what was he thinking?

First, I want to say Craig is an excellent cook!

He can go thru the fridge and cupboards and whip up a great meal. Not even use a recipe. But........
the other evening, he decided he wanted a snack. And, in particular, a cheese omelet.
Well, he goes and gets the Egg Beaters, and pours some in the pan, looks for the cheese, nothing.

But now he has his heart set on a cheese omelet.
So, being the creative cook he is,
grabs my bag of Cheetos, thinking,
cheesy flavor right?..... should melt right in!

Wrong!

Stayed crunchy, and not in a good
cheese omelet kind of way! And after a couple of bites,
he wasn't in the mood for a cheese omelet anymore.
So boys and girls, don't try this at home.
Cheetos is a stand alone snack!

In other news,
we are under a freeze warning, which means any flowering trees will be history by noon. It is currently 28 out while typing this. Our Star magnolia is done blooming, as is our Weeping Cherry.
But our 2 Flowering crabs are all budded up. Don't know if they are too far along or not. I'll know when I come home from work today. I moved any divisions of plants for my sale I think might be too leafed out, into the shed. (ferns, hostas, and a few others) They might have been okay, but better to be safe than sorry. It's a lot of work digging and dividing and replanting and potting.
I even turned on the furnace in the mo-ho. Don't want the pipes to freeze!
I'll let you know how we did.

As Spring continues

Another nice day in the yard.

Temps near 60.

Took out the rest of the 3rd perennial bed,

leveled and seeded it.

Grass is starting in the first one.

Will show before and after pics,

once the grass fills in.

I think it will look good.

And be less weeding for me!

And of course a few pics.

The first is a Flowering Peach.

Second is a Rose Tree of China.

One of my favorites!
Click on the 3rd pic!
They look like little pink carnations!

And as with all flowering shrubs,

they will last a week or two at the most.

But that is what's so cool about gardening,

always something else to see!

And so far,

I have 200 plants potted

up for my plant sale.
Right now, they are in

several parts of the yard.

I'll group them all together,

when I get a little more time.

My goal is to have about 250.

Last year I had 230.

I hope I have enough pots!

We have a cold front going thru today,

bringing rain, snow, (yuk!)

and colder temps, so I'll probably

be indoors working on the

name tags for the plant sale

and printing pics of the flowers,

since most of them won't be in

bloom for the sale,

and people want to see

what they're buying.

The sale is a lot of work,

but it's gas money for the mo-ho,

and they need thinning anyway!

funny friday

For our ff this week, a short 6 question quiz.
I bet you can't answer them all!

1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.
2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?
3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?
4. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters " dw" and they are all common words. Name two of them.
5. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, pro cessed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.
6. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter "S."
.
.
.
.

Answers To Quiz:
.
.
1. The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends . . Boxing
2. North American landmark constantly moving backward. Niagara Falls ; (The rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.)
3. Only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons . Asparagus and rhubarb.
4. Three English words beginning with dw: Dwarf, dwell and dwindle.
5. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh. Lettuce.
6. Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with "S": Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings, stilts.

Have a great weekend!

It was good

Yes! We had just the best weather for this time of year! Low 70's (should be about 60) every day of my weekend. (Sun-Tues) And I took advantage of every minute. The big project this year is removing most of 3 perennial beds that have been giving me fits. They are the ones surrounding the fountain in this pic from last year.

They may look okay in the pic, but being in the middle of the yard, they're always dry, and they're always full of grass and weeds. You can see in the pic, the rest of my beds circle the perimeter of the yard. And I want to make the fountain more of a focal point, since it is in the middle of the yard.
I've removed 2 of the beds so far, and either potted up the plants for my plant sale, or transplanted them to other beds. I'll show a before and after pic when I'm done. So far 120 plants potted up for my sale, with 5 weeks to go. Should have more than last year (which was 230).
And now back to work in the Salon. I need some rest!

