Around OakMeadows

 

The hummingbird migration is underway. We have had 3-4 hummers at the feeder all week and this morning there are 6. I must get the second feeder filled and out for them. It seems a bit early but there is no arguing with the fact that they are here.  We have had a lot of butterflies too--Monarchs, Gulf Fritillaries, and Tiger Swallowtails with some skippers and sulfurs. Nice to see.  

What is not so nice has been the bazillion mosquitoes of the past 3 days!  I wear a pullover hoodie and spray myself with Off when I go out to feed the birds. West Nile virus has been found in mosquitoes at 80 percent of the mosquito traps set by the county health department.  So one must be careful. 

Joe and I are going to the North American Butterfly Association meeting in Mission, TX in November and I finished the registration and reservations today.  
Joe will be attending the Butterfly Landscaping class/tour and I will be taking the Butterfly Basics class at the National Butterfly Center which is in Mission. There is a 2 hour class on moths from 7-9 pm. I haven't signed up for it because I'm not sure how tired I will be; but I do hope to go to that one too. The next day is a leisurely riverboat nature tour. I wasn't sure that it was handicapped accessible but received confirmation that it was today. So that will be interesting. 

My sweet kittens are now eunuchs. They had their surgery yesterday and seem to be fully recovered this morning.  We gave little Henry his last dose of the 6 week course of terbinafine for his ringworm; it is completely cleared up and his coat is so smooth and shiny that he no longer reminds me of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. 

I am working on the corner pieces for the lattice for my quilt. I need 72 corner blocks and each corner has 9 pieces. When I finish the corners, I can start assembling the quilt top.  I have aspirations to make matching pillow shams but that remains to be seen. 

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Hot! Hot! Hot!  You would think it was the middle of August (which,of course, it is!)
I really shouldn't complain because we have had only one day so far over 100 degrees.  I know that I grew up without air conditioning but I wonder if I could acclimatize myself to be without it now?? I sure hope I never have to try!

We have had raccoon babies going to the feeding tray on the live oak branch with mama raccoon.  They are cute as cute as can be. I don't have any pictures because I left my camera at Paul's house when we went to this 66th birthday party. I will get it back from them when we meet for lunch on the 28th. 

The sweet kittens are growing every day. We let them play in the back flower beds each evening. They chase dragonflies and bees and never catch anything. Then they stalk and pounce on each other and generally wear themselves out.  My goodness how they eat! Kitten chow and the big cats Fancy Feast.  Henry especially loves his food. They went to the vet this morning for the last shots, worming, and Henry got a refill for his ringworm medication (which is clearing up quite nicely.)

Autumn is coming because all the beauty berry bushes are loaded. I wish I had my camera to show photos.  The mockingbirds love the berries and pig out on them getting tipsy on them as they get overripe and the sugars get turned into alcohol. 
They will also get tipsy on the pyracantha berries. I wonder if they feel bad the next morning??

I have never been much of a Robin Williams fan but it is sad that he was in so much mental pain that he took his own life.  I have had a bout with Depression and I do know that my brain just wasn't working right. I responded to making a change in my life and taking medication for six months. 

Reading about Ebola and wondering how it will play out??  I do know that the very poor African countries where this outbreak originated have no way to implement the isolation and quarantine measures necessary to contain it. Actually, I doubt if any of the African countries have the means to contain it.  Interesting times.

I am about halfway through Rick Atkinson's The Guns at Last Light which is about the European theater from D-Day to VE Day.  I have always thought of how awful the Japanese fight to the last man mindset was but as it turns out Hitler was determined to do the same thing.  It was just one bloody fight after another--from Normandy to Aachen to the Hurtgen Forest to the Battle of the Bulge (where I am now.)  I am taking my time and reading it slowly. Atkinson does a masterful job of drawing the personalities and the difficulties of trying to get everyone working together and the tribulations of just getting things done.  Excellent book. 

I should be able to finish all 56 blocks on my quilt this week and get started cutting the pieces for the lattice.  I plan to use it on the guest bed. I also plan to make some new pillow shams.  It is a nice room with good furniture but very drab so this quilt and the pillows should brighten it up. 

Lots of good cooking last week. It was hot so I made fruited chicken salad one day and tuna salad another. And ice cream...

That's all the news from OakMeadows.  I'm planning a birding trip to Louisiana for this fall when it is cooler and all the birds are down from the north to winter on the Gulf. 

Around OakMeadows

Around OakMeadows

The house is painted and looks very nice. Clean. The next project is the well. JMM has contacted the well drilling company and it will be drilled about the end of August. The shed will follow and finally the irrigation system. JMM is working 2 days a week to pay for all of it.  The rest of the time he is mowing and watering. He had let the back 2 acres grow up to please me--I love the deep grass for the rabbits and other creatures that hide in it and to keep the soil beneath it cool and moist. But he felt that the time had come to mow it.  It is quite a chore to mow 2 acres of thigh high grass. I told him he was getting a riding mower for his 70th birthday. 

I am dreading going to the doctor for my annual physical because I know he is going to tell me to lose weight.  It is difficult when you can't even walk to burn off calories.  I suppose it means going back to Weight Watchers. And no more evening trips to Baskin Robbins. OTOH, if all that is wrong with me is that I can't walk and need to lose weight, that is not such a bad place to be. 

