Roses

I went a little rose crazy this weekend. You can stop on lots of street corners when you go to Tyler, TX (the Rose Capital of the World) and buy a dozen roses for $2.50. Not generally the longstemmed variety, but still beautiful for bouquets. I bought several dozen this past weekend on my way through Tyler and put them all over the farmhouse. I love roses. I had such a lovely fragrance in the house this weekend. I put them in every room. Mostly pinks, but did buy some red ones, too. I wanted yellow, but they were out at the stop I went to.

Here's pink roses in the Princess's room in a little vintage ceramic rose pitcher that came from great cousin Dorice. It has eight little bitty teacups that go with it. Isn't it adorable?

It usually sits in the china cabinet, but I pulled it out and thought it made a great vase for these roses.

See this great vintage bedtray? What a find! I went to an estate sale last week. It was a good sale - I think this is the one that I called Margo about and asked if it was good - I knew she'd probably beat me there. She said yes, it was loaded. So I went. I found a few items like some steak knives for the farmhouse which I didn't have yet and a couple of plates, some doilies (Hubby is going to scream if I buy any more doilies), and a tea pitcher. I went out to the garage at the sale and spied a lady carrying this cute bedtray around. She kept looking at it like she wasn't sure she actually wanted it. I tried to look inconspicuous as I followed her around the sale. I hope she didn't notice me drooling and shadowing her. She went around one way and I headed her off at the pass darting through another room. I probably looked like that ferret I compared myself to one time way back slinking in and out trying to keep tabs on her. After about 20 minutes tailing her, I saw her make her way back to the garage. Aha! She gave the tray one last longing look before putting it back where she probably picked it up. She meandered off another direction, and I closed in for the KILL, snatched it up and hugged it to my chest! It was MINE! and for only $3!!! What a steal! It's so cute - vintage green and it has a rose applique or decal on one corner. It has legs that fold out, OR a little wedge you can stand it up on, and read a book on it. It has a few little dings on it, but it only adds character of course, but it works great! I cleaned it up and will display it proudly in my farmhouse and use it from time to time! It also folds up completely and could be used for a smashing tea tray! Lucky ME!

More pink roses and some red ones, too, on the little table in my living room. Like my crooked silver candlestick??? Garage sale...

After the weekend, I tied all the dozens up into ribbons and hung them upside down. I'm sure some the petals will fall off, and I can put them in little dishes for pot pourri, but they usually will stay intact enough to tie a beautiful ribbon on and hang upside down on the wall or put in a vase. I love dried roses.

I hope you had a great weekend. We did. Stayed at the farm, worked in the garden, and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine. Heard some great messages at church on Sunday.

As I look back at the beautiful colors on these roses, it always amazes me at the variety of color that God created. He didn't have to make us such a technicolor world but HE did, and I'm so glad! What a blessing vision is, too. How people can look around them and not notice nature and all the abounding variety of plant and animal life and the abundance of color and not believe in God is beyond me. How all the physical things and ecosystems work together in perfect harmony - it's way over my head. It's way over all our heads - it's heavenly. Vickie

Kid stuff

Paladin - Remember this guy??? From the 50's??? Man, HE was my hero. I was four years old. I came into this world LOVING horses, cowboys and indians. My momma and daddy bought me a beautiful palomino spring horse - a nice one - a big one - not one of those little bitty ones - when I was four. Actually I think Santa brought it. Anyway, I loved Paladin. Santa brought me a black cowboy outfit - black jeans, red shirt with REAL black fringe (I loved fringe), black cowboy boots with red stitching, a black hat, AND a black holster with silver six-guns. I had a black bandana, too. I WAS Paladin. I watched every single episode at 4 years old, and rode my horse through the entire thing and dreamed of being like Paladin. Remember the song??? " '... Have gun, will travel ' " reads the card of a man, A Knight without honor in a savage land... " He always got his man! (I have a photo of me as Paladin, but my scanner is not working on my printer... darn. I need a new one. ) I was very cute - my momma said - I had white blonde hair that fell into tight little ringlets that she couldn't hardly get a brush through. It's still curly, and I fight with it on a daily basis.

