Monday, August 31, 2015

Mums....

   It's getting to be mum time. This is the shot of Horton's mums last year. I am thinking of going there today and looking around.
  I just got home from the dentist. It was my first time to this dentist. They were x-raying and checking to see if I needed my crown replaced. Thankfully I do not. Of course they did some of those torture tests. Striking the tooth with their little hammer, putting cold on them. Making me bite a q-tip. That's a new one.  It's usually heat, cold, and air, then the hammer. More heat,cold and air.LOL.  So I am thrilled I do not need any dental visits now.  The crown was still good.
  My grandson Skylar is home and doing fine. He will go back to Indy tomorrow so the drs. can check his progress and change the bandages. Thanks again for your prayer. I know they have helped. XO

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Progress....

  This is my grandson Skylar after his first day of school. His book bag looks as big as he does.
  I think this is his first baseball photo. I remember when he hit the ball and just stood on the plate and we yell, "Run , Skylar, run !!"  He takes off for first base, grinning at us the whole way. You know how some images are frozen in our minds ? Well that is one I will never forget.
 Here he is with his sister Savannah. So little and sweet.  They squabble at times, but are pretty close.  Once I told Savannah she would be looking some of his pals over, when she got older and she said , "Oh gross Nana".  LOL.
 Skylar had the skin graft on his arm. Which he needed. He may be coming home today. Of course going back and froth to Indy for follow ups.
 The school had the elevator inspected and it's a go for when Skylar can return to school.  His mother signed up for her family leave time, so she can be his care giver for a few weeks.
  I am thankful that Skylar 's injuries were not worse . So thankful he had that helmet on. Thankful for his good parents who will care for him.  I think Savannah will get to help out too, like getting Skylar this and that. Shh....don't want her to know too much. LOL. I am ever so thankful for all of you and your prayers and well wishes. Bless you all. XO

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Skylar's Update......

  Thank you wonderful blog family friends. Your prayers are so greatly appreciated.  Skylar had his surgery yesterday morning from 9:00 to 1:30.   He has pins in his toes. His heel is set. His arm is set. The surgery on his nerves took so long that his arm could not be closed up from the swelling. That will be done today. If there are no difficulties it will just be a closing. Otherwise there may be a skin graft involved.   This is relayed info to me.  I did not hear it from the doctors myself. I will learn more this morning.


 Karen and Jeff have both taken off work for this week. Karen will take family leave time , to be able to take care of Skylar at home...when he is released. The drs. did say there will be PT when Skylar has healed.  This has been very hard to go through and my heart breaks for my daughter and her family.
  We will get through this and hopefully that ATV will never run again. I do not like them.  I am not crazy about dirt bikes either. I am wanting Skylar to trade all those nasty wheeled things in for a pair of track shoes...then he can get his need for speed by running.
   Again , I thank all of you. You are important to me and have helped me through  your prayers. XO

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Asking For Prayers.....



  I think some of you will remember Skylar. This is when he had burns from an aerosol can exploding in a trash fire, where he was helping his neighbor man clean up a building.
 Here's when we took him to lunch before school started.  Just ready for his driving lessons to get a license this year.
 Skylar had been in an ATV accident.  He  had just changed into his baseball clothes and went for a spin, as he calls it, on his ATV. He was in a skid that took him out to the edge of the road and the pizza delivery boy clipped him. He is now in the orthopedic ward in Indianapolis waiting for surgery today.  He is alert, had his helmet on at least. So thankful for that. He has a broken wrist and forearm. He has a broken toe and the rest are dislocated and a fractured heel.   The Drs. are wanting to do all these surgeries at once, so as to put him to sleep just once.
  I asking if all of you will please pray for Skylar and his family.   I will let you all know how Skylar comes along. I will truly appreciate all the prayers . Thank you.  XO

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Some Recycling.....

    I went into town this morning and bought three cheap...and I do mean cheap mums..$2.50 each.  They are a pretty rust color. I planted them by the mailbox.  If they do not last beyond this fall season..it will be fine. The limpy green plant is pachysandra.
   I pulled it up from this flower bed . I bought a flat of this ground cover while we lived in town. I think I have grown a dozen flats of it. Plus given many bunches away.
  It does not grow too tall and has a little yellow flower right in the center of each stem.
  While I was in town, I went to the park. Here's the newer type of jungle gym. It's made of nylon ropes.. There's a couple little climbing pads on it too. I mean really.....now kids can't conk their heads on metal bars...what kind of  fun is that? LOL. Recycled trees for the mulch here.
  This is the toddlers' play area. They have all plastic  equipment, which is safer. But look at the ground.
  It's shredded tires.  I'm  just not into this whole heartedly.  I would rather see just plain old grass or mulch. I worry about what could be in these recycled tires.
  Now this is awesome recycling. All the benches in out park now are made from recycled plastic lids. Plus they are donated for every purpose or group. We have a setting of four benches all dedicated to the vets of all wars.
  This bench is for all vets. I notice today there are  some now in a newer color of tan.  They were up by the gazebo.
 This is also a good recycled project. The little sheltered area for the water fountain . Instead of tearing it down, they just got a new fountain. Painted up in a bright color with  cartoon like drawings on it. Love this. There's a yellow one by the toddlers' area.
   Hope everyone's enjoying  their week.   XO

