Another Monday June 30

Wow...tomorrow is July, birthday month for Doug and I and camping coming. Yahoo. Time flies faster than ever. Today I made it count. Started out at 7:30 with the clippers dead heading everything that needed to be clipped. I do that just about every morning and find out what needs to be spruced up. Sunday I planted the last 8 perennials that I bought Saturday at a great wholesale price only of 4.50 per gal. What a deal. Now the gardens are really stuffed with some great things. Have to admit that there are over 50 different flowers in the gardens. Sort of embarrising to say the least. It's looking like what I think an English garden looks like although I think they have fences and I don't. I counted 6 catipillers. Where are the butterflies? I had 7 other ones about three weeks ago. They are eating fennel and dill at this point. Today after looking around I decided to work on the old, old day lily bed that has just gone to pot. Weeds...day lillies moving out to the new edge of the bed with the middle having nothing but weeds of all kinds. So...I've been spraying the weeds and today I liberated the Peonys, moved some of the good surviving lillies to the northeast side of the house. The siberian iris are horrible spreading everywhere and being a big problem. Sprayed most of them also. The digging was easy because of all the rain. Can't pass that up. After that I collected all the weeds that were cut I came in and took a shower. Enough of garden work for the day. started at 7:15 and finished at 11:00. Well, after I ate and slept for about 30 minutes, I was out at it again. Crazy to say the least. The veg. garden got drowned out big time. No beans, beets were almost none existing and the what corn came up was a foot tall with tassels. So...I pulled them out, weeds were dying because they were sprayed also about 3 weeks ago and I got out the tiller and tilled up each end of the garden big time. The ground was perfect. The middle of the garden is full of milkweed and the monarch butterflies will love that so that was not disturbed but I did pull lots of weeds around the milkweed. Then off to get some seeds and planted two kinds of beans, yellow and green and some more corn. The beans should be ready first of Sept. and the corn I hope before frost. Crazy isn't it. That is if the rain doesn't do them in again. The tomatoes are great and the leaf lettuse couldn't be better. I love being outside all day long when the temp is low 70's and no humidity. What a day.

The weekend was filled with African thinking. Joshua Mbithi from Neema Children's Home was at church. The altar was filled with three 2 ft. African statues, gourds and a red and black Masi cloth. I also took two large vases of grasses. I mean huge for either side of the alter. Joshua read scripture and we had a dinner for 40 folks after church. Served toco salad, ice cream and cookies. It was a great Sunday. The ever ready bunny just keeps on hopping and beating that drum. Nothing planned for tomorrow but there will be something. That's a guarentee.

Monday Morning

Well, another busy chapter but I can't remember all the busy. Must be the oldest in the Russell part of the family that's helping this all along. We went to Nolan Russell's first birthday party. What a little cutie. Loves his cake as well as other things. I'm just back from a shoulder MRI. The event makes me think I'm in a coffin and alive. Helps to close ones' eyes and not move for 30 minutes. X-ray showed two bone spurs and this could confirm a rip in the rotator cuff. Not uncommon to happen to the left side since it happened to the right. I've got to keep this body in working shape. Thank goodness for Doctors that know how to do that. Garden is looking good. Flowers are blooming and I'm loving every minute of taking care of it. But hoeing does have it's shoulder problems come to think of it. I have about 800 stuffed animals in the livingroom in 30 bags waiting for a container on a freighter taking them to Kenya. Hope I don't need to wait to long. They will be Christmas gifts for the next few years. We also collected about 13 bags of clothing that's going in the same shippment.

Monday June 16

The rain has stopped for the moment but there is a flood of stuffed animals everywhere. Wow...Sarah Ellen asked for 150 little critters and Sunday...the last day to collect...I HOPE...brought in 300. So...there now are over 700 stuffed animals sitting in bags ready for the container going to Kenya. There is a glitch...money to send the container and there is still some medical equipment that needs to be fitted for Kenya electricity. 23 bags of animals and 14 bags of clothing are waiting. Thank goodness...no company for us. No place to sit unless it's on the patio. Not a bad place to sit come to think of it. Today's weather was perfect. I pulled lots of weeds in the front of the house, planted the last of the flowers and peppers and herbs. That is unless I buy more. It's addictive. I don't need any more. Tomatoes are looking better. They actually might make it. Tomorrow morning I'm working at church as well as Wednesday morning. Summer schedules are crazy. Wed. afternoon I'm seeing the shoulder doctor but...I screwed up my right knee about two weeks ago. Just walking...nothing crazy. It's really fat even though I've been icing it for four days. I've had my right shoulder fixed along with my left knee. Now it's seems to be more of the same with fixing. It could be time for right knee and left shoulder. It's a crazy life. Oh, well. Life could be much worse. Infact it's pretty good.