The sweet kittens are growing every day. We had them out in the grass the other evening. The grass was a bit taller than they were and what a time they had stalking and pouncing on each other.  Even dear Bandit watched them play.  We had to bring them inside though when the raccoon family came tromping through the grass--a mama and 4 babies. Their next visit to the vet is on August 15 for worming and another treatment for ringworm for Henry.  They will be neutered in September. There are very few things as sweet as a kitten curled up sleeping on your lap. 

The sun is coming up later each morning. Soon the days will be cooling down. I love  autumn because by the time it gets here, I am fed up with the heat and humidity.  We don't get much really cold weather here just a month or two of nighttime freezing temperatures. Enough to make me appreciate the warmth of spring. 

I'm so sick of listening to the mess in the Middle East.  I can't think of any way to solve it so they may as well get on with murdering each other.  I hope the U.S. will stay out of it and stop selling weapons to any and all of them.  When news about the Middle East comes on, I plan to turn it off and either turn on music or enjoy the silence while I read, cook, quilt, clean, or play with the kittens. 

Kittens

My poor old cats, Bandit aged 12 and the head cat and Misty aged 10 and paranoid, have had their peaceful lives invaded and upended by two tiny black kittens.  They are adorable as only kittens can be, playing and napping and eating kitten chow and pooping in the litter box.  Bandit is certain that there has been some dreadful mistake and Misty is sure they are zombie invaders so she has not come down from the attic. I suppose I should tell her that eventually they will be able to get to the attic too. The kittens are healthy and have had their baby shots and will be neutered in due time. In the meanwhile we are enjoying their sweet antics. They are both black males but that is where the similarity ends. Duffy is a week older and much more active; I've started calling him my "bullet cat" because he moves so fast. He is very loving and literally bounds up into my lap purring and rubbing. He loves to ride with me on my electric scooter. The other kitten, Prince Henry, is smaller and quieter. He loves to be on JMM's lap being gently stroked. 
It never fails to amaze me how much these little creatures fill my heart with love and happiness. 

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Rain, glorious rain!  I know there are parts of the country that have experienced more than enough snow/rain but that is certainly not the case around here along the Texas Gulf Coast.  We very much needed the 3 inches of rain that we got last night. The thunder and lightning upset the cats so that they woke me up by standing on my chest meowing that something awful was going on outside and I needed to wake up and stop it.  Soothed the cats and we all went back to sleep. 

We have more hummingbirds than we have ever had in the 10 years we have lived here. There are 6-10 hummers at the feeder almost all the time. In addition to the feeder we have large beds of saliva and many blooming bottlebrush bushes for them to feed on. I have even seen them feeding on the crown of thorns plant on the back porch.  I guess word has gotten out on the hummingbird internet that there is plenty of food at our house.  Anyway, it is a pleasure to look out and watch them. 

Speaking of birds, the 4 baby barn swallows in the nest on the back porch flew last week. That makes a total of 8 barn swallows that have been reared on our porches so far this year. There is another nest on the front porch with 4 more; they look like they will need another week in the nest before they fly.  The more barn swallows the better; there are certainly enough flying insects for them to eat around here!  

I did my summer clothes shopping online. I am a long time L.L.Bean fan. In fact, last year when we went on a fall foliage trip to Maine, we went by the Mother Ship -as Joe called it.  Anyway, all I needed was 2 tees and a pair of black walking shorts. And Joe needed a shirt and socks. I had a $10 off coupon and they were having a 10% off sale and they always have free shipping. I love L.L.Bean clothes because I know what size will fit and the clothes and shoes wear like iron. 

May 5 is the anniversary of my retirement and I always go in to the Fidelity office and we go over my retirement portfolio and see if any adjustments need to be made.  Since they are on straight salary, they have no incentive to advise me to make unnecessary trades. I consider it a very valuable service they provide. 

Joe is going in tomorrow to fill out paperwork to work 2-3 days a week. He wants to work part time for a couple of years to finance some projects around OakMeadows--a well, a shed/barn, and an irrigation system.  He is about the workingest person I have ever known. He always has about 6 projects going at a time. 

My quilting on the baby quilt is coming along. I'm working on Block #2.  I am sure not as fast a I used to be but OTOH, I am in no big hurry. It isn't like the last baby quilt I made where I was worried the baby would get here before the quilt was finished. I have 5 whole months before this one is due. 

Reading has been very good. I finished The Light between Oceans by M.L.Steadman. It was excellent! Good story, well developed characters. 
I also finished Pandora's Seed by Spencer Wells. I read it as it was the Goodreads Science & Nature selection for the month. I was less than impressed.  Not well organized, jumped from topic to topic some of which were only nebulously related. 
Still plowing through George Washington: The Indispensable Man by James Flexner. It is taking a long time to read but what an excellent book it is! 

Lots of cooking:
    I made Chicken Noodle Soup in the Slow Cooker. I decided to leave the noodles out because I had some sourdough bread that I toasted to go along with the soup. It was so good with the celery, onions, and carrots. 
    Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies....nuff said...
    To counter the calories from the CC cookies, I made Beef and Bok Choy stir fry.  I'm not sure what effect it had on the calories but we really enjoyed the stir fry. 
    Tomorrow will be Beef Stew in the slow cooker,

That's all the news around OakMeadows. 

