**We are not checking in with my so-called friends from the world of horticulture today, because they have spited me! While I enjoyed a slight taste and peek of what was to become of their beautiful selves, I do not appreciate them showing all of their glory before the shower I am hosting here this weekend. They are being all flashy-look-at-us, and I can just tell that they are going to have themselves good and spent by 2:00 on Saturday.
I have two shamrock plants on my windowsill that were completely done about three weeks ago. I was thrilled to see them sprouting new green, but was a bit taken aback when they saw the outdoor splendor and jumped right in with more white blooms than they have ever displayed before. It is also 90 degrees here today, so it is far too hot for me to even get outside to enjoy the display for myself. So harrumph on that topic.
**There are other reasons I have been thwarted in my efforts to enjoy the front porch this season...about four reasons to be exact...devil birds! Perhaps you've had a chance to check out the fun the barn swallows provided last year...here, here, and here. I hate them. There, it is as simple as that. I am feeding a festival of goldfinches in the backyard, and admiring cardinals and the occasional blue bird. I have nothing against feathered friends as a species. But, I hate barn swallows.