Goodness me

How time does fly. I don't even think of writing on the blog let alone have time. The Michigan kids were home this past weekend. We had a blast. I almost croked at the zoo. Way to long for this old woman but I didn't want to miss a thing. It rained big time in the morning so we went from building to building in the rain. When the dolphin show was over the rain stopped. We went to the van and ate lunch and then back at it seeing all the outdoor animals. Then we finished were we started at the butterfly gardens and the outdoor gardens which were beautiful. Sunday was church, nap time, splash pools in a Carmel Park. It was perfect for our little guys. Andrew and family joined us there. Andrew couldn't get wet enough. He splashed every minute he was there. Jacob and Adam did well also but not with the intensity of Andrew. Fun to watch them all. Playground equipment was fun also. Then home for the three birthday celebration. More gift opening. Jacob was really in to it. Monday Andrew and Kat came out during the morning and it was playing in the sandbox and wading pool. Michigan Kids left earlly afternoon. We ate, played, ate and played more. Just really fun. For the last two weeks the folks at church have answered a call for stuffed animals that we can send to Kenya via a container leaving next week. Wow...I've packed about 300 stuffed animals this week and a big bunch of clothing. More will come in Sunday. The living room is FULL. It's been a blast. Today I worked at the front desk at church, got ready for soup kitchen tomorrow, finished packing and labeling animals and cloths and then started on kits that will be given to rape victims. It's a bag full of little creature comfort things, lotion, pad of paper, gum, shower caps, etc. This is a new venture started by Sarah Ellen last spring. We sent 12 bags last fall and are ready more if I can get them into the container. Then it's getting ready for another visitor from Kenya arriving in the states a week from tomorrow. North will host with a lunch on Sunday June 29. Joshua will be at North next Thursday working in the soup kitchen and doing some other things at church. It's a crazy life. We have had buckets of rain. The garden is flooded out and there will be replanting if the ground ever dries out. I think we live in a rainforest.

Wed. May 28

I thought retirement meant that you got to slow down. Well, that's not the case. Busy, busy. Sarah Ellen is back in town for the week. Nancy Baxter was a house guest over the weekend and Monday we shopped with Sarah Ellen for things that she wants to take back to Eldoret, Kenya. We found 40 dark skinned babies at Dollar Tree for a buck. Great buy. The car was stuffed with things from Once Upon a Child, trunks, and more and we had a big car with a huge trunk. Tues...more shopping and SEM is in pretty good shape for now. I was bushed. I do the driving and SEM does the buying. This morning is working at the church desk, this afternoon is checking and fixing the gardens, tomorrow is soup kitchen and choir and Friday is another check with the doctor morning and afternoon. I'm not pleased with the looks of the skin cancer found on my nose so it's off to another doc. at 8 am to get his opinion. And I'm giving in to left shoulder pain. That appointment is at 2 pm. The problem is that it feels exactly like the right rotor cuff pain that I had before that surgery. Uck. I hate rehabs. Then inbetween it's throw out day at church into a huge dumpster. So...Friday could be an excellent day or it could be a down the drain day. Guess that's life.

Busy Tuesday

This week is fix up week. That means dentist and doctor. All is well and that's very good. It's cold here. Not cool...cold. The garden and flowerbeds are ready for warm weather. A little corn and beans are up. Could be better and maybe the sun will help. Red beets, dill, lettuse, fennel and parsley are creaping through the dirt. I'm planning on a big bunch of butterflies. Fennel, parsley and dill should help along with the butterfly bush and some other annuel flowers that are liked by butterflies. We'll see what happens. We did have a sphinx moth already. We have robin, red bird, chickdee and wren nests going in the tiny part of the back yard. Tomorrow I'm working on the desk at church till 1pm. Handbell people are having a pitch in dinner. The season is over. What fun. Nancy Baxter is coming this weekend from Cleveland and I'm hoping she stays at our house. She is a very special friend for many special reasons. And...her coming is just what I need to clean up the inside of the house. That's very good. Sarah Ellen should be back in town by the weekend.

May 17

Goodness almost a month of no blog. That's not good to keep all my friends informed. And I've got lots to talk about. Tomorrow is the last time this spring the handbells play at church. We are doing a very difficult piece and we've practiced it till it's memorized! That's a lot. Tomorrow is Adam's first birthday. We're missing it. The party is this afternoon and I know he will receive lots of attention. Jacob's birthday is the 26th. We'll see the kids the weekend of the 31st. It's called saving gas time. Gardening season is in full force. I've been having such fun. The corn is planted, the beans and redbeets are up and some of the flower seeds are also up. That doesn't mean I've missed the green houses. Some new perinnials this spring. I've always seem to need to plant something new. Yesterday and today I edged most of the flowerbeds. Wow...I have muscles I never knew I had in my back. I think I'm more obsessive complusive. Obsessed on getting it done and Cumplusive...getting it done now. Eric has some hostas that I didn't need. This week I drove to the Sullivans at Logansport for goard plants. When I arrived, they were eating morelle mushrooms that they found in their woods. Well, I asked if we could go morelle hunting and ofcourse they said yes. And I found a whole bunch. What fun. That was my first tast of morelles and hunting them. I was a bit disappointed in the eating part but the hunting certainly made up for that. The woods was beautiful with all the spring wildflowers everywhere. What a treat. Doris Douglas gave us some money to buy a membership at the zoo so Wed. afternoon I did that. It's four adults and all the grandchildren on the membership. And...ofcourse I needed to go all through the zoo to see everything Wed. afternoon. It was late in the day, a little cool and all the school children were gone. What a treat just to stroll anywhere I wanted to go. The landscaping is beautiful with thousands of prennials. The buttlefly house was just so much fun. I'm still doing a little sewing, working on finishing a pulpit banner. No hurry on this one and the preacher stole still needs to be finished up. All the handwork is finished. I'd much rather be outside so the house looks a bit neglected. I'm reading Obama's book Dreams from my Father. One worth reading. Tonight is our regular Panera run for pastries used during Hospitality time at church. I've had a shower so the flowerbeds are off limits. Can't get dirty. Tomorrow morning it's be at the church at 7am. Bell rehearsal at 7:30. Busy, busy as usual. That's the way I like it. The news channels are driving me crazy with all this political stuff. Sometimes I just turn it off but then wonder what is happening...Usually it's NOTHING happening, just a whole bunch of talk.