Around OakMeadows

 

Old things. Two of the oldest things I have are sewing machines.  One is my grandmother's Singer treadle. The other is my mother's Singer that she bought in 1961 to replace the Singer that was lost in Hurricane Carla.  My mother was a talented seamstress and made many clothes for herself, for me, and for my daughter on that sewing machine. When she died in 1975, I inherited it and I have used it ever since. In recent decades, i have used it for piecing my quilt tops.  It works perfectly. This past week we took it in to the sewing machine repair shop for cleaning, lubricating, and adjusting the tension. I doubt that today's sewing machines with their computer chips will still be sewing perfectly when they are 50+ years old. 

Our first swallow babies for this year have flown.  They were in the nest on the front porch; the ones on the back porch look like they will be in the nest about 2 more weeks. It is so sweet to see them first wobble out of the nest--the first one out of the nest, two more who follow, and one who decides he likes it just fine in the nest and doesn't want to leave.  Then one after the other they will take the plunge and flutter madly and semi-crash land on the potted palm or window ledge.  The parents meanwhile are zooming around chirping "Look, this is how you do it!"  And soon there are 4 more swallows zooming around.  I would imagine that the parents are tired and glad the the babies will be catching their own bugs. 

JMM has esophageal sphincter spasms every once in a while and he had a particularly bad bout of it Thursday evening. We were getting ready to eat dinner and he ate one piece of pork chop and had an immediate spasm. Usually it lets up within a few minutes but this time it wouldn't let up.  He tried walking around to no avail. To make matters worse he started hiccuping. I looked on the Internet for information on treatment and there really isn't any definitive treatment. Calcium channel blockers and long acting nitrates are sometimes helpful and sometimes not. About 11:30 I suggested that he crush a promethazine tablet and put it under his tongue so that it would be absorbed sublingually.  I don't know if the promethazine relaxed the spasms enough that he could go to sleep or if it just made him sleep and the spasms resolved on their own. I checked on him at 1am and 3am and he was sleeping.  Friday morning I made soft scrambled eggs for him and he was able to eat them and drink some water. Needless to say, Friday was spent recuperating. 

Still reading:
     Washington: The Indispensable Man by James Flexner.
     Pandora's Seed by Spencer Wells. 
     The Light between Oceans by M.L. Stedman. 
     Our Hidden Lives by Simon Garfield. 
All 4 are really interesting and well written. 

Since we don't have television, we watch Netflix DVDs.  We are currently I watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I have the last season's Downton Abbey in my queue but it is marked "Very long wait." Oh well.  We really enjoyed watching the most recent season of Foyle's War. 

Finally layered, pinned, and basted my baby quilt. Pictures coming soon.

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I finally finished the AARP Safe Driver online course. Joe is about half way through. I can't say that I learned a whole lot but it was a good review and a good reminder that my vision and reflexes are not as good as they once were. As soon as he finishes, I can contact USAA to get our safe driver discount. 

Another area that I have checked into is our electricity provider. Our one-year contract with Reliant will expire in May so I went to www.powertochoose.com to see if I could get a better rate elsewhere. I can get a 3-year contract with Yep for 2 cents per kilowatt hour less. I really like the power to choose site because you can see exactly how many customer complaints the company has had in the past 6 months. I certainly don't want to sign up with a company that is less expensive but screws up the billing. Anyway, Yep has a good customer complaint/satisfaction level so I will be changing over this week. While 2 cents per kilowatt hour doesn't sound like much, when summer comes and the a/c is on every little bit helps. 

My quilting project, the baby quilt, is coming along nicely. The fabrics are going together even better than I thought. I hope to have it layered and basted this week. 

Joe installed the new blinds in the guest bedroom and how much brighter it made that room!  The two antique map prints are at Hobby Lobby being framed and may be ready sometime next week. One of the maps is of Galveston (where Joe and I and our daughter were born) at the turn of the century.  Then the next thing I want to do is get new bed linens. I saw that Penney's has a sale on bedding and should get a move on it before the sale ends. 

I finished reading Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan MacNeal. It was pretty good if highly improbable.  I am plodding ever onward through Hot: Living through the Next 50 Years on Earth. It has turned 100 Pages of good information into 500 pages of wordiness. I soldier on through it out of dogged determination to get all 100 of the worthwhile pages.  I have started on Washington: The Indispensable Man and so far it is excellent. Just got an email from the library that The Twelve Tribes of Hattie is in and ready for pickup.  Libraries today are so wonderful! I remember how much I loved Rosenberg library in Galveston when I was growing up. The massive oaks surrounding it and climbing up the steps before going through the huge doors. But there were no convenient branches ( though there was a bookmobile that came to our elementary school).  Now you just go on the Internet instead of going through the card catalog and request the book and it is sent to your nearest branch library for pick up. That, my friend, is progress!

Our trip to Louisiana has once again been postponed. I'm beginning to think that it just wasn't meant to happen this year. Oh well, maybe next week....

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Much of last week was taken up by Aunt Liz's death and funeral.  But life has a way of just keeping on going. 

My missing MistyKitty was not eaten by the coyotes. She is home-- thin, dehydrated and weak but alive. Each day she is eating a bit more and getting a bit stronger. I was just stunned because she had been gone for 7 days and I was certain the coyotes had eaten her. So nice to have her back!

