The Birthday Present

What are the favorite gifts for young ladies

 birthday parties these days in your area?

Around here, it seems they love a visit to a nail

salon for their very on manicure or pedicure.

Granddaughter got a certificate to go to one, with the girl

who gave her the gift, and they will be going soon.

Last night, granddaughter

was going to her best friends party

it is about 30 miles west of here, and she wanted 

to give her a manicure for her birthday.

The ony problem, by the time they went 

to the party, all the salons in the area would be closed.

So, being the 

crafty woman my daughter is, 

she knew that her husband was in that area on

business,

so she called, gave him the name of a salon, and location

and asked him to pick up a certificate.

Of course he would, anything 

for his

loving wife

and wonderful daughter.

So he walks into the salon,

and asks for about  a

manicure.

Maybe I should introduce you to my son in law.

He is a little bitty guy, only 6 ft 7 inches tall

and about 325 pounds.

Can you imagine the look on 

those ladies faces?

Since most of them are oriental, and

small, and staring up at this

they probably thought he was crazy.

He finally got them to listen, and told them he

needed a certificate for a manicure as a gift, he wasn't

there to get a manicure for himself.

I'm sure he had a good laugh out of this.

If you remember, he is a glutten for punishment, he took his 

10 year old daughter clothes shopping before Easter.

Daughter picked a winner

with this one.

Ever had one of THOSE days?

You know the kind I mean? 

 Where nothing goes the way it was supposed to go?

It started out Okay, I was to meet the phone company repairman at 

daughter's house, he would be there between 8:00am and Noon...

He was there at about 8:10am, and found the problem..but it wasn't at her house, it was on the pole down the street..

Ants, so he cleaned that, and sure enough, she had phone service.

He says it is always the Ants, never the Uncles.

He was gone a little after 8:30am.

So, I call the internet service, had to get them to help me reset the

modem.  There is where the fun began.

I explained that I needed the DSL helpline.

A few minutes later, one called, but he wasn't the  DSL helpline.

He'd turn it in to the other guys.

about 80 minutes later, I called again, they said I hadn't said the dsl, I had said wireless.  I know better.  So I waited some more

After daughter called them at noon, they called me right back, lol guess she stepped on a toe.

It took all of 5 minutes to reset the modem when they gave me the codes....

There is more, I'd said that I'd wait for the service company that would service her air conditioner..After an hour late,  I finally called her, told her where I would hide the key, and came home, and they finally showed up at her work about 4:00pm, never made it to her house.  Got the gas tank back on the tractor,

and it running, so the day wasn't a total loss.

Empty nest and more

Something happened to the babies, they all died on Sunday. 2 had fallen or been pushed out of the nest, and gotten wet, but I had put them back.  I'm thinking that mom had already abandoned them, for some reason.

That corner gets too hot, I'm thinking, at this time of year.

So I took down the nest, and cleaned the mess up.

Though I have enjoyed watching the babies, and their parents, I'm going to put something there to keep them from nesting there, again.

News Flash on FLASH!

He has been pretty good to stay in his yard.  I mean what more could a dog want?

He has about 1/3 acre to play in, he can run and not hit anything, has plenty of shade

and can see the driveway to scare off anything that gets on his property..

Well, it seems that isn't enough, he wants the whole 6+ acres and to keep everything off his property, including cats.

I patched the last hole, again, this morning, but before that, I'd told him NO and he listened.

Last week, both he and Buddyboo got out, and boy did Boo stink when he came back.

Isn't he cute?  

He would never wallow in stinky stuff he sez...

yeah right.

And now, I've got cucumbers and squash that I need to do something with today.

I remember wishing about a week ago, that the squash would produce soon.

well, lets just say I got my wish, and there is about 15 pound, at least, to cook and put in the freezer.

And I'd been watching this one lone little cucumber, waiting to snatch it and eat it all by myself.

LOL

Today, hubby moved a leaf, and there were 6 ready to pick, and that little one wasn't even one of them, , though it was ready to pick too.

We also discovered that some of the seed we thought were something else, were cucumber...so we will have a large crop.  And there were some canteloupe that got planted, too...

so our garden is known as the surprise garden this year.

The tomato plants are now 5 ft tall, and are loaded.  Several as big as a fist, maybe in a couple of weeks, we'll have garden grown tomatoes.

Phoebe Photo Shoot

This is the 2nd nest full, there are 4 in here.

It won't be long before this last nest of Phoebes fledge.

They are still in the fuzzy stage, but 

they grow so quickly

Last shots taken a few days ago.

and a few minutes ago. mom is telling them to smile.

another mouth open

and then

That is enough she is saying.  Go away.

I can tell the mom from the dad,, because his head is a bit darker.

And he is a bit more skidish when I go out on the porch to shoot.