Don't know what brought this up except that I was cruising some other blogs the other day, and one of them, (sorry I don't remember which) was talking about things they used to play as a child. I didn't much play with dolls. I was a tomboy. Me, my sister, and our two best friends across the street played Tarzan and chimps, Cowboys and Indians, motorcycle gangs with cardboard clipped to our bicycle spokes, and regularly scoured the neighborhood creeks for crawdads and minnows and got stitches and poison ivy. We caught all kinds of lizards - my favorite - the horny toad, which you can hardly find anymore cuz they are losing their habitat. We caught birds, and I even had a pet squirrel named Shorty, with half a tail, my daddy brought home from a hunting trip.

I had a Troll house and lots of trolls - do those count as dolls? I also had a bunch of Liddle Kiddles. Remember those little guys? They were fun to collect. I did have a few dolls but they mostly laid in their cradle and got dusty...

I was not very ladylike, I'm afraid. But I had the best fun. My friend across the street became a neo-natologist - she's a genius, literally and a prodigy on the piano. But she never married - she's married to her career. I fancy I must be happier to have all these people I love in my life - my husband and children. But I'm sure she's happy helping so many little babies and families, too.

Guess I became a little more lady-like when I became interested in boys - but not till I was about 15 - I was a late bloomer. I hated growing boobs, and periods and bras and all that girl crap. What an inconvenience and what a pain! I wanted to be a boy so bad (it had nothing to do with being a transexual or anything - I just didn't want to act girly). I hated when the girls started wearing make-up and bras and dressing up and flirting with the boys, cuz I didn't want to do that yet, and I felt pressured to keep up with the others. I was SO uncomfortable. They all seemed so GOOD at being a girl - I always felt awkward and stupid. I guess I did okay, tho...

Now, I wouldn't trade places with any man on this earth! Oh, the complete and utter joy of giving birth to a little one. HOW IN THE WORLD can you love anything more than your own baby??? After my first one, I wondered how could I have enough love for the second one. Could I really love him as much as the first? That question was answered immediately when the nurse put Josh in my arms. I guess it's the same for the 10th baby as for the second. You love them all. Your heart always has enough love in it for more. AND what's more - to think that God loves us more than we love our own babies? How can that be? My love for my kids is infinite, just like I know yours is. Wow, I can hardly wrap my brain around that thought.....

Weekend at the Farm

What a nice weekend we had at the farm! The breeze was blowing, the sun was out, and my husband and I worked in our garden and in the yard. We added purple hull peas, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. I'll have to post some photos later as Princess had my camera this weekend... Besides, it'll look better when the seeds sprout and start coming up. I know we're a little behind schedule but that's okay - better late than never.

We took some time out to spend Saturday evening with dear friends. Hubby grilled hamburgers and we 4 sat on the back deck in the shirt-sleeve evening and listened to the scissortails fussin' and generally caught up after this long hiatus of me being sick. It was so good to visit. It was even better to feel normal.

We have a snake of some sort living in the hollowed out hackberry tree. It's a huge tree that is going to have to be cut down soon. It's still alive and gives us great shade out by the garden shed, but I'm afraid it's going to get blown down and fall on our revamped shed. Anyway, I was walking around the tree Sunday afternoon and kicked the pile of lumber lying nearby to see if I could rattle up the field mice that DH said he saw. I didn't see any mice, but rounded the tree, and found a nice sized black snake peering out of the hollow trying to see if his dinner was making an appearance. When he saw I wasn't a mouse, he retreated into the hollow. Well, now I'm not generally afraid of snakes, but I was not expecting this and I bolted backwards and my heart jumped in my throat.

an aside........Did I ever tell you that I was "mom of the century" because I got into the pet snake project with my middle son for several years?????? I used to handle them along with him and we had to buy pinkie mice to keep in the freezer for them to eat. We've had rat snakes, water snakes, corn snakes. All pretty harmless, except one of the big black rat snakes got loose in the house and when I found him under a chest of drawers and pulled him out he got mad and latched onto my baby finger with his little row of sharp teeth. They don't have big fangs since they're not poisoness, but it still hurts. Well, that rat snake, if he's alive somewhere, probably still has a terrible headache because I slung him as hard as I could across the room to get him off my finger. He seemed okay. We got rid of him , took him back to the pet store- I wouldn't have a snake that would bite me. The king snake got loose one time and we found him in my daughter's closet. She was probably about 9 or 10 at the time, and was none too happy about it. We had all kinds of reptiles at the time. We also took Josh to the Sweetwater, Tx, Rattlesnake Roundup - boy was that a trip! There were some hippie-lookin' people there protesting with signs about the cruelty to the snakes. My husband, Bubba of the year, went over to them with his stuffed rattlesnake and hatband and asked if he could get his photo made with them. They said "yeah, sure" before they had time to think about it, and I snapped a picture. Then they realized what had just occurred and came back with some not so nice comments!

