A TIME TO WEEP

With great sadness and a broken heart, I come to tell you that my sister Aiyana passed away September 27, 2013. You know by her very popular blog ( Water When Dry) ironically  her last post entry was  titled -Time to say Goodbye.  She died of complications from surgery. Sadly her beloved husband passed away four months earlier. My sister was two years older that me and that made her "THE BOSS."  I depended on her for the answers to all my life's questions.  She became a expert in everything that interested her and that was almost everything!  Our family is still in the denial stage- after all, she was "larger than life"- how could this happen????.   

 

 

To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;

 

Hello--Goodbye

BUDDY 

I watched a video on Facebook about Buddy. He is 7years old, NO TEETH, 3lbs., potty trained, gets along well with children and other dogs.  Buddy---that was my sign! I had said in the passed that Lolly Bee needed a buddy. She expects me to play toys with her throughout the day and even wants me to lay on the floor while she eats her treats!!! I make all my plans around her and sometime run out of groceries because she can't go into the store with me. I know we created this little person but it has to come to an end!  So enter Buddy. Great little dog, learned to use the doggie door in two tries, but they won't play together!!!!!! They don't fight-just tolerate each other. Guess what? Now I have twice the problem!!!! I am laying on the floor playing with two- at least Buddy doesn't have me on the floor for treats-he can't chew!. Now what?????

 

Good bye to TURR TULL

 

This past winter we put a lot of time and money into a great house for Turr Tull. This was the 4th or 8th location for a home on my postage-size lot. He always dug out, mostly ended up on the patio or dug holes in all the wrong places. He wouldn't even go inside this last place. He hated it!!! Never knew why. I found him under a slotted bench in the rain and the first freeze of the season. I put him in his dry home with a roof and porch-he left immediately

and  crawled back to the exposed area. After a few tries I finally I put him in a box in the garage for the rest of the winter. I don't have any place left to try to fix him another home, so we decided to give him to a friend that has acreage, and is all set up for turtles plus she only lives a few miles away. He will be very well taken care of. It was a sad day. Changes are suppose to be good for you, keeps the  mind young, but.... I'm not liking many of the changes that have come my way the past few years! In fact, it has the opposite effect- it's making me OLD!!!

Bathroom Remodel

 

Another  beautiful  sunset!! 

 

Another project!!!!!!! This is a big one!!!!! I have a small rental-  two bedroom one bath old, old house. In fact it was built in 1929- a Spanish-Mission style. I lived in the home off and on for a lot of years. I bought it from my Dad when I was about twenty years old..  Over the years  family and friends have lived there. I rented it out for many years without having to do much maintenance. I kept the rent very low so I was never bothered for repairs. My renter of 23 years kept the place livable and always paid on time. The last two renters never bothered with maintenance.  Well, now it is time for major projects!! Hubby is on his 4th round of chemo, but still loves to have a project to work on, so I gave him the biggest one yet!!!!! He started on the bathroom tearing out everything.  We will have new plumbing, a new window, new-used tub and sink, new lighting fixture, newly tiled floor and shower/tub surround. Next will be the kitchen and new flooring in the living room/hall. The time has come to sell the old home as we don't have the wherewithal or inclination needed to keep it rented.  We have been on the project for 4 months and even with help it looks like another 3 months. This round of chemo is kicking butt and keeping the work schedule to just a few days a week. Hubby is amazing as he keeps on keeping on! He will stay on chemo for 2 more months and that should give us another year in remission!  The house is off the ground about 2 feet and as you can see, he took out all the flooring!!!What a job!!!! 

A gorgeous ending to a wonderful day......

 

Gifts from the Heart

Sunset 5-13

 

                                           My friend Betty made this beautiful throw for me. I  have been friends with Betty for over 60 years! Each square takes 6 hours to complete.  She has a special machine that I don't understand! I never learned to sew on a machine and never had a desire to learn. She made it for my California king size bed. Now that's a lot of work and time!!!!

Each panel  is a different color and pattern. I love it! Who does that? Such a special gift from the heart!

I met Bobbie 13 years ago just as she started selling her stained glass pieces.  She is a multi talented artist and her latest creation is the beaded, embroidered fairy pillow she made for my birthday. I know the many hours that took her to complete. I don't have the talent or patience for such things and I highly admire her many talents.  I cherish both their friendships and their gifts from the heart. Thank You!