We've really enjoyed the babies, and 

they are in a safe place.

Hope to have another crop next year.

Petit Jean Show and Swap Meet 2013

This may be a long post, so grab something to drink, and get comfy.  Every year for the past 32 years, we've attended the car show and swap on Petit Jean Mountain.  We even went in 1997, when Jerry had the broken elbow, and was on lots of pain meds.  Die-hards, I guess that is what you would call us.

Top of the mountain, as we are still in the flat land,  heading to the mountain.  The Arkansas river is just to the right of this shot.

Farmland, looks like soybeans near the river.

More beans,  The trees in the background are on the riverbank.

Want to buy a real fixer-upper...

or

Had you rather purchase this?

or does your taste run somehere in between?

Do you like Cuda's?

Or Grahams?

How about  a Woodie?

or two?  Enlarge this picture and read the sign on the back door.

Does your taste run more to pickups with shiney paint?

Or something a bit larger?

Or maybe a bit older?

How about a shiney red one, I have to say this one caught my eye.  

How about a ragtop?

Or an International

I call these sport utilities before the car companies thought to call them that.

How about a front and a back, 

you have to supply the middle.

A yellow one?

Or one that is easy to spot in any parking lot?

The sister to my Nova 400 convertable..

How about a sign?

Or a coke box?

Need a watering can?

How about one of these?  I hadn't seen

one in several years...

Want a quilt, a hat, or a scarf, or bow?

How about a lunch pail, or some oil?

I never made it to crafts, my hip and knee decided that I needed to sit down, so off to the truck we went..  No, none of these our ours...sad to say.  I saw several that I'd wrestle the owner to drive, but I was afraid I'd hurt him. lol.

Besides, this would be something that dh would drag home, me, I'd prefer to drag this one

No, I still think I like this one best.

I have to tell you, that even though I had a cane and a camera bag, and shot all of these with my right hand, holding and adjusting the distance with one hand, I did not get one bad shot...  Bet you righties out there never noticed that even cameras are made for right handed people...

and us lefties have to deal with it.  Just think what great shots I may have gotten if I had a left handed camera!

We got home, and here is what I found watching us

A small Pheobe, yes, they've hatched.

I love his hairdo!

and here is mom

Wishing I would get out of her way

so she could feed him the bug she has in

her beak.

Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Stepping back in time, rambling again.

My paternal Grandfather loved flowers.  He knew the names of every wild flower in the woods, and along the streams.  No, not the botanical names, just what they were called by humans.  He also planted many in the yard.  
He had  Touch Me Nots planted around, and loved to surprise kids with the seed pods popping open in their hands.
He also had Hollyhocks, I remember mostly bright red ones at the east side of the house, and the Hummingbirds hanging around.  He would catch them, let us touch their feathers, then let them go.    I think back now, and wonder how an 80+ year old man could be so spry.  

I loved their house, no it wasn't fancy. There was 4 rooms downstairs, one was later divided to make room for an indoor bathroom and then the upstairs was divided into 3 rooms.  I don't ever remember anyone actually using the upstairs, in fact it wasn't even furnished as living space.  It was mostly storage, and made a good playhouse for the grandkids.   I guess I was in my early teens before they had running water and indoor plumbing.  Grandmother was a good cook, not fancy by any means, but everything tasted wonderful................ have you ever had fried biscuits?  If there was any biscuits left over from breakfast, they were put in a skillet and 'fried' for lunch, with whatever else was on the table.  They tasted wonderful with pinto beans.

I found a picture of my grandparents the other day, I'm going to scan it and put it here, soon.  It is a poor quality 1960s shot of them on their front porch.  
Oh to step back in time, and spend a day, an hour, or a year with that precious couple.   They lacked a few days being married 72 years when my grandmother passed away, and grandfather followed close behind, 2 months and a few days later.  She was 87 and he was 94.

Firsts

My Asiatic Lilies are bloominng,

I will have to go to the south end to get the orange photos so

the yellow will do for now.

My first Canna that is trying to bloom.

The tiger ones haven't put up their shoots yet.

First Squash, hope there is a bunch of these, as we love 

squash.

I have lots of tomato blooms, pepper blooms and the okra and corn are doing well.

The green beans aren't quite to bloom stage yet.

More flower photos, and

Then there is my 2 gallon crock, that I got a few weeks ago.

It has a broken place that has been poorly repaired.

I could have fixed it where it didn't show, but no way am I rebreaking it, to fix.

The Black Hollyhocks are now deep purple or burgandy, whatever you wish to call it.

Think there will be lots of seed.

Red and pink ones

And here are the Devil's Own

fire ants.  I stepped in this, didn't know it was there

and they burn like fire when they sting.

They've been dosed, so hope they all die.