Mosaic Mom

Plant Daddy picked a great year to revisit Butternut Squash. Usually caterpillars and mildew stop us before we're out of the gate. But this year's been dry and we've been very happy with BT to control caterpillars.
Result: Happy Plant Daddy!

Basically now the only vegetable we haven't been successful with is CELERY!

My laundry room is not fancy.
It’s just a large closet off the carport where the washer and dryer are kept.

The little green basket that hangs on the wall is where I toss used dryer sheets, empty containers, and dryer lint. The Carolina wren decided this was a fantastic place to nest this year. I discovered the nest when I tossed a wad of dryer lint one day and WHOOSH! The bird attacked me.

Our name for the Carolina wren is “Little Shitter Bird”. This bird tried to nest in the mosaic studio and I determinedly destroyed every nest it built in the studio because of the messy, filthy droppings this monster can deploy.

Out of guilt for having sucked 3 or 4 nest attempts out of the studio, I allowed a nest in the laundry room trash basket.

Oh brother. At first, I was attacked every time I tried to wash Plant Daddy’s shorts. Then gradually, it got used to the washer and dryer cycles and would only attack when I tried to peek at the babies. OK, we deserved that.

But yesterday was a day of terror in the laundry room!

I was moving a wad of laundry from the washer to the dryer when I noticed movement on the floor about half an inch from my sandaled toes. It was Blackie our resident 4 ft. black snake.

“AIYEEEEE!” I hollered vigorously, alerting all creatures in a 5 mile radius to his presence.
Plant Daddy came a running.
Blackie slithered under the dryer.

“I’ll save you,” said Plant Daddy gallantly, yet as he loaded towels into the drum we could hear Blackie thumping in out dryer motor.

Years ago a black snake slithered up into the air conditioner and was killed when the motor engaged. Didn’t smell good in the air intake for a while after that. Would our dryer suffer the same fate?
I punched the start switch and thankfully didn’t hear a dice-o-matic noise.

Then I realized that Blackie was after the Wren babies.

“Save them!” I pleaded with Plant Daddy.

What a hero! He moved the trash basket nest to a new location near the outhouse.
Unfortunately the Wren Mom wouldn’t fly to it. Stupid bird. After a few hours, we moved the nest back. Mom flew back and we had to hope for the best in the black snake department.
We passed a tense night, but…all is well this morning! Yay!

All the babies are there and Momma Wren hit me in the head again as I tried to wash the kitchen rugs this afternoon! No sign of Blackie today. Peace reigns.

Plant Daddy and I broke tradition. We were un-American today.

Instead of BBQ, we went (gasp) MEATLESS!!!

We had eggplant, potatoes and peppers, brown rice and tomatoes and peas.
No meat at all.
We are having fireworks and noisemakers now,,,if you get my drift,,,tee hee,,,

Also today we saw a lot of reptiles. All headed to the greenhouses to try to keep moist. Baby, it's dry outside.

The pool temp got up to 81! Yay Solar! That's unamerican, too, isn't it? Good!

Happy Memorial Day to All.

Harvested a bunch a bunch a green beans today and cooked up a batch for me and PD for supper.

Froze a giant baggie full of bell peppers, red, green, yellow, and orange.

Baked and froze 3 Squash loaves.

Cooked and froze 2 containers of creamed corn.

Cooked and froze 2 quarts of spaghetti sauce made from peppers, onions, garlic, zucchini and tomatoes. Basil Rosemary and mint for flavor.

Watched Kill Bill 1 and 2 for the second time this weekend while I put up veggies.

Plant Daddy has a Z car we call the Green Bean. He restored it from scratch and loves it. He is a member of the Z car club.

Today Plant Daddy and I sat on the front porch and watched as the Porsche club drove by. There were about 30 or so Porsches. Many were old timers that had been restored like this 1965 model.

What if the Green Bean morphed into a Porsche?!?!

Little Mind Escape's surgery went easy breezy. In by 6:30 AM (thanks to Plant Daddy). Home in bed by Noon. Asking for fresh salsa by 4:30PM. Much success and thanks for the prayerful support.

Why does every recipe in the month of May begin..."Go out to the garden and harvest..." Lots of produce at the moment. Corn, green beans, eggplant, squash, cukes, onions and toms. Yay!

Remember these guys from August 1st? They sat more than a half hour out on the road in front of our gate, so I called the sheriff to check 'em out.

They were back today, but drove off when they saw me standing in the driveway glaring at them.


I thought about calling the sheriff again, but "M'am, it's not a crime to sit in your truck on the side of the road."

Time will tell.

"Pssst. Hey, Lady. Want to buy some illegal HONEYSUCKLE?"
"Say, you're not an undercover cop are you?"

"Officer, arrest that woman. She has a...a...a Privet Hedge!"