I did get the baby quilt cut out and I have begun the piecing. I think it will go together well. 

No birding last week. But the Louisiana trip is back on for next week. Still haven't made it out to Brazos Bend State Park.  

Exercise and Weight Watchers were a non-event too. Ack!

The one project that I have made some progress on is spiffing up the guest bedroom.  The blinds came in and JMM installed them. That certainly brightened up the room. And I left the 2 antique map prints to be framed. I found a frame for one with a 40% off coupon. The other one had to be custom framed but it just happened that Hobby Lobby was having a 50% off sale on custom framing. I was sure happy about that because custom framing can be $$$. 

We got the auto insurance renewal policy.  We have had USAA for auto and home insurance for the past 40 years. I called and got a policy review. Since Joe's Ford Ranger has 200K miles and has a blue book value of $2000, we kept liability and dropped collision on it. No changes on my van. We are taking the AARP Safe Driver online course which will save us another $70 a year.  All in all, I was able to save $178 on the 6 month policy.  

I am jumping through insurance company hoops to get my Lunesta refilled. I know they don't want to cover it because there is no generic and the brand name is expensive even though I pay a $85 co-pay for it. Anyway, I won this round and got it refilled. 

We seem to have a resident possum who loves the peanuts & oranges that I put out for the bluejays. The usual raccoons but no armadillos so far this year. Lots of birds at the seed feeders and at least 2 hummingbirds at the sugar water feeder. The wildflowers are so lovely this time of year. Joe has planted a flat of Butterfly Weed and I want to plant another flat of it next week. 

I'm still plodding through Hot: Living through the Next 50 Years on Earth by Mark Hertsgaard and Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan MacNeal.  I am enjoying Mr. Churchill's Secretary but not so much Hot.  I just started Washington: The Indispensable Man by James Flexner. 

Next week: On to Louisiana. 

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Saturday afternoon Joe and I took BBQ and all the fixings to Paul and Wendy's house for all the people who have been watching over Aunt Liz. It was a wonderful time of food, fellowship, and relaxation for those who were physically and emotionally exhausted. I am so glad that we did it because Liz died late that evening. At least everyone had a good meal and knew that people cared about what they were going through. The funeral is set for Wednesday.

We seem to have lost our sweet MistyKitty. She went out Friday evening and didn't come back. She could have been killed by an owl or coyote. We hope that she comes back home but really don't expect it. 

Now for some good news. 

I decided to make a baby quilt for my next quilt and found just the perfect fabric in blues, yellows, and cream colors. I've made the pattern before and it goes together easily. There were a couple of of fabrics that I really liked and I thought about going back and getting them but decided against it because after the baby quilt, I already have pieces cut for another scrap quilt. I also bought a new rotary cutter. Rotary cutters are one modern invention that is a real improvement. 

I made Slow Cooker Homey Chicken Stew from the Slow Cooker Revolution cookbook. Man was it good! I have yet to make anything from that cookbook that hasn't been just delicious. I made biscuits to go with it to sop up the juice, so good!
I also made a big pot of beans and rice and sausage. We ate it and had some for leftovers and then froze the rest of it. For dessert, we had leftover pecan pie.

Reading has been really good. I finished To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild. It was one of the best history books I have ever read. I also finished A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchey; it was her last book before she died and it was a typically sweet Binchey book. Unfortunately, there will be no more. Currently, I am reading Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan MacNeal and Hot: Living through the Next Fifty Years on Earth by Mark Hertsgaard. 

I haven't made any progress on the guest bedroom makeover because we are still waiting for the new blinds and for the antique map prints to come in. 

Lots of birds at the feeders. Hummingbirds are stopping by for a feed on their way north. Unidentified warblers occasionally. Lots of blackbirds, doves, and a few sparrows. The usual mockingbirds, cardinals, blue jays, and titmouse. I saw one squirrel this week; it puzzles me why we don't have more squirrels here. 

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Joe's Aunt has been in declining health for several years and has been residing in a nursing home. She was hospitalized where her condition was stabilized and returned to the nursing home. She rapidly declined and is now on palliative care. She seems to be in no real distress although it is hard to tell. Her daughter, Joe's cousin, has been caring for her and is very stressed. My SIL is helping as much as she can. But there is little anyone can do. Joe has been asked to be one of the readers at the funeral. It is hard to see someone who was so full of life fading away, especially since she is the very last of her generation in the family. 

Other bad news is, of course, the horrible oil spill in Galveston Bay. I can't watch the news and see the poor struggling oil covered birds. Just can't watch it. 

Now for some good news. 

We have two pairs of barn swallows. One nest on the back porch and one on the front porch. We also have at least two hummingbirds coming to the feeder. Mockingbirds are all over the place, chasing each other out of their territory. I suspect a cardinal nest in the bottlebrush bush. Lots of the usual suspects at the birdbath and feeders. Warblers, who remain unidentified, continue to thwart me.  Blue jays, collared and mourning doves, titmouse, and a few red winged blackbirds. 

I finally finished the table runner.  I will post a photo soon. I want to do a baby quilt next. Must go fabric shopping. Pastels. 