Spring bursts forth!

Spring has exploded!
Thanks to the unusually warm
weather we've had recently.
Our Star Magnolia has
come into full bloom.
As have the Daffodils,
and Hyacinths.
And assorted early spring bulbs.



A favorite Daffodil of mine is Rip Van Winkle.
A dwarf variety, and sooo cute!
We've also had a couple
of visitors in the yard.

First, a snapping turtle.
Now, I don't know how
he/she(how do you tell ?) got in the yard.
I have chicken wire all around the back yard.
Guess I better check on that.
I took him over to the creek,
just out of my yard,
He'll dig up my flower beds
when it makes it's nest.
So I don't want them!

And next is a Garter Snake.
Up near my deck.
But they're good,
they eat mice and voles,
even though they;re a bit scary!
So life has sprung forth!
and everything has come up so quickly!
I've been busy taking out 3 perennial beds. They have become such grass and weed pits! And I've begun digging and dividing perennials for my plant sale. Need more mo-ho gas money!
So much work to do! But it's suppose to be nice for the next 2 days, so I expect I'll get a lot done!
So I haven't visited many blogs lately, cause I am sooo busy! I'll try to catch up soon!

funny friday

Our weather has become unbelievably great! Forecast for this weekend...70! Every day! Looks like I'll be out in the yard all weekend! So much to do! So if you don't hear from me, don't worry, I'll be back!
And now, our ff..........

A man was in a long line at Walmart. As he got to the register he realized he had forgotten to get condoms, so he asked the checkout girl if she could have some brought up to the register.
She asked, 'What size condoms?'
The customer replied that he didn't know. She asked him to drop his pants. He did.
She reached over the counter, grabbed hold of him and called over the intercom, 'One box of large condoms, Register 5.'
The next man in line thought this was interesting, and like most of us, was up for a cheap thrill.
When he got up to the register, he told the checker that he too had forgotten to get condoms, and asked if she could have some brought to the register for him.
She asked him what size, and he stated that he didn't know. She asked him to drop his pants. He did.
She gave him a quick feel, picked up the intercom and said, 'One box of medium-sized condoms, Register 5.'
A few customers back was this teenage boy. He thought what he had seen was way too cool. He had never had any type of sexual contact with a live female, so he thought this was his chance.
When he got to the register he told the checker he needed some condoms.
She asked him what size and he said he didn't know.? She asked him to drop his pants and he did. She reached over the counter, gave him a quick squeeze, then picked up the intercom and said...
(you'll love this one...................)
.
.
.

'Cleanup, Register 5'

Have a great weekend!

St Louis day 3

Our 3rd and final day in St Louis.

The weather was finally looking up. Still cold,

(37 degrees when we got up)

but sunny and a forecast high of 53.
So I made Craig and myself a couple of Lattes,

and across the river to get a closer look at the Arch.

Now I've seen it before, but it is such a sight,

you can always see it again.

And I've been up in the top of it before,

so I didn't need to do that again.

The view really isn't all that much. But the park it sits in is beautiful.

Heading down towards the river,

you can see the water is quite high.

They've had lot's of rain this spring.

The water is just coming over the

road that runs along the river front.

Click on the pic and you'll see a road

going into the river. There is water now

where there is usually parking.

But the river isn't any where near flooding the city.

See the bridge in the background? That's just about how high the city is above the river.

After the Arch, is was off to the Zoo.

St Louis has a first class zoo.

One of the nicest we've see.

And a beautiful spring day to see it.

If you like animal pics, the rest are here.

After a busy morning, we were hungry,

so since we were near the West End neighborhood (where I lived some 30 years ago) we went there to explore and eat. And we ended up at Cullpeper's. Great little place, with good food! During our exploring, we even saw the building I rented a studio apartment in when I lived here. But soo much has changed. And they are building like crazy here. The West End has always been an eclectic neighborhood. And it still is, but now it looks like it's becoming more trendy.