For a complete list of Illegals visit HERE.Florida Invasives

Yes, it has happened.

The Committee who brought you a list of "Invasive Plants" has now gained enough power to declare those plants illegal.

The states of Pennsylvania and Delaware have used their lists to legislate what can be bought and sold at nurseries and garden centers.
AND HERE'S the CLINCHER, FOLKS...

THEY CAN GET FEDERAL MONEY TO REMOVE THESE PLANTS.
Always follow the money.

Florida has a list, too, but as yet has not declared the sale of these illegal, but with Federal dollars up for grabs, it won't be long.

Mom is now in possession of some of the illegals...I have Nandina!!!


They came into peoples yards to remove Citrus. Is your shrubbery next?

That's what Grandpa Joe used to call me.

I certainly never lose weight in the month of May.

"But, Mom, that is healthy food. Fresh vegetables."

"Yes, but I'm going to make Squash Bread on Sunday. I'll add sugar, eggs, oil and walnuts to the zucchini. As for the corn...Butter, Baby, Butter!"

I love Memorial Day.

My Motorcycle Lady Writer friend e mailed this morning to say there should be 3 corrections to yesterday's blog...

1. Her bike's a Yamaha 1100cc

2. She's over 70...and

3. She just won the 2007 Mt Dora Writer's Contest!!!

Way to go! Back to Back Wins! Awesome!!

As she says..."Keep Writing"...

Unwritten

There’s a lady in my writer’s group I really admire.

She owns a motorcycle. It’s a Honda shaft drive with electric start, not a Harley chain drive kick start, nevertheless, in her mid 60’s, she hopped on her bike and toured the Rockies last summer.

She doesn’t admit to having a tattoo, but there’s a sparkle in her eyes when the topic comes up.

Two summers ago she enrolled in a creative writing class at the local community college. Her stories are really good.
Last year, she took home first place in the Mt Dora Writers Contest!

She just started her blog, which she calls Unwritten, because she feels the best part of her life is yet to be written! Gotta love that attitude!

And…she’s creating her blog from her dog’s point of view!
Go read her…
Unwritten…

P.S. I love the pink!

Yes, here is #1400. Just shoot me! I can't believe it's been that long!

Anyway...finished "Man Pot" yesterday.


and contemplated my future as a writer...wrote this little essay...

When Palm Writers Group met last week, I was feeling very discouraged.

There is a certain periodical I have tried to get published in for over a year. I have submitted 5 offerings. Rejected every time, but twice they even took my story and had a staff writer work it up and publish it. Grrr.

So last time, I got a reference, a famous published person, to give me a referral. I still didn’t even get a manuscript request. Very disheartening.

So I whined about it at Palm Group.
Palm Group people understood, because every writer is going to experience rejection. Everybody gave me good advice about coping with rejection. Here’s what they said:

Mountain Man: I practice getting used to rejection by entering a lot of contests and small publications. This is giving me practice learning that this is part of the industry, so it won’t hurt so much when they reject my big work, my novel.

Motorcycle Lady: Build on the positive. Recount the success you’ve had so far. Keep in mind those pieces which have won contests or have been published.

Poetess: Be sure your cover letter approaches an editor with a tone of confidence. Tell yourself, this piece is already sold, I just have to discover where.

Dayton Mom: Shift your focus for a while. If you’re usually a poetry writer, write some mystery. If you write fiction, switch off to non-fiction. Get the emotions out of the process.

New Lady: Keep busy. Avoid hanging on the calendar when the contest deadline hits.

Svynez: Editors get in a rut with their usual contributors. It’s about the editors, not about the new writers.

Political Poet Man: Embrace the rejection. Seek more rejection. It means you are working.

Dayton Weatherman: Avoid being manipulated by companies who prey on your fear of rejection. They want to sell you all sorts of high priced services to ease your anxiety. Watch out!

BJO: Sending out stories is like sowing seeds. Some land in rocky soil and don’t grow; some land with weeds; some land in fertile soil. Just keep planting.

First: To My Friend Thinking of Starting Her Own Blog: Go to the top of this page and click on "Create Blog" to get to the create a blog page!

I had a really awful day yesterday.
I was caught between the doctor's office and the pharmacy. Each was accusing the other of making the typographical error, but bottom line, I was out of pills and I will die in a few days without them!

This causes me great anxiety. And yesterday I was down to one pill left when the glitch occurred.

Finally, I got the two sides talking and I got the prescription refilled...took over 5 hours...but now the pharmacy still doesn't list the right amount of refills. Grrr.

I was looking forward to a nice day today, but, dang it, the dumpster truck has not made the rounds, so I am trapped till he tips the can.

At least I have a new mosaic project to occupy me!Yay!