Reading in To End All Wars. What an excellent book! I've finished 1915 and started 1916. I can hardly bear to read about the senseless slaughter and the horrific conditions. It is amazing that there was very, very little opposition to the war. It was all patriotism and glory. How can I criticize it though--the U.S. has been in a stupid, senseless war for going on 13 years now with very, very little opposition. And truth to tell, there are those in Congress who would involve us in any number of others wars. 

Lots of blooms around OakMeadows. The  redbuds, crab apples and Mexican plum trees are covered in blooms. The azaleas are loaded with buds just beginning to open. Wildflowers are lovely--lots of Indian paint brushes, something that has purple blooms, but very few bluebonnets. The pink and yellow primroses haven't really started blooming yet. 

My church is starting an ESL class and is looking for volunteers. I am thinking seriously about volunteering. I will look into it a bit more before making a decision. 

Cooking has been rather sketchy this past week. Nothing new, just same old, same old. Need to look through my ATK Cookbooks. I love ATK. 

Around OakMeadows

It has been a pleasant week here at OakMeadows.  The weather is moderating and we are able to get outside more. The yard is green with clover and thistles and Joe has been busy finishing clearing out the freeze damage. The live oaks are loaded with yellow pollen which should be coming down any day now. Achooo! The first hummingbird arrived Saturday. I was pleased that we had the feeder up and filled with sugar water. So we have the swallows back and now the hummingbirds are starting to come through. Spring is well under way!

I made Shrimp Jambalaya for the first time yesterday. I really should give half the credit to Joe because he did all the chopping and helped get it all together.  It was really good.  Usually when I make something for the first time, there are changes that I want to make the next time I do it. But this really doesn't need any changes at all.  I will post the recipe next Monday.

We went to the Houston Symphony last Friday and it was wonderful! The violin soloist was Frank Huang and he was perfect! They performed Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Vivaldi always makes me smile. Just a beautiful, beautiful evening.
Tickets for next season are on sale and I am once again getting our season tickets.

Almost finished with the quilted table runner. I should start binding the edges this weekend and will post a picture as soon as it is finished. I have so many quilts and wall hangings floating around in my mind that I'm not sure what to do next. Maybe get the fabric and start the travel quilt? Maybe do a scrap hearts lap quilt? I have an idea for a wall hanging...So many quilts...so little time...

I finished reading The Walnut Tree by Charles Todd. It was a light historical romance set during WW I.  Good but not outstanding. The two outstanding books that I am still plowing through are To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild and The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert.

Travel plans are:
     1. Birding trip to Louisiana
     2. Wedding/Birding trip to central Texas
     3. Alaska cruise
     4. Yosemite May 2015

Around OakMeadows

The big news around OakMeadows this week is the return of the Barn Swallows. They returned last year on March 10 and again this year on March 10. They are to me one of life's miracles. We have some warblers that I haven't been able to get a good enough look at to identify but most likely they are Yellow-Rumped Warblers.  Also the usual Red-winged Blackbirds, Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Titmouse.  I must get out the hummingbird feeders and get them filled because we have had arrivals as early as March 18.

I have made reservations for our next birding trip.  We are going to southwestern Louisiana March 31-April 4. DD is going to be the cat concierge while we are away. On the list of places to see: McFadden NWR, Sea Rim State Park, Texas Point NWR, Sabine NWR, Palmetto Island State Park.  Of course, we cannot possibly do all of them but whatever we do, it will be good to be out in the beautiful natural world.

Reading two excellent books: The War to End All Wars by Hochschild which, of course, is about the First World War but instead of being about the chronology and battles, it is about the people behind the war, leaders, commoners, and resistors. Very well written and interesting.  The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert chronicles the 5 previous cataclysmic extinctions and the current mass extinction on earth. Very interesting and heartbreaking. 

Friday evening we are going to the Houston Symphony. An evening of Tchaikovsky and Vivaldi. Immersion in beautiful sound.

My quilting and painting projects are slowly progressing. My other big project: the guest bedroom makeover is also making slow progress. JMM has ordered the new blinds, I bought new bedside lamps, and next week I will be purchasing another bedside table so I can move the one in the back bedroom back to the guest bedroom where it belongs.  And I have decided on framing prints of antique maps to go somewhere in the room, haven't decided where yet.

Usual cooking, cleaning, laundry. I absolutely love being retired!!




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Cold, windy, and a little rain.  We need every drop of rain we get!  It is weather like this that reminds me how glad I am to be retired. As a hospital pharmacist, I had to be there no matter what the weather. Now, I can enjoy a quilt, a cup of hot tea, and a cat on my lap on these inclement days. 

Our goldfinches have left. They picked a bad time to move north, IMHO. It is cold here and much worse farther north. I've had to break ice on the birdbaths. We have the usual crowd at the feeders. I've been filling the feeders twice a day since it is so cold. 

I made the best soup last night! I posted the recipe for Slow Cooker Beef and Barley Soup yesterday. The next time I make it I will decrease the amount of meat from 2 pounds to 1.5 pounds and increase the barley from 1/4 to 1/2 cup. Also I used all beef broth instead of half beef half chicken stock. I toasted and buttered some sourdough bread. So good!

The quilting on the table runner is finally moving along. I think the problem was that I didn't have an audio book to listen to while quilting. I used to listen to NPR while quilting but here lately I just have no patience listening to the crisis du jour. Audio books are so much better. 