EMPTY NEST SYNDROME

After finding the hidden quail nest, I made sure they were comfortable with plenty shade and water.
 Several times a day I would check to make sure the eggs were alright. Two weeks later after checking  the nest, I found that  all the eggs had hatched and the babies were nowhere in sight!

I was sure something had eaten the mother after seeing all the feathers left in the nest. All the eggs looked like the tops were evenly cut off. I searched all afternoon for the babies never losing hope that they were close by.
Lolly Bee stayed with me never making a sound.

 I kept my camera on and ready to capture the perfect shot! When I  checked the nest once more-  I was startled to see

 they were back!!!

 

Little stripped babies, all ten of them. They didn't make a peep-just looked at me. They were so cute!  I just wanted to scoop them all up and pet them.....of course I didn't!

 On the 2nd day the father showed up walking on the block wall calling for them to leave. She marched out of the nest with all the babies in a row behind her. The perfect photo and the camera would not come on!!nothing!!-the battery was dead! &;X;#@$%#@ and a few F's ! By the time I got back outside with the camera phone on and ready they were gone!  All the waiting and time spent worried about them , they just up and leave! Just like that! Not even a look back! But I am so grateful that I did get a few shots of them in their nests. Hoping they will choose to come back next year and give me another chance.....

BLOOMING IN THE GARDEN

  Each year after the wild flower bed is cleared of the California and Shirley poppies, the struggling cosmos come to full bloom within a few days. They are already over 4 feet tall!

  The coreopsis have also enjoyed the room to grow and the full sun they recieve after the clear-out!
Hollyhocks have a few buds left on the tops. They don't look very good with the bottom flowers spent.

 

The orange jubilee that was cut to the ground after a freeze this past winter, is about 4 ft tall and has just started to bloom. I couldn't get  the root out, and when it started growing again, I didn't have the heart to cut it back. It's so fast growing, messy and I just need it to be gone! Oh well, I'll put  up with it another few months.

                                              Red and pink hibiscas blooming in time for Turr Tull who just came out from hibernating. The spring had been cooler and longer this year, and he was able to sleep awhile longer-unlike me never getting enough shut eye!

My two bower vines  have started to bloom -they will bloom untill late fall.

Blue plumbego is still a very light color. I'm not sure when they will turn the darker blue that I love.

 

Red bird of paradise will bloom till early winter- a winner for our hot, hot summers! I am dreading the next few months of hot, but the GOOD NEWS for the summer are visits from Grand daughter-great Grand kids and Grandson home on leave!!! PARTY TIME!!!!!!!!  

 

 

Beautiful evening walk...

a startled quail flew off her well hidden nest. As soon as I caught my breath I found the nest with
10 eggs!  I can't wait for them to hatch! They hatch in 17-23 days and I'm not sure

THE LAST BOUQUET

Straight across,with binoculars you could see my backyard filled with flowers. Until today.....

 The last bouquet picked, seeds were gathered ....

 spring is over!

Arizona Spring

I had the last post almost ready to publish...bam! pictures post -words were gone without me touching a thing. I'm somewhat afraid to compose my blog..... no telling what might show up and you find out about me! LOL --Will try again.....

 This morning's sunrise.

Lolly Bee never barks at any birds that come to the back yard..occasionally she will bark at a dog walking by, but she is not a yapper or snapper! Not sure how she would react to the bobcats that have been roaming the neighborhood! Game and fish told me not to worry-they said they don't bother people and they do a great job keeping the mice and rabbit population down, the only thing to worry about is if you have a small dog, like a chihuahua...
--HELLO that's why I'm calling!-- their advise--- just don't let her out of your sight!  She is not allowed outside without me!  More quail  have been on  the view fence-guess they are were more afraid of Lolly than the bobcats!!

 

 

Texas Olive tree - No fruit-just beautiful clusters of flowers blooming all spring and summer.

 

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 Nasturtium -I always plant pots of nasturtium around the yard..this year a few plants grew in my flower beds and have overtaken large areas. While the pots are looking scraggly, the in ground plants are fast growing,beautiful healthy plants.

Lupine-only had two come up in my heavily planted wildflower bed. Someday I will force myself not to over plant or at least thin some.

Loving the view's from the swing!

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 Shirley Poppies-popping up all over!

 

 My favorite-Sweet Pea! 

Lolly watching every move I make in the garden-she loves the swing as much as I do!!!!