Well with a little time left,

we headed over to Union Station.

I just love interesting Architecture,

and this building has it!

They renovated it some years ago, adding a hotel and shops and restaurants. Though on this visit we saw a lot of the stores closed and empty. That seems to happen in a lot of cities, where they rehab an area, it's a hot spot for a while, and then goes down hill. Hope they can prevent that here.

Here's a pic of me across the street

from the station in front of this very cool fountain.

So it was back to the RV Park, and get the car back on the Car Kaddy, get it hooked up,

so we'll be ready first thing in the morning

for the long 9 hour drive home.

So that's our first trip of the season!

We made it there and back safe.

Only one minor issue, (the hot water heater from 2 posts back)

But met some very nice people,(John and Derek in person!)

And had a real good time! (despite the weather)

So now it's time to whip this yard of mine into shape. Spring is finally here!

Oh, and if you want to see the rest of the trip pics, they're here.

St Louis, day 2

Good morning!
I think I've finally recovered from the long day yesterday.
9 hours isn't really that long of a drive, at least not in a car,
but in a big ol motor home, it's too long.
But here's another pic of Craig, our mo-ho,
and our beautiful park and view.
What? you don't see Craig?
Look closer! tee hee.
Now the weather just did not want to cooperate.
Woke up on Sunday, 33 degrees.
Reached a high of 43 degrees.
I coulda stayed in Lansing for that!
But the weather wasn't the main reason for coming.
You did read the last post, right? There were 3 of them.....


So, we were invited to breakfast on Sunday,
with John, Derek, and some members
of the St Louis camping club.
Here's a pic of Derek, on the left, and John.
This is a pic I took from their blog,
since I forgot to take one myself.
Like I said before, they're super nice guys. Wish we could have spent more time with them. But John just e-mailed me their camping schedule. So maybe......
They took us to a little restaurant on the south side of the city, Crusoe's. I knew when we arrived, it'd be good food! There were 3 police cars in the parking lot. Cops know where to get good food cheap. And it was! So after breakfast and visiting, Craig and I, (not wanting to bore them doing tourist stuff) thanked the guys for their hospitality, and headed out.
So, with the weather cold and wet, (yes we had rain too!) We decide to hit the Casino.( I don't know why, we always lose) And after an hour or so, we did.(told ya!)
So we went out to Walmart, and got some long phone cords. When we checked into the park, they said they have Internet, but it's dial-up.( can you freakin believe that?) So we get the access number, hook up the phone lines, and no go. it'd dial and get a busy signal every time. The people at the desk were no help at all. They thought there should be more numbers, but no-one could find them. I can't believe I'm the first person in this park wanting to use the Internet. And I can't f#%*ing believe a Casino can't afford wi-fi!
Anyway I decided to give up and go with out. It won't kill me to go a few days with out the Internet.


So with the weather still cold and wet,
we headed over to Laclede's Landing.
Can you see me in the pic?
No? Come on... look closer!
They have another Casino there.
You'd think we would have learned
from the first one, but nooooo,
Had to take another hit.
So tired of this we got some dinner at
Hannegan's. Very good!
So that was day 2. Day 3 is looking to be better weather. Sunny and low 50's. I'll let you know, that's my next post.