Lots of good books. I finished listening to The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Benton Frank on audio CD. It was good but not great.  I enjoyed it. I am almost finished with Basilica by R.A. Scotti about the building of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome during the tumultuous Renaissance, Reformation, and Counterreformation. Excellent! Other books in progress: Bad Science by Ben Goldacre (group read for GoodReads Science group), The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert, and The Widower's Tale by Julia Glass. 

Still no trip to Brazos Bend for birding but the trip to Louisiana is all set for the last week in March. Now if only the weather will cooperate!!

I did get tickets to the Houston Symphony for March 14. An evening of Tchaikovsky and Vivaldi! Lovely!

I have been giving some thought to the situation in the Ukraine. More on that tomorrow.  

Around OakMeadows

 

Around OakMeadows

Pine warblers have moved into OakMeadows. We don't see them every year but they have recently shown up. Pretty little birds!  The goldfinches are still here stuffing themselves with thistle seed. Just about the time they start putting on their breeding colors, they will leave us which just goes to show how ungrateful they are after all the thistle we have given them.  Cardinals, blue jays, doves, and the inevitable red winged black birds have been at the feeders.  We have seen the little skunk several times, a rabbit, raccoons, a possum, and the deer. Nothing unusual. 

We didn't get to go to Brazos Bend State Park as planned. The weather has not been cooperating. Foggy and overcast. And this evening we have a cold front coming through; I hope it brings some rain since we are still in drought condition. 

Speaking of travel, I think we are going to cancel our trip to Washington, D.C.  I'd rather spend the time, money, and effort going birding. Maybe a trip to the Louisiana coast. I know in June we will be going to a wedding in San Marcus and we will spend a couple of days birding the Texas hill country. 

Quilting is moving along at a glacial speed. I don't know why the little table runner is taking so long to do!  I have several projects mulling around in my head that I would like to get started on if I could get the runner finished! I want to do a baby quilt and I want to do a travel quilt using the patches we have accumulated on our travels all these years. 

I am really enjoying reading Basilica by R.A.Scotti about the building of St. Peter's in Rome. Quite a cast of characters. I finished listening to Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham on audio CDs. It was fascinating to learn about that brilliant, complicated man.  I have a book coming from amazon.com and one coming from the library. So many books, so little time!!

Cooking has been just the usual fare, no new recipes or dishes. I did bake chocolate chip cookies and this morning it had 3 overripe bananas so I made a loaf of banana nut bread. 

JMM is happily settling into retirement. He usually does outside work all morning, comes in for lunch and a nap, and then reads and helps me get dinner together. Oh, that reminds me, our DD recommended the television series Sherlock and we got the first of the series on Netflix DVD. It is excellent! We watched the two episodes on that DVD and are looking forward to the next. If you haven't seen it, check it out!

Around OakMeadows

We have had temperatures all over the scale this week. Down in the 20's a couple of nights and now we are supposed to hit 80 tomorrow. We have signs of spring--the dandelions have sprung up deep green blotches on an otherwise brown yard. It is also the time of year to be thankful you are not a male mockingbird. He begins announcing his territory well before dawn and spends the rest of the day chasing other mockingbirds away.  It must be exhausting.

My bedroom painting project is well underway. JMM very kindly does the brush and roller washing up for me and that is the only part of painting that I don't enjoy doing. It always surprises me how much better the wall looks after painting than before. The other side of that, of course, is how awful it makes the wall beside it look so you can never stop with just one wall.

It has been too cold to quilt much of the week as the cold just makes my fingers too stiff. But I should be able to get a lot done before the next cold front comes through. I hope to have the table runner finished by the end of March so I can get going on the Travels Quilt.

We have had the usual Blue Jays, Cardinals, Collared Doves, Titmouse, and Chickadees at the feeders; the Goldfinches are still with us and I am glad because the weather is still so horrid up North. We were very surprised to see a group of Cattle Egrets last week; they usually stay down in South America for at least another month.  The gorgeous Sand Hill Cranes are still out in the rice fields; JMM counted 30 in the flock. I wonder when they will leave.  Mammal sightings have included a small skunk, a rabbit, and the usual deer.

The flower beds look horrid with the dead lantana and milkweed stalks. I am thinking of paying someone to just come clear it all out and be done with it and have it all ready to plant. JMM will burst a blood vessel though--but he will get over it.

I read an absolutely fantastic book, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I just couldn't put it down. I will write a review later this week as I am still digesting it. Other reading: I finally finished all 700+ pages of Empire of Liberty by Gordon Wood; it was an excellent history of the years after the American Revolution through the War of 1812. It was so well written and such an interesting period about which I knew zip, zero, zilch. Just getting started on Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder and am wandering through Winter Hours by Mary Oliver.

Daughter and SIL are looking to buy a house.  I always enjoy house hunting. My friend (and realtor) Vicki Haislup and I are having lunch to discuss what is available. Houston is a booming city and it is a sellers market. I am not sure if they will be able to put it all together and be out of their rental by June 1. We shall see.



Around Oak Meadows

Around Oak Meadows

We went to the Rio Grande Valley to do some birding in the warm, sunny south Texas parks. Ha! We froze our buns! But we had a good birding trip anyway. One thing that made it so pleasant was that I have discovered the Marriott Residence Inns. They are wonderful! I could watch television without disturbing JMM, there was a buffet breakfast and dinner, and best of all there was a handicapped accessible bathroom so I could shower easily! 

