put a smile on it

This week is not going according to my plans - in fact, this morning I chucked all my plans and I'm considering just making one long TO DO list - I can already see the title I'll get to it when I get to it - oops! there I go planning again.

We have bought a new freezer, but it wasn't in stock and it will not be delivered until next Monday.

I'm happy to report my 'replacement' bird feeder is still in great shape, built really strong I don't think I have to worry about the neighborhood squirrels destroying this one. Why would they? It can hold up to four at a time...

My birder is a squirrel meeting place. There are three in the picture.

This week my iron has quit working. Yes, I iron, especially when I quilt/sew. So I'm off to read Consumer Reports and figure out which is the best iron. Any suggestions?

Wait a minute! I've got to stop complaining, let sleeping dogs lie, and enjoy this time.  It's summer, that wonderful 'take it easy' time of year when we let go of our stresses, party with the people we love - who love us! - a time to just forget our cares and relax with a tall lemonade - bring me one, and please, put some gin in it.

Happy Longest Day of the Year!

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Lucky Me

I love to plan and I love it when a plan comes together.  Some might call it luck, but I believe "Luck" happens when hard work and preparation come together at just the right time.

Something I didn't plan was this sunflower. 

A sunflower blooming the first week of May is new for me - I'm lucky (there's that word again) if I can get them to bloom by August.  I first have to tell you I did not plant it.  A careless squirrel or bird got this beauty started for me. 

Mid April.
Yes, it seems the birdfeeder is always be slanted, I think it's because of the squirrels
or maybe I just need to get out there and straighten up the pole.

When I noticed it coming up, right next to the bird feeder, my first impulse was to pull it up.  But I just left it to see what would happen.  As I explained in my post "Moving On" (June 2011) the squirrels and I have a running battle over the bird feeder here outside the kitchen window.  This particular bird feeder ("Texas Star" - got it at Lowes) is metal.  I have had it almost a year and I love it - so do the birds and squirrels.

Last Friday I noticed that 'someone' had used the sunflower to break a fall or as a climbing aid.  Either way the flower was broken.

Too bad. I saw this and thought
"Next time I mow, I'll get rid of the poor thing."

Now here it is Tuesday morning and "TA DA!"  How lucky am I?  I have a sunflower blooming just outside my kitchen making even this cloudy day seem sunshiny.

Talk about blooming where you are planted - no matter what.

I have to put away my computer and get busy.  The carpets are scheduled to be cleaned this week, the guest room looks like a quilt bomb went off in it (I really, really need to finish my sewing room), and my neighbor stopped me while I was outside taking pictures for this post to ask me if I'd seen the article in this morning's paper about all the snakes around town...  He asked this just as I reached down to pick a few blackberries.

He looked at the blackberries in my hand and then back at the garden (imagine eyebrow raised to suggest weeding might be in order) and told me how lucky I was I didn't get snake bit.

I better get busy. 

Don't worry about me.  I will get the rooms cleaned and be ready for the carpet cleaners, I'll get back outside and finish weeding the garden (I'm sure all the snakes will have left our side of town by then), and - I've saved the best for last:  All my financial needs will be taken care of.  That's right, I got this email yesterday so I'm sure as soon as this sweet, old thing kicks the bucket, I'll be in the money. 

Maybe I was just born under a Lucky Star.



_______from the email of joyandcomfort@sbcglobal.net

__________________________*******

Re: A Call From Above,

What I am about to do is based on blind trust, hoping and praying that you will expand my wishes as desired. Just recently I have notified my bank that I am willing my fund over to you for a good, effective and prudent work.

I have lost hope because Doctors said that my chances of survival are very poor because several diagnoses confirmed that I have Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Cancer since the past two years.

My happiness is that I have also adjusted my WILL and notified my lawyer about the adjustments; all you have to do is to contact my bank through my lawyer and present yourself as my appoint charity partner if I don’t make it out from the major surgery that I will be undergoing next week.

I don’t have a child of my own and that was why I decided to will/ this huge sum of amount to you for the good work and also to help the less privileged children and widows.

Mrs. Alimatu Zainab Khalid
__________________________________********


One more thing from cJoy:  Being lucky is one thing.  Being gullible and 'just believing' may not be the way we were meant to live this life.  I'm a bit creeped out by the fact that my good fortune depends of the death of this grammatically challenged woman.  Having blind faith may not be the best way to plan for the future.  And as we all know "HUGE AMOUNT" depends entirely upon your point of view. 



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Moving On

Our next door neighbor is selling her house.   She's very nice and her daughters are so cute, I am sad to see them move.  At the same time I'm happy that they will get to live closer to her parents.   As much as I hate to see them go, I know it's best for their family, so I'm doing my part to help her sell her house. 

One of my flower beds needs a bit of weeding and a lot of water.

I am spending my early mornings weeding my flower beds.  O.K., let's be honest, I'm weeding the flower beds for me and my flowers - but my neighbor should benefit from this.  I'm also replacing my old bird feeder.  And, yes, I realize this probably benefits the birds and squirrels more than my neighbor, but it does make the side yard look 'happy' with all the wildlife roaming or flying about. 

Birdfeeders in February

And until her house sells, I promise not to grease the pole the bird feeder is on.  It's a cheap thrill, spraying the pole with Pam and watching the squirrels jump up and start to climb.  They sort of stay in place, with their paws moving frantically - like Fred Flintstone's feet just before his car moves - and then with one last effort they'll throw themselves against the pole and hang on as tight as they can... and that's when they slide down to the ground.  Like I said it's a cheap thrill.  It gives me and the squirrels something to do.  I don't think the squirrels care for this trick and once again they have made it to the feeder and have eaten through the cord that holds the top in place.  

My original bird feeder was a gift. Homemade, wooden and cute, it took the squirrels a little over a year to eat through the wood and destroy the feeder.  So I bought a plastic bird feeder.  The first one was large, some days there would be four or five doves on it.  It was a little bit creepy - they were all over the place waiting for their turn.  I now have trouble associating the words peaceful and dove. 

By the time the squirrels destroyed that feeder I knew to go with something smaller.   The next feeder I bought was destroyed in just a few weeks, so my husband used two bungee cords, one green, one yellow, to hold the top on.  I just left it like that (why waste money when the squirrels will just keep ruining the feeders?).  When anyone asked about it I told them I was going through a redneck phase.  We quickly noticed the squirrels thought little of this arrangement.  The cords started to get a fuzzy look.  We began to find bits of green and yellow nylon in the grass.  One morning, as I looked out over my kingdom, I noticed the top off the feeder and only one cord barely hanging on.  I went out to check on things and there, next to the pole, was the little yellow bungee cord, shredded.  One of the hooks was missing - it was found in the yard a month or so later.  I bought another feeder, making sure I liked it with or without the top.  

Doves guarding the topless feeder.

Now with all this work I'm doing for my neighbor I have to confess I've asked a favor of her. I want more good neighbors.  So I have come up with a little test to see who can live next door to me.  I have asked my wonderful neighbor not to paint her foyer.  It's a bold red, very nice.  I know, all the decorating shows tell you to tone it down, paint it a neutral color so the potential buyers can visualize themselves living there.  But I don't want a new neighbor too stupid to see past the red paint (if it turns out they don't like the color).  "This foyer has red walls, I can't live here."  That's right - you can't.  I want to know that my new neighbors have vision.    Maybe I should get the Pam out, I want them to have a sense of humor, too.