Now I don't know how you all feel about cruelty to snakes, but there are so many of them out there, that they smoke them out of their burrows and take hundreds to a big community center or pavillion or arena...anyway they put them in these pits and handlers will get in the pits and pick them up, sometimes getting bit (but they keep the anti-venom there) and they show how they are milked for their venom. They have another place there where they humanely(?) chop the heads off, skin them, and then fry the meat. It's not bad - tastes like chicken ..... How in the world did I get off on this subject..................

THat was a LONG ASIDE, wasn't it???? I called for DH and and he got his machete and hoe and proceeded to dig the rotten wood out of the tree. Well, we never did find the snake. I don't know if he went in the woodpile or not. I think it might have been a king snake, and if so, I'll leave him alone to eat mice. We had a king snake for awhile. Don't think it was black racer cuz he was too big around. It wasn't a copperhead, cuz I already killed one of those. Could have been a rat snake I guess. If it wasn't any of those, then it probably was a cottonmouth, altho there is no water around the shed. I'll have to get back with you on that one after we find him again. Would you like to see a picture of the soon to be headless snake? Check back....

Sunday was good - went to church and then spent the afternoon basking in the sun and breeze at the farm once again - is this boring you? Seems like that's all we do, but I need it. It's therapy for me. What was going to be MY garden this year actually turned out to be Hubby's garden this year, but that's okay. It's not going to be as big or have as many items in it, but there's always next year, Lord willing.

Well, for me to not have much to talk about, this turned out to be a rather long post. Sorry, I get carried away.

I also wanted to thank Margo for a really nice lunch last week. We enjoyed "just visitin'" this time, no business - she's a sweet lady and I hope we will become fast friends!

Hey, let me know - I changed the font and width of my blog and I need to know if this is too hard for ya'll to read and should I change it back? I don't want people to not read it, so please let me know. I gotta to figure out how to stretch whatever photo I put for my header, too. I need a new one anyway - Take care, friends - Vickie

New Farm Photos

Good evening all-

I've taken some photos of the farm this past weekend. Things are coming up green all over. And Pink and purple and yellow! I'm SOOOOOO behind on getting my garden out what with being sick and all. I have to learn to roll with the punches I guess. Anyway, thought I'd give you a little tour of the little bit we've done this spring so far...

I couldn't help but buy petunias and bouganvilla - they thrill my heart to see these brilliant colors that no paintbrush can match! Only God can make these colors! I set out some periwinkles, some little gardenia bushes (love that heavenly aroma) and we got our garden started. Dad's garden is well on its way. Mine will be a little behind, and if I don't get it out at all this year, I guess that'll be okay. We did get the onions, red potatoes, and carrots out. I've got seed for corn, squash, pole beans, purple hull peas and cucumbers. And tomato plants and pepper plants on the way.

Here's a little shot of the garden shed we revamped from that old dangerously leaning shed. We're going to run water and electric out there soon.

My husband set out peach and plum trees which already have little tiny fruits on them. We might get a couple if the crows don't get them. It's only their first year - I wasn't expecting them to have any fruit on them this year at all. We also have some new pecan trees.

Here are my gladioulus coming up. My grandmother's name was Gladys Ola, and my mama always told me that she was named after these flowers. I love them. They make beautiful cut flower arrangements. I got all different colors. I think there may be some day lilies thrown in there somewhere, too. I kinda forgot what I bought at Walmart...


Here's a shot of my little garden such as it is so far. I hope it gets bigger as we get more things planted. We tilled and raked and had it all looking great with no weeds, and now weeds are threatening to take back over. Guess we'll have to do that all again...

This is the back of our little cottage home and you can see the old pumphouse to the left. It still works and we use the well water for the yard and washing the car and the dog. ALso, we have this HUGE Live oak tree in the back yard which gives us shade most of the day. It's wonderful, except the birds poop on the deck. Oh well, a little bird poop never hurt nuthin.