We went to the Bentsen Rio Grande State Park, Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, and the Estero Llano Grande State Park. My favorite is the Bentsen Rio Grande State Park where you are able to watch the beautiful Green Jays, Great Kiskadees, and Chachalacas up close and personal. Another thing that made this trip so pleasant is talking with the volunteers at the parks. Without exception they are friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable.  Most of the ones I visited with were from the north, down to escape the northern winter. I bought tee shirts and mugs and JMM bought pins for his pin board. I had the bright idea of stitching park patches from our travels onto quilt blocks and making a travel quilt. We shall see how that idea progresses. 

As always, it was wonderful to get back home. Pictures will be up this afternoon.  In all honesty, the pictures are not all that great. It was overcast and we didn't bring the tripod but how could you not take pictures of green jays and Kiskadees? 

Reading this week:
     Empire of Liberty by Gordon S. Wood.  This is taking a long time to read but it is excellent. It had no idea what a turbulent, interesting time the post-Revolutionary period was!!
     Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham. I am listening to this one audio CDs and can certainly understand why it won a Pulitzer Prize. What a complicated, interesting, brilliant man! 
     The Leafcutter Ants by Bert Holldobler. Beautiful book, full of pictures, diagram, and charts. Learning a lot about ants; first of all, how many millions of years they have been busily doing their thing. 
     The Rule of St. Benedict by St. Benedict of Nursia. I like to read this every year. Just nourishing to the spirit. 

Around OakMeadows

Around OakMeadows

This has been the week of Blizzard Part II. Monday I ran around doing errands and stocking up at the grocery store so that I wouldn't have to go out in the coming cold weather. I got it all done just in time because by Monday evening the temperatures were falling and the wind howling. Tuesday was so bad that schools were closed and Joe worked from home.  It is days like Tuesday that make me so very thankful that I am retired and don't have to worry about getting to and from work!

Wednesday was Joe's retirement party at work. I went and met everyone and took some pictures. Then Thursday Vera Taylor took us to lunch to say goodby. Friday was his last day at work. He came home at noon and has been smiling ever since. 

Joe got a Roomba for us. He has set it up and had it vacuuming the house. It is fun to watch and when it finishes, it takes itself back to its docking stand and recharges. The cats are totally disinterested. 

I have gotten virtually no quilting done and have no real excuse other than general sloth.  Lots of reading though. I absolutely love Mary Oliver's poetry. 
She captures the essence of what she is describing. It is almost like  catching of whiff of a scent that transports you to a thought or time.  I read her book of 
poems A Thousand Mornings; I will return the library book and buy a copy to savor again and again. 

Cooking has been minimal this week with all the celebrations and eating out. I made  Beef Stroganoff on Tuesday and baked oatmeal cookies. Comfort food for cold weather. 

We are getting ready for a trip to the Rio Grande for birding.  We will make Brownsville our center and make trips out from there. We will be staying at the Marriott Residence Inn.  Joe is in charge of where we go and what we see. I am taking plenty of reading, quilting, and an audio book. We are also taking a folding chair that I hope to be able to use in the shower; we shall have to see how that works....

Around OakMeadows

Winter is definitely here--31 on the porch. The wind was just ferocious last night as the cold front moved through. We are snug and warm inside. My cat, Bandit, pitched a fit to go outside last night but immediately changed his mind when he got into the cold, wind, and rain and decided that life on the electric blanket was a better choice. 

We had our daughter's dog, Daisy, with us last week. She is an aged cocker spaniel--deaf and arthritic-- but such a sweetheart! Loves to go in the car anywhere, anytime, loves to play ball, and loves to eat anything and everything. 
We had nice weather so walking her was not a problem.  She is back at her real home but I am sure she knows she is loved here too. 

My Invacare scooter which I refer to as My Precious has been malfunctioning recently so I had the repairman come out and take it into the scooter ICU. It is 10 years old and rather battered up with use but it is the best scooter ever and I don't think you can even buy one like it anymore. Always expecting things to take longer and cost more than estimated, I settled in to be without it for a couple of weeks. But to my pleasant amazement, they brought it back completely fixed in only 5 days. The total cost was $225 and well worth the money to have My Precious back and functional. 

I had to have a breast ultrasound Thursday because I have a fibrocystic area in my right breast. I have had it for about 12 years. It isn't my favorite way to spend an afternoon but it is necessary since my father's mother died of breast cancer. I was aggravated by having to pay $310 because we have not met our insurance yearly deductible.  

Quilting has taken a back seat this week but I did manage to get the table runner layered and ready to pin and baste. Slooooowly she goes.....

Good reading this week: 

Empire of Liberty by Gordon S. Wood has been such an enlightening book for me. I always supposed that the Founding Fathers just all got together and worked out the best way to set up and govern the newly formed nation.  Not exactly. They were as fractious as politicians are today. I knew about the Hamilton - Jefferson divide but I didn't know how uncertain the election of 1800 was, I didn't know how much Jefferson disliked Chief Justice John Marshall, and 
I didn't know how contentious setting up the federal and state judiciaries was. 

Countdown by Alan Weisman was another excellent book on the overpopulation problem. All our efforts at conservation and climate change will be useless unless population is lowered. Every 4 1/2 days we add another 1 million people on the planet. 

