Happy New Year

Should auld acquaint….awww, forgetaboutit

Happy 2014

Lemonade Out of Lemons.....

Simply making the best of a bad situation. The freeze/thaw cycle was too much for this cement pot, so it crumbled into a useless heap. Not to be deterred, voila!; I made it pretty and useful once more.

And What to My Wondering Eyes Should Appear

No tiny old man and eight flying reindeer. Something more fantastical than that; the sun!

Howard is seriously contemplating the work facing me on this porch floor. I bought some floor paint this time, so hopefully it won't peel off.

It's only 43 degrees F, but the sun has made an appearance and this makes all things right again. 

How Does Your Garden Grow

Emerald green and overgrown, that is how my garden grows.

We are stuck in a low pressure system, which means it rains a lot. The green outside the window is so vibrant it looks like a bad editing job.

I will mention the devastation in Moore, Oklahoma. It is difficult to comprehend something like this, my mind doesn't grasp it. So, I feel a heaviness in my soul and I look out at an unreal green as I go to the quiet place in my humanity which allows me to carry on in the face of so much sorrow. May the people of Moore find their way, which is beyond my imagination how.

Sogged

I am doing practice runs to see if I will be able to manage the focus needed to maintain a blog once again. I've made numerous attempts in the past, without succeeding, so I really cannot say.

We are saturated. The rain is welcome, but all at once? I must shush myself, we have had a couple of years of drought; rain is good.

I am off to buy my plantings, with high hopes for this growing season, short as it is. Goodday to all.

Storms, Snores & Sundry

Time flies, whether you are having fun or not. I am surprised to see it has been six months since I last looked in here. I don't know what I've been doing but I must be occupied with something.

We got through winter by the second week of May, we stepped right into summer and have now arrived at monsoon season. All in three weeks time, gotta love Minnesota. Otherwise, it's insanity.

Howard is still Howard. My little stub muffin. Grace is her elusive self, a little stiff in the hips, but still camera shy.

Different scenery, same action; Howard is a sleeping machine. I bought a treadmill last fall, so Howie isn't the only machine in the room. I actually use the thing, imagine that!

This handsome fellow showed up at my barn in the late winter. It seems he was someone's pet which became a grown tom. I suppose the cost of neutering was too great so he was turned loose in the country. Lucky for him he moved into my hayloft because he is too friendly to make it outside. I got him neutered and gave him to my mother. As you can see, he is living large in St. Paul.

He is now Murph, Kate's yellow kitty, living the safe and happy life, enjoying sardines and beef liver. He hardly misses mouse in his diet at all.

Mother's German Shepherd died suddenly in December. She was distraught and alone, until I found sweet Emma for her. Emma is a German Shepherd/Corgi mix and really the nicest dog imaginable. She and Murphy took to one another immediately and are fast friends. My mother still misses the other dog and I am sorry for her grief, but now people can visit her.

We are going to have another storm this evening, the entire state is under tornado warning, the horses have been stuck in the barn for a couple of days with a few more likely. From statewide drought to statewide saturation, I'm not going to complain, not yet.

I guess this is all the news fit to print. Time to batten the hatches, weather the storm and hope I don't end up in Oz. 

Photo by Sam Abell

Hello blog. I see you are still here, an image, an idea, caught in the eternal grasp of cyberspace. I thought I would drop in for a look-see, wondering if there is dust on the furniture and cobwebs in the corners. I almost believe someone has been stopping by to dust, keeping things clean while I linger elsewhere.

I feel a nostalgia for the time spent here, earnestly composing thoughts, feelings and random nothings. Enjoying the release and relief you gave me when I needed it. Wandering the pages of my fellow scribblers was a welcome diversion from the life.

I lost it somehow. Poof.........gone! It started slowly, the attraction fading, the words drying and falling from my brain, parched and dusty; sawdust of the mind. One day, we simply parted, whispering we would get together again sometime soon, knowing the truth beneath the promise was, no.

I found a new place, an easy diversion: Facebook. Please, dear blog, do not judge me harshly. Once  words poured through my fingertips and traveling the sphere of ideas and intellect through the click of a mouse was a pleasing adventure. After a time it became an impossible journey. When your mind becomes as dry as the Gobi the only thing to do is status updates.

I'm glad I stopped in for a visit. Perhaps we can do it again sometime, sometime when drought will cease and thought sprouts like the dandelions in my lawn. Catch you later, gator.

Metaphorically Speaking?

In the onion drawer too long.

Something for Everyone

You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six. 

~ Yogi Berra

Yesterday, the end of humankind, today tacos and Berra, served up on a blog. Lunch was good, the ground is saturated and I will do almost anything to avoid cleaning the house. That's all the news fit to print.

Now we all know why I retired the blog. : )

Stuff & Such

The earth laughs in flowers ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am a distant relative of Ralph, as we call him in the family, on my father's side. My one and only claim to fame, as it is passed down the family tree.

The earth isn't laughing so much of late, I think. She is having a conniption fit over our lack of care and understanding and I believe she will have the last bitter laugh if we are not careful of her.

Phytoplankton is not reproducing at an adequate rate. Phytoplankton is that microscopic stuff floating on the oceans surface which provides food for much of the marine life, and this is important, it provides about 50% of the earths oxygen. In other words, if this continues, we are screwed.

And the beat goes on........