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom. Hope the deck construction is going well!

Me and Plant Daddy and Little Mind Escape are sitting on our deck. We are eating salsa made fresh from the garden.

Since we have an excess of cucumbers...harvesting 6 to 10 Daily...Nargh!...we rode around in the golf cart this morning and deposited cukes at the gopher tortoise holes. Hope they enjoy eating them.

Sometimes I want to write a character into a story and I need background information.
I need details about pop culture, language, and style from outside my 1960’s life.

So I asked Palm Writers Group to share information about their Pop Culture. Here were the questions:

What year did you graduate from high school?

In that year, how did you say “Good”?

In that year, how did you say “Bad”?

What music were you listening to?

Who or what were you reading?

Here’s the answers:



PS I will be happier when Blogger accepts codes for tables. As it was I had to scan this in and it's not so great, but I hope you can make it out.

Plant Daddy needed a container for his new Aglaonema hybrid, so I made him one this week. The theme is Gator Colors!

Palm Writers vote tally for the Collage Selection...
A=2
B=1
C=5
No vote=2

So C it is.

Here's what the tourist board won't tell you:

1. Florida has 67 counties.
52 of them are on fire today.
Do you think there is a breath of fresh air any where in this state?

2. There is a Tropical Storm Andrea today.
Do you have your emergency beans ready because after all they expect...
1/4 inch of rain!!! 1/4 inch!

3. An item in the paper today says 89,000 new homes are to be built where a nature preserve now stands. 198,000 people are going to move in. Gee, where are they going to get a drink of water?
Is this state crazy? Yes, sometimes it is!

Anyway, I'm off to chair the Palm Writers tonight. We'll see if I'm still a member tomorrow.

It’s a mixed bag. First off, I did not lose 30 lbs. yesterday, so that’s another hope dashed.

Red Bull tasted nasty, but I got all but 2 swallows down. I did NOT get jazzy and peppy, but my ears rang for a while.

I felt strangely UNcoordinated all day long. Plant Daddy will attest to this. He steadied me as I tripped over a small crack in the pavement. It was a whole day of missteps like that. Weird.

My mouth felt gummy all afternoon. When I drink Tropicana Diet Orangeade I get the same mouth gummy effect. I get more peppy off the Orangeade than I did off the Red Bull.

I did NOT get peppy, in fact, I had to fight the urge to nod off after lunch. Plant Daddy said he had the same effect off Red Bull when he tried it.

On a positive note, I did get 4 loads of wash done. started a mosaic project, loaded the car for the Writer's Group tomorrow and read deep into Jeffrey Hayes book on Bluemner where I discovered that Bluemner traveled a lot of canals in Europe in 1913. That didn’t make me happy. I wanted the Raritan to be unique.

Bottom line…Coke-a-Cola works better, costs less!

The smoke from the fires was so bad, we were driven inside early last night. We could barely see the trees on our property line looking out the kitchen window. I had to take medicine to breathe so today I am dragging around in an antihistamine fog. I need a Coke.

I am making Plant Daddy a special mosaic container for his plant show next week…if we go. We just found out that the price of admission is $175 each! Plus hotel! We may not go to this shindig if we can’t arrange free passes. Grrr! Who ever heard of charging to see field trials? That’s ridiculous!

It’s an experiment.

Our governor, Charlie Christ, reports that he stays fit by consuming a diet Red Bull energy drink daily instead of eating lunch.
Today, I am going on the Charlie Christ diet. I am having my first Red Bull.

Plant Daddy had one some time ago and warned me that it was not a tasty drink.
Plant Daddy is right.

On the front of the can, it says it contains “Taurine”. This must be the word in Latin for Bull urine. I can sort of get this stuff down one swallow at a time, but it’s like a sour Mountain Dew. It is the color of Bull urine, or beer, take your pick. This is so not appetizing.

But this can promises to stimulate my metabolism and improve my performance. I can go for that. I have to do 2 loads of laundry and write that thesis today. So I need a boost.

I also need to drop 30 pounds ( I am having the diet Red Bull), so let’s see if the Governor Diet can deliver!


Last evening while watering trees along the road, I found an interesting piece of trash. It’s really rich Aqua color attracted me, so I snatched it out of the wind. It is a hand written note. Here’s what it says…

Switch Charger in Boat
Take Off Tarp
Nate 1-XXX-274-8327
Pull $140 Out of Business Account
Mike and Joan Solomon? XXX-X29-3961

And a map to Mike and Joan Solomon’s house.

Now, the only odd thing is…I once knew someone named Mike Solomon in LaGrange GA. What would be the weirdness factor that this is the guy I knew?

I am getting a fierce headache and my typing skills are actually slipping. Is this a Red Bull effect? Speedier, but screwing up more? I’m going to go take an aspirin and check the washer.



