prettier than those two white tomatoes I saw when Mike was washing his truck. Scary.
The yard sale finished up today really well. I don’t have too much left to sell tomorrow. One would think I would be grateful, but all I can think of is MY FEET! They are killing me!!!
Except for my feet, it was fun day…here’s my crazy “Forever Friend” Lisa modeling a wool coat in 90 degree temperature. Lisa and I will have fun being old ladies together one day….probably not that far off! She was working on furnishing her classroom. She has alway been extremely artistic, and she now teaches Art in an elementary school.
A couple of other shoppers. They did not see anything they wanted except rabbit ears.
Off to rest my feet!
I am up to my neck in the yardsale. No blog until I get this thing underway. No anything until I get this thing underway!
Ugh. Why???
So today I went to Bristol, and I took both dogs. Luckie and Gracie needed to get out of the house as they were going stir crazy, and I had a couple of errands to run so off we went. We have a lock system on our Taco Mama (Tocoma…we think that’s funny) that allows us to leave the engine running with the AC blowing while we step in and out doing errands. I would never leave them longer than five minutes this way as it would be a disaster if the air conditioning failed. I’m going somewhere with this so just stay with me….
I got up between 5 am and 6 am this morning to feed the bees. They are all in the hive at the very early hour of the morning, and I don’t have to wear the protective clothing during this time. I go in PJs…barefoot. It’s so nice to have the hives near the house. This morning, Luckie accompanied me and I thought she pooped.
Later, I showered, let both Luckie and Gracie pee and then we all climbed in the truck and took off. I was at one of my stops paying the cashier, and I noticed the woman beside me had a “stinkin” problem. It was strange because she looked clean. “Poor dear” I thought and moved away. She had such a pained look on her face. When I got back in the truck, there was a piece of smashed poop in my seat. Apparently, Luckie had accidentally pooped a little bit, I had sat on it and I’d got it on my white shorts (unknown to be me). Luckie is “regular” and poops every morning, but on this morning, she did not poop between 5 and 6 am. Nosiree. Coincidentally, it smelled exactly like the woman that I had thought stunk. Do you know who had the stinkin’ problem? Shame. I just wanted to run back and explain, but I was too busy cleaning the seat.
Meanwhile, in the unlikely event you would ever want to eat at my house after hearing that, I’m working in peaches. We have not had good peaches in years. In fact, we had decided not to replace the peach trees. We’ve not sprayed them in years and the limbs break easily under rotting, bad peaches. However, this year, they aren’t rotten…
Isn’t she a beauty? Poor Valley ain’t so poor this year!!
I was in the shop earlier today working on my yard sale stuff, and I got so hot that I came up to the house and fell sound asleep. I have got nothing done.
When I was a child, my mother used to motivate me to do my chores by telling me to pretend the President was visiting. I’d get busy right away. It’s not working today. I am totally unprepared for President Obama or even the Vice President whose name slips my mind at the moment (Shame), I’ll focus on something else. Delay that visit a bit by taking pictures.
Like this little wall vignette I threw up a few months ago and am now a little tired of. Or not.
Or the cane that our sweet young friend Neth made Mike following his knee replacement surgery. How many 17 year olds would take the time to do something like this completely on their own? I placed it on the mantle to remind me of the goodness that exists in the world.
And…because I’m fooling around with my camera trying to learn how to take better pictures, I was able to get one shot of our small bathroom wall. The walls are painted a color called “herbal wash” and the reds just make me happy. I like warm colors.
Now….if Airforce One landed at Tri-Cities right now, how much cleaning can I get done before they arrive?