St Louis, day 1

Yea! Our first mo-Ho trip of the season!
And I'm late with this post because I had no wi-fi where we stayed. But more about that later!
We left friday after work, driving for 2 1/2 hours in rain, wind, and even a period of sleet. We arrived at a KOA campground, near Ft, Wayne, Indiana. There we spent the first night. On Saturday, we drove for 7 hours, with occasional rain, and a lot of wind. And let me just say, it's not much fun driving a big box in wind! Not to mention the toll on the gas millage! But, we finally made it to the Casino Queen RV Park in East Saint Louis. We were right across the river from Downtown St Louis, and the Arch, What a view!(click on the pic for a larger view of Craig at our site) And apparently, the winter weather decided to follow us down. It was 45 degrees when we arrived at 2:30. And that was as warm as it got! And did I mention the rain and wind! Bone chllin cold! But we got settled into our RV space, and then I worked on a problem with our water heater. That morning, when I turned on the hot water, I'd get very hot water for about 10 seconds, and then it would turn cold. Our water heater will run on electric, or propane, and I had it on electric.(always use campground power before your propane, save yourself money) So I turned it to propane. After letting it heat a while, the best it would do was very hot for about 10 seconds, and then barely warm. So I took a quick shower, and woke up Craig. He decide no shower was better than a cold one, so we got ourselves together and hit the road, figuing we'll deal with it in St Louis. So First thing I thought was the tank wasn't filling all the way. Air must be trapped or something, so I manually drained the tank and refilled it. That didn't work. Same thing, hot for about 10 seconds, than cold. We thought and thought. There's something that's not right. Than Craig said maybe there's some kind of bypass. And it hit me! When you winterize the mo-ho, after you drain the hot water tank, you turn off the inlet, and outlet, and open the bybass, so you don't fill the tank with antifreeze. Well, I forgot to close the bypass when we un-winterized it! So when I turned on the hot water, I was sucking cold water thru the bypass! How stupid! But it is our first trip in over 5 months. Let's hope that's the worst thing I forget! So Craig took himself a nice hot shower, and we left to meet a couple of guys for dinner that I've been stalking(okay, just reading) online for about 2 years. John and Derek. They are fulltiming in their motor home and are currently living and working in St Louis. They are staying at the St Louis RV Park. Since Craig and I have thought about fulltiming some day, It's been interesting following them and seeing how they're doing it. We've also e-mailed back and forth as I explored and probed their thoughts and ideas. So that was 1 of the 3 reasons we chose St Louis for our first trip. 2. Was to enjoy warmer weather,(that f#%&ing didn't happen) and 3. I lived here for a couple of years back in '71'-'73', And wanted to reconnect to part of my past. Well 2 out of 3 ain't bad! So John and Derek invited us over to their mo-ho to visit a little before dinner. Well, they're just as nice in person as on they're blog. We had a fun visit, and they took us to a neighborhood micro brewery for dinner that you probably wouldn't find being a tourist. I'm not much of a beer drinker, but always an adventerous diner, so on Dereks recomendation, I tried a light wheat ale, and liked it very much! Dinner was also good and apparently we didn't bore them too much, as they invited us for breakfast the next morning. But that'll be another post, as I've rambled on long enough today.
It's good to have the internet again!

funny friday

Our ff this week comes from Dave in......actually, I don't know where the hell he is at the moment, but anyway, here goes......

This guy ended up with an older woman at a club last night.
She looked OK for a 57 -year-old.
In fact, she wasn't too bad at all, and he found himself thinking that she probably had a hot daughter. They drank a bit, and had a bit of a snuggle, and she asked if he'd ever had a Sportsman's Double. 'What's that?' he asked 'It's a mother and daughter threesome,' she said.

He said, 'No' - excitedly.
They drank a bit more, and then she says that tonight was 'your lucky night'.

They went back to her place.
She put on the hall light and shouted upstairs: 'Mom, you still awake?

tee hee, I thought that was soo funny!
We have a great weekend planned, I'll tell you more later. How about you?

Have a great weekend!

YES!

It was a good weekend!
We had the best weather so far this year! Low 60's all weekend! I got soooo much done out side! And it felt soooo good! The mo-ho is ready for it's first trip. And I cut down almost every perennial I didn't get to last fall. I also scooped debris out of the pond and treated it to clear up the water. We cooked on the grill, (oh so tasty!)
It feels so good to be outside again!

I also cut some Pussy Willows for the Salon.
Here's Craig next to them.
I grow them extra long.
E-mail me and I'll tell you my secret.