Sorry, the contrast in some of these photos is not very good. I think I need a new camera. The Princess has drug my digital camera a million miles taking pics of her and her friends and I think it's tired... The east 40 acres - We have lots of fence to repair and gates to replace as you can tell. But I love it!

oops I put the fruit trees in twice and can't figure out how to delete .... ignore this one Never mind - I guess I DID delete it.

Here is little Bella 2. She is now 3 months old and a real pill. We are working on biting and barking. She minds me pretty well, however she thinks Princess (who is her "mommy") is her litter mate and chews all over her. There are little teeth marks on my kitchen cabinet corners and I noticed today that she has chewed a little hole in some of the sheetrock - we have plenty of chew toys and rawhide, and she loves to tear up a good cracker box.

I may have shown you this photo of her at 8 weeks with the tulips. Princess is having a ball with her. I'm glad. Especially after the first Bella died.

Well, that's all for today - I'm feeling a little bit better. I'm back at work toughing it out sometimes, but I'm there. Life goes on, and I can't just lay in the bed all day. As my Aggie Corps of Cadet son says, mom you just gotta suck it up! So that's what I'm trying to do. It's tough, but that's what I gotta do.

I appreciate all your comments and kind encouragements and thanks for stopping by to see me, even if my blog fell by the wayside for awhile. I'll try to be more diligent, otherwise, nobody will come to see me! Have a great day all my friends! Vickie

Taking a Little Break

Hello, all my dear ones out there. I know you all have been checking on me, and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for all your words of encouragement, all your well wishes and all your prayers most of all. I am still struggling to get over this bug. I have been through 2 rounds of antibiotics and started another one today. I have had shots, and steroids and x-rays, and ekgs and tons of bloodwork - you name it. I still have a little bronchitis, and now they tell me I have a little pleurisy, too. I had to go to the emergency room last night. I was having severe chest pains and was worried about my heart of course. They checked me over well, and the Dr. said that pleurisy certainly does mimic a heart attack. I never knew what pleurisy was, but they said it was an inflamation of the lung cavity and probably because I'd been sick for so long. So here we go with another round of meds.

But I am thankful for living in the good ole USA where you can run to the ER, run to just about any wonderful Dr around the corner, run the pharmacy and get whatever you need to help yourself get well. I was thinking about people in past ages before the time of good medicine and what they must have had to suffer through. It truly was "survival of the fittest" - you either got better or you died. I am deeply thankful to be living in this time. My family has been great - my husband has taken a few days off from work to help me, my daughter has been my nurse, and my friends and family have chipped in to help out with food. I'm blessed beyond measure.

I'm most thankful to the Lord for getting me through this. I will have some anxiety issues to deal with after this illness is over, but certainly being physically sick for so long has done nothing to help with the mental part of it! I have found several different outlets to start checking into on the anxiety thingie, so I'm looking forward to being well enough to begin getting a handle on that.

I just wanted you all to know that I appreciate your care and concern to come check on me. I may take little breaks from blogging from time until I am back to my old self. I love this blogging thing, but somehow, this is wierd - mostly all I did while I was my sickest was read emails and research stuff on the internet and read blogs - it all reminds me of anxiety and being sick. I'm having to back off a little and take it in small increments - I know that sounds wierd and it's hard to explain - just like I dread going to bed at night, because nights were the worst. I haven't slept a whole night through without getting up at least 3-4 times to feed my hypoglycemia (which the Dr says is caused by too much adrenaline from anxiety which causes the body to create too much insulin which causes hypoglycemia) to just not being able to sleep. Anyway, it depresses me to get into bed. I've taken to getting on the couch some. My hubby has not been able to sleep with me at all, cuz I'm up and down so much and he's got to go to work. He does come and check on me. I have been sick to my stomach from the hypoglycemia/antibiotics for 3 weeks now and have lost 10 lbs. I did need to lose some weight, but not this way.

Well, enough - just know that I'm coming back from time to time - I'm not gone. and perhaps this will all change and get better when I can be physically well again and have a whole new outlook on life. I'm SOOOOOOO ready to get back to LIFE! Thank you all my friends! Vickie