I made one new recipe last week, the Slow Cooker Old-Fashioned Beef and Noodle Soup. It was delicious. Next time I make it, I will use about half the amount of noodles called for though. 

JMM has one more week at work before he retires. I want him to just enjoy having time to putter around. He is planning to work 2 days a week to bring in some extra cash so that he won't have to dip into his 403b funds until he is 72. We shall see.  Next week he has his retirement party and another 2 days he is being taken out to lunch. I hope he enjoys his retirement as much as I love mine. 

Lots of birds at the feeders. Goldfinches, titmouse, cardinals, bluejays, doves.  Raccoons and squirrels. Haven't seen the possum or armadillo lately. Maybe they hibernate, don't know. 

Around Oak Meadows

 Birds around OakMeadows--It was unusually cold last week so we really kept the feeders stocked. We were rewarded with lots of feathered beauties. 

     Ruby-crowned kinglet
     Bluejays 
     Cardinals
     Savannah sparrows
     Goldfinches
     Collared doves
     Titmouse
At the pond we spotted
     Great blue heron
     Great egret
Joe says that he saw a flock of 70+ trumpeter swans flying directly over the property. At one time they did winter down here but are not common. Perhaps last week's polar vortex blew them down here. He won't let me add them to the OakMeadows list because he is unsure. 

Joe is counting days to retirement--18 days to go.  He says as the time gets shorter, it is harder and harder to go in each morning.  He has worked so hard all his life that I hope he has years and years of happy retirement.  He had his 67th birthday Friday.  I baked a German Sweet Chocolate cake for him. We had Sunday lunch at The Olive Garden with family and friends totaling 18. It was so much fun. 

Quilting project is a table runner for the dining room. I have the top pieced.  This week I want to get the backing and batting cut and get it layered, pinned, and basted.  When I get it finished I want to get some new candles and holders to put on the runner. 

Lots of good books in progress
     Empire of Liberty by Gordon S. Wood
     Countdown by Alan Weisman
     Mrs. Tim Christie by D.E.Stevenson
     Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn by John Maxwell

Last week was so cold that soup was a necessity. I made Turkey and Wild Rice in the Slow Cooker.  Oh Lordy, was it ever good. JMM brought home a loaf of sourdough bread which we toasted and buttered.  Oh so good. 

We are dog-sitting the world's best dog, sweet Daisy, while her companion people are off to London and then to Spain.  Fortunately, it is not raining so walking her hasn't been a problem; I simply cannot manage the scooter, the dog, and an umbrella, not to mention closing the door after we go out.  Anyway fingers are crossed for continued sunny weather. 

We had a load of mulch delivered for the flower beds and around the trees. Joe is taking a few wheelbarrows to the beds each day so he won't hurt his back.  Right now with everything killed back by the freezing weather so it is hard to picture how beautiful and green everything will be. In the meantime, mulch, mulch, and more mulch. 

     
     

Around OakMeadows

Around OakMeadows

JMM is counting down the days until retirement. 25 days to go. He has worked at one job or another since he was in junior high school. He worked and went to school for years.  Honestly, he is about the hardest working person I've ever known.  He is looking forward to having time to putter around on his various projects. It will take some adjusting but it is time for him to have time to just enjoy the little, quiet things in life. We were talking the other evening how neither of our fathers ever had any time to enjoy retirement. My father had a stroke while working and never recovered completely from it. JMM's father worked until his COPD got so bad that he had to stop working and then his life was one continuous struggle to just breathe. I want JMM to have many years of a happy retirement. 

We've had a couple of days of unusually cold weather--cold by Houston standards--in the low 20's at night. So we've been extra attentive to keeping the bird feeders full and water in the birdbath. The goldfinches arrived just after Christmas--about 20 of them. We have bluejays too. The first 7-8 years we were here, there were no bluejays because the West Nile virus had wiped them out. I suppose these that we are seeing now have some kind of immunity to WNV. 

I decided to make a table runner for the dining room table. I had plenty of fabric left from making my Jewels quilt so I am making a runner of nine-patches. Everything is cut out and ready to put together. Maybe tomorrow since I'm not planning on going anywhere.  I will post a picture when it is done. I want to get some new candle holders and candles to spiff things up. 

Speaking of spiffing things up, I am planning to paint the master bedroom. Not this week but I should be able to get started on it next week. I will do my usual one wall at a time. Then the guest room will be my big project for the rest of the year. So much to do....

The cold weather makes me want comfort food. So tomorrow is soup day and Wednesday I will make meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas. Not exactly low carb. 
Friday I am making JMM's birthday cake--German Sweet Chocolate cake with Coconut-Pecan frosting. That should send me back to Weight Watchers!!

TSMR & JCR are leaving for London and Spain late Thursday. I am picking up Daisy and keeping her while they are away.  I don't mind taking her out on the leash except when it is raining so I am keeping my fingers crossed for a dry spell. 

Reading several good books:
   Still reading Empire of Liberty by Gordon S. Wood. So interesting. So long!
   Countdown by Alan Weisman. Overpopulation. 
   Mrs. Tim Christie by D.E.Stevenson. Sweet English fiction. 
   Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn by John Maxwell. Motivational. (Lord knows I need motivating.)