PS I took a moment to read the Blogger Buzz when I signed in today. It is full of self congratulatory words about a programming change. Well, I must actually agree...it has been a long time since I've said Damn Blogger. Old Blogger's been running well and behaving lately. Hope I don't jinx it. And I wish more people would blog and update regularly. That's all.

Must be the Red Bull.

On Thursday afternoon I went over to the high school art room. I needed a copy of Scholastic Art magazine to take a look at their formatting and style. I have a Bluemner article in mind. Anyway…

Two girls were working on the mosaic Bulldog panel.

First off, Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! They were indoors!
It was 93 degrees outside Friday afternoon. It would have been impossible to work the materials and have any sort of energy or enthusiasm out side.

I don’t know how we ever got that original wall done in April in the afternoon sun when it was 98 degrees!

The girls were sharing iPod ear buds, which looked totally unsanitary to me, but, hey, I’m a germaphobic geezer. They were dabbing mastic onto tesserae with pretty good technique, but I gave them a tutorial on how to use the nippers.

People just don’t get that “nippers” aren’t “scissors” that are going to cut the tile if only one presses hard enough. Duh! NO!

So I showed them how to line up and control cuts by cracking along the edges, but they were more focused on Red Hot Chili Peppers music in the iPod. They wanted to mosaic a “stewie” design, but Suzy told them they didn’t have the skills to mosaic that small yet.

Suzy said the Lake County Historical Society had asked the Vice Principal had asked her was asking me for photos regarding the original mosaic wall. I have hundreds over a 5 year period. Looks like Suzy and I have a summer project ahead of us sorting them all out and labeling. But I see a publication credit coming on.


I also think the Lake County Historical Society should link to my blog…after all it is a four year document about my Lake County life.

Back in the 90’s when we were investigating solar pool heating, my friend Carol took me to visit a friend of hers who had a solar pool heater system. It was October and this lady’s pool was deliciously warm!

But the lady said she had to pay a monthly maintenance fee to the solar company!!!
And, she reported, the system leaked all the time.!!!

Leak! Leak! Leak!

Our little solar panel leaks. Badly.

At first I made a joke of it (“I leak too, no big deal”), but after putting water in the pool on a daily basis, Plant Daddy and I took action. Vis a vis…

Silicon Adhesive.

Yay Mosaic Studio and a huge supply of the stuff. Every day now we have hunted down and smathered leaky drips. So far much better, but not 100% yet.

It’s no wonder these solar companies want to put these panels on the roof…so you won’t see how bad they leak. Grrr. But a simple fix.

The good news is…the water temperature went from 72 at the beginning of the week to 78 yesterday!

Plant Daddy and I got in yesterday. Little Mind Escape sunbathed but did not venture in the water. I can’t say it was warm and wonderful, but a few more sunny days and we’ll be up in the 80’s and doing laps!

I’m thinking we’ll get a nice extension of swim season in the fall too.

On Tuesday, Plant Daddy went to the Doctor.
On Wednesday, Zeus went to the Doctor.
On Thursday, Little Mind Escape went to the Doctor.

Hope I am NOT next!

So far, so good. Only bad allergies due to all the smoke blowing here from Georgia and from Volusia county.

I have spent a happy day freezing bell peppers and making PD his favorite potatoe and bell pepper and onion casserole. Later I have to run an errand over to the High School to pick up an art magazine from Suzy.

Zeus loves to ride with Plant Daddy in the golf cart.

They ride all over the farm to shut irrigation lines on and off. Here is where the Gaillardias were planted last night and are getting watered today.

Zeus does not…NOT…like to ride in the car.
Yes, Folks, today was go to the Vet day. Nargh!

Zeus sang all the way over as he rode in his carrier.
He got into a hissy when he got his rabies shot.
He howled when they cleaned his ears.
(I got into a hissy when I saw the bill for cat ear cleaning!!!)
He sang all the way home.

Zeus lapped up some tuna fish reward and collapsed exhausted right here as pictured.

He will recover in time to ride around the garden later, no doubt.

We took out our diving board in the fall. I added an extra set of springs and turned it into a coffee table!


We took the space at the deep end and installed a solar pool heater mat.

The first thing in the morning, we get about a gallon of 92 degree water coming out of the mat. After that, not so much. Our pool temp is 74 degrees. We don’t get in for another 6 degrees! We love it when it hits 83! Usually that takes till Memorial Day. We’ll find out if this heat mat speeds up the process any.


Also in technology news…I have finally programmed my phone address book. I have also learned how to Text Message…and PUNCTUATE the messages!

I am in absolute heaven because I can now check emails via cell. Soon I’ll figure out how to write and send emails…then…photos…then mobile blogging baby!

But not today because my thumbs are in agony!