Love Brewing Company

Going on right now, at www.lovebrewingcompany.com (streams) live chat with my nephew and his buds all about LOVE, Saturday 4:30 p.m. 

Too Many Plants

Never thought I'd say that!  So many seedlings since we had a warm winter, I will only have to plant sunflowers and vegetables.  I started making paper pots to sell seedlings in and give away to friends, but there were so many, it was just too daunting.

This is as far as I got.

Everything seems to be blooming at once.  There is so much honeysuckle the air even inside the house is strong with perfume.

The Eden rose put on a good show this year . . .

as did the Sweet Williams . . .

the lettuce . . .

and this wildflower whose name I don't know and will have to look up.

Potting up plants to go has been another daunting task.  They had to be potted before it got too hot, then will be planted in NC in the fall.

Same goes for the boxwoods, six of which are huge and in the pasture in burlap.

Could not leave my beautiful and rare Chinese Butterfly Roses, either.

It is good to have all that done, but I'm sure I will be digging up more as I walk the dogs and spy another plant I just won't leave behind.  At least I have found a use for my walking stick that Cotton made for me a few years back.  With Helga new to the pack, it's good to have something along for the walk, just in case!

She's actually been a very good dog (except still working on liking the cat), but she is best friends with the other three, so I don't use my stick often, just when Panda is in a "mood". For anyone who would like trays of plants, I have cleome, cosmos, porcelain berry vine, trumpet vine, nandina, persicaria (painter's palette) and lots of morning glory.  I also just found a spot with a whole bunch of baby foxglove for next year, so there you go, I will be potting more seedlings!  Planning for a trip to Philadelphia for my mom's birthday and going to Landsford Canal State Park in SC to kayak and see the largest colony of Rocky Shoals Spider Lilies in the world.  Have been wanting to do that for some time, so it will be a while before I write again!

Jury Duty

To answer the hundreds of emails from the past two weeks to explain why I was MIA, I had back-to-back doctor's depositions and had to get them into my office before April 9, the dreaded day of Jury Duty. I believed I would go in on Monday and be excused for the rest of the week because I had sat in a courtroom for 20 years as a court stenographer and was married to a defense lawyer . . . but noooooo, I was picked for the first jury which was a personal injury case.  That case only lasted two days, so when I went in to be voir dired for the next jury, a criminal DUI case, it was a given that I would not be chosen.  Wrong again!  The solicitor kept giving me the eye and smiling at me, so I knew I was doomed to be a juror yet again.  Of course, I wanted to prove I was not State oriented and went into the jury room believing the "good looking" defendant was innocent.  The jury was divided equally, three men, three women.  The men walked into the jury room saying guilty, guilty, guilty.  No way we were not going to discuss all the facts.  Five hours later, we watched the police officer's video again.  I was starting to lean.  As time went on I started to convince myself and the two other women he was guilty, and we finally delivered that verdict.  It was actually a good experience, and a nice feeling to voice opinions the are being listened to and considered and to be able to actually convince another that your opinion is the right one.  Maybe if I didn't have an anesthesiologist and infectious disease doctor's depos on my mind, I might have enjoyed the experience more.  So today I have one day off before a job tomorrow and yet another doctor's depo on Friday to catch up on laundry and housework that has not been done for weeks!

It All Started With Helga!

This is Helga, a shelter drop-off after being a puppy mill mom. She is believed to be two or three years old.  I had a couple of weeks with no jobs and decided to help Mike Chapman of the local chow rescue and went to the animal control shelter to rescue Helga.  She was the sweetest chow I had ever met, but she had kennel cough and was heartworm positive and needed to go to Briarcliff Animal Hospital for treatment.

Well, weeks later, here is Helga in my courtyard.  I wanted to see if she would fit in with my pack.  She has been here only two days and is going on walks with my others and there have been no fights.  Geisha has already warmed up to her, the Wong being so old doesn't care, and Panda can be a little snippy, so as Mike suggested, I am walking them with a big wiffle bat in my hand!

This was Helga the day I picked her up to take her to Mike.  She's in the back of my car still in shock that she was leaving the shelter.

These two little pups were labeled as chows.  It was the best thing that ever happened to them because Julie of Critter Cavalry in Tennessee asked me to find out more about them when I went to pick up Helga. The next week I was down at the shelter rescuing Yogi & Little Bear!  They don't have a bit of chow in them, but it sure was their lucky day.  They both were very sick with kennel cough and had been there over a month and would have soon been put down.

They started to feel better after days on their meds, good food, and walks in the sun.  They couldn't wait for their next walk. They gained some weight in just the 10 days that I had them.  We gave them a bath so they didn't smell like the shelter.  They were so soft and happy.

Saturday we drove them to Jasper, TN, where a friend of Julie's, Richard picked them up for the second leg of their trip.  Julie sent me photos of Yogi & Little Bear as happy as can be in the laps of Julie's little girls. I told her they liked scrambled eggs for breakfast, and she actually made them eggs for their first morning at her home! We will miss these guys, they were a lot of fun, but a lot of work!  So many walks I was exhausted by nightfall.  Helga is a lot easier and slower paced, and she will be a wonderful addition to our pack.

Spring Ahead!

Bluebirds!

Bluebirds are everywhere right now, so many, that I decided to put up another birdhouse, and within minutes they were checking it out.

Bluebirds have inspired my latest collection, foil etchings.  This one cost me a whopping $5.99 on Ebay

I started adding mealworms to the bird feed, and I believe that is the reason so many of them are here and in the feeders.

One day I'll get a better camera so I can zoom in on these beautiful birds!

Valentine's Night

Valentine's Day seemed more like Christmas this year.  Bob received a crow shirt and a bottle of Zirbenz

Lots of cards, two of which came from my mom, and one had a big 'ole check in it much to my surprise!  Could not resist the cups with owls, mushrooms and glitter, three of my favorite things!  Meant for a kid's Valentine's party, but I just had to have them.

I received a bottle of my favorite Italian wine, Aramone, and Bob cooked dinner, Asian Beef Salad with Srirachia Honey Dressing.  We used baby spinach instead of bibb lettuce, and we ate the whole big bowl full! For dessert I made pumpkin flan with whipped cream and Kahlua, yum!

We ate in front of the fire and downloaded Vanishing of the Bees a documentary that I have been wanting to see, a recommendation from one of the girls at the CSA.  It was a quiet, relaxing V Day, just what we both needed.