It's Spring at last!

Yes! Finally! Spring has arrived!

We are finally reaching "normal"
temps for this time of year,
after a colder than normal March.
Here's a pic of the first flower in my yard.
It's a Dwarf Dutch Iris. Only 6 inches tall.
And the Pussy Willows are finally blooming.
They should have bloomed in Mid March.

So I took advantage of the weather,

and un-winterized the water system

of the motor home.

Had to drain out all the antifreeze,

Flush out all the lines,

and sanitize the fresh water tank.

Also finished stocking the mo-ho for our first trip.

And finally, cleaned and sealed the roof of the mo-ho.

If you click on the pics,

you'll see that there is a seam

that runs around the edge of the roof.

The roof itself is a rubber compound.

The reason the roof is rubber, is for a quieter ride and quieter for "living" in. Anyone whose been in a building with a metal roof when it rains, will understand.
Today I'd like to wash the outside of the mo-ho, and do some yard work. I still have a lot of perennials to cut back before new growth starts. But it's suppose to rain today, so I'll wait and see. But I'll take rain over that other 4 letter word!

A day in the Salon

This post is a conversation I had yesterday with one of my customers.
I believe she is in the early stages of Alzheimer's.
She comes in every week for a shampoo, blo-dry, and curl.
Her Husband brings her in.
This is the conversation we had while I was drying and curling her hair....
her.."did you color my hair?"
me.. " a couple of weeks ago, isn't the color nice?"
her.." I like it!"
me.." I thought you would."
her.."do you work late today?"
me.. "till about 3, I started at 7:30 this morning."
her.. "ohh!"
her.. "did you color my hair?"
me. "a couple of weeks ago, do you like it?"
her.."yes I do!"
me.."I thought you would."
her.."do you work late today?"
me.. "only till 3 today."
her.. "can I get my hair done next week?"
me.. "how about next Friday, same time."
her.. "okay."
her.."did you color my hair?"
me.. I did, a couple of weeks ago. Isn't it nice?"
her.."yes!"
her.. "can I get a standing appointment every week?"
me.."how about every Friday at this same time?"
her.."okay."
And so it goes, every week, just about the same conversation.
After having several customers with Alzheimer's, I've learned how to talk with them. If I ask them a question that makes them think, they'll usually get upset if not able to answer it, so it's best to just go along with what they want to talk about.
Over the years, I've seen lot's of customers afflicted with various diseases. It's then I remind myself how fortunate I am to be healthy. And I can only hope I stay that way.

funny friday

I stole today's Funny Friday from Mike. He's always got some good one's.

Have a great weekend!

Almost ready

We've just about got the mo-ho ready for our first trip.

Here's a pic for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

For pics of the inside, look here.

I spent Monday putting the bedding and towels back in.

Trickle charged the dump battery.

We use a Macerator pump to empty our holding tanks.

And to power it, it has 2 alligator clips we attach to a 12 volt battery.

Put fresh batteries in the Carbon Monoxide Detector and the Smoke Detector, and the TV, DVD, and VCR remotes.

Then it was time to check all the tires for proper inflation. Under inflated tires will blow quickly with all the weight they have to carry. So upon checking, they were all about 75-77 and should be between 83-85. So I got out our little air compressor, and started filling them. In no time the compressor quit. I blew a fuse. replaced the fuse and it blew again. So when all else fails, read the directions. ( I'm always putting things together before I read directions)

Apparently I can't use this on high pressure things like big tires.

Now I don't understand that because I used this same one all last year!

But it clearly wasn't working this year.

So off to TSC for a bigger one.

And here's a pic of the little beauty.

This baby has it all!

Besides being a powerful compressor,

it has a rechargeable battery,

And a 12volt DC output.

Next weekend we will un-winterize

the water system, (it's currently full of RV antifreeze)

and then we'll be ready for our first trip

to St Louis MO!