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

From The Parking Lot.....

  These are shots from the pool parking lot. Past the line of weeds and scrub is the local golf course. Now that's a lawn I love to look at.
 Opposite side of the course is the playground in our city park.  You can see the line of trees in the foreground.....that's the creek edge.
  Here's the pool . Empty and already turning green ....I think it's closed for the season already, what with school in session.  I think there's a pool at school for meets. Sure hope so. I need to check that out. I know there was not one originally.
 Here's the boy scout cabin. where the scouts have outings on their grounds and meetings. This is right on the creek too.
 Then next door to the scout grounds is our Heritage  Museum. All kinds of artifacts of our area . The sad part of this museum is it is only open a couple days or you have to make an appointment to go there. My sisters and I keep saying we should go...but we have not gone yet.
  The park, pool, golf course, schools, cemetery, scout building, museum . Then there's the ball diamonds. All near the hospital.  Which is near the nursing homes, doctors offices and 4-H.
   So if you drive to that part of town, you'll see many people on nice days. It's an active part of our little town.   Super hot day when I took these photos, so not many people out then.
   Hope everyone is doing well and loving their summer's end. Speaking of Summer's End...there a festival by that name in Rossville a few towns to the west. It will be going on in a couple weeks.   Smile today XO

Monday, August 17, 2015

Weekend Things...

     Well the fellow who farms the field across from us finally mowed his ditch. He hit the power pole which carries phone lines .  Hitting it once and it swayed, that was scary. There's a transformer on the top.
  So he backs up and hits it again, cutting the phone lines.
   He did not do such a good job mowing either.  My neighbors lost all their phone service. Thankfully I did not. This was on Saturday afternoon, so the kids next door will maybe get the lines repaired today.  The neighbor went out and told the fellow mowing what he had done and pointed it out. The fellow has the nerve to tell the neighbor then maybe you would like to mow this ditch .What gall !!  My neighbor told him he had a bad attitude and needed to be more careful.
  In the mean time... something pretty has happened. I saw one clematis flower blooming, at the top of the plant. Our clematis is finished blooming in June and I have never seen one this late here.
  It rained again yesterday.  We've been getting little pop up showers...although this one was a pop up storm. Some lightening and thunder.
   I mostly did household chores this weekend. Plus some letter writing. Hope all of you had a good weekend and did some fun things. XO

Friday, August 14, 2015

Work & Fun....

   This is the fun part. I finally caught a shot of one of the hummingbirds. Not a great shot, but you can see it's a hummer.
  Painted the mailbox today.  Really need a new one, but maybe this paint job will make this one last another year.  Our neighbor who is a farmer, even thinks the farmer who farms this field across from us , is being lazy about mowing his ditches. :):)
  While painting , I also touched up a few other things I had used the same paint on last year.  Everything is in the driveway , still. Waiting to stain the deck. Surely Teddy Bear and I can get it done on Monday.
  Thought these mums look so pretty had to get a picture of them  Mums come in such pretty colors, don't you think they should have a pretty smell also. ??
 Plus the marigolds. I always thought bugs hated them....well not those nasty Japanese beetles. I saw some on this bunch of marigolds yesterday. I just flip them into oblivion I hope. LOL.
  Hope all of you are enjoying this great day and that the rest of  your  weekend will be filled with fun. XO

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Hummingbird Food....

   About  3- 4 years ago at the Earth Fest , in a town south of here, I bought this cookbook. I liked that it had unusual recipes .
    This Hummingbird food recipe  is one of them.  I thought I would give it a try.
  The hummers seem to like it better than the last two store bought nectars. So from now on, I am only going to make this. I am not a good hummingbird photographer. I can be sitting on the porch watching them and they will be all over the feeders, even fighting for them. As soon as I get the camera, they seem to know. :):)   There's one sitting eating in this shot, but before I could zoom in, she was gone. I do love to watch them.
  By the way there's a recipe in this cookbook that makes me laugh. It's called crock pot chicken.  Here's the recipe like it is written.  1 Box stove top stuffing , 4 boneless chicken breasts, thawed/uncooked., 1 can of cream of chicken soup.   Prepare stuffing mix. Layer in crockpot as follows: 2 chicken breasts, 1/2 the stuffing, 1/2 the soup(spread over stuffing) Repeat  layers.  Cook on low,  all day while at work ( this was what made me laugh).....These recipes are from a group of people who work in a factory near Indy.  So I could see they would be at work all day. God bless the working men and women.
   Wishing everyone a good day.  As you slide down the banister of life, don't get a splinter in your career.  (from my quotes for the day calendar).  XO

Monday, August 10, 2015

Why Decks Need Stained....



  Tracked on sand , from when we put sand in the brick walkway.
  Winter bringing down the leaves , in fall.
 This little fellow chewing the boards, from salt being put down to melt ice or frost.
  Watering plants and plenty of hot sunshine.
 Moving things around on the deck, scratching the boards.

 We can't forget this...I mean so much of it at times too. All these things take their toll on the boards...and it should have been done last year....but here it is now , a year later. It rained again this morning. So those proverbial best laid plans...LOL.  It will get done this year, for sure...just not when we thought we would have it completed.
   I know all of you have  gone through the same thing a time or two.  I am certainly not going to worry about it. I'll just be very happy when we can finish it. Remember this spring...well it was late spring. I bought a new rug and umbrella. I have yet to use the umbrella and the rug is now rolled up since it dried from the rains. . It is always something when you own a home.
   I hope all of you are keeping cool.   I know some are having very hot days.  Like our friends  in Texas.  I am just going with the flow, so I can enjoy life.  Hope you are enjoying your lives too. XO

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Sweet Days....

  We have had some wonderful blue skies and sunshine this week. It rained once in the wee hours Thursday morning.
 
  The soy beans are so pretty right now. They wave in the breeze and look like a sea of green.
   There's been gentle breezes. Not really harsh winds.  When it's warm , it's so nice to have a breeze blowing .
 The 4-H grounds was having an old fashioned farm machinery show. I caught this shot driving by.  They had perfect weather for it.
  Today I tried to stain the deck by myself. Wowwee...it's too hot at this time and I am wore out.  I have the posts and rails done..not the banisters though.  Then there the skirting and flooring. This might be a week long project. LOL.
   It has been more like summer for about ten days now. Hope all of you are enjoying this weekend. XO

Friday, August 7, 2015

Over At Lizzy's.......

   My daughter Lizzy's husband loves to can stuff. These are his green beans he canned last weekend. I took this picture on Monday, when we took  a cross that Ted had made for Liz to hang on her living room wall.  I saw Matt had all the green beans canned and sitting on the family room coffee table. I think he was going to write the dates on them.
  He also had a bunch of cucumbers , he is going to make into pickles. He had just picked them from his garden.  He grows lots of things himself. I know that Liz and Emma help him too. But Matt is the one that loves canning.
  Here's Emma and her mommy, Lizzy. They are getting ready to go to school for orientation for Emma. She had her orientation on Monday evening and then her first day of school is today. Our Emma is growing up. She and her cousins , Savannah and Skylar are the last of the grandkids still in school. The years flew by....faster each year. Hug your little ones today , all too soon they will be grown.
  We bought the stain for the deck floor, but it had rained on the deck, and now it must dry out again. We got a nice rain and even after the past two month of soooo much rain, we needed this one.
   Hope all of you are heading into a weekend filled with summer fun.  XO

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Brunch With Friends....

  Here's some of the classmate brunch bunch  meeting again.  The lady in white, Shelia,  is here from Florida. She came home to bury her husband's ashes and be with her sister.  She was my neighbor growing up.  The lady in the red top, Patty, beside her is the one who gets us all together.  Standing is Patty, Shelia, me, Linda, Phyllis, & Nancy. The two seated are Vickie and Patti. I look tall...LOL..I am only 5'4''.
  It was so nice to be with Shelia , as she isn't at most of our gathering. Her husband had been ill a few years. She is going back to Florida to take a year to think over , if she wants to move back to Tipton to be with her family. That would be a hard choice, since she has lived in Florida so long.
  The fire fighters and emergency squad were at the restaurant  too. I am not sure if they had been on  runs or practicing..
 While I am mentioning fire fighters...please take time today to pray for the fire fighters out west, that are fighting the forest fires. They are so brave, putting their lives in danger, and working in so many hours.
 After the brunch, Ted and I got the deck power washed. It's drying thoroughly now...so we can stain it come Thursday.
   Wishing all of you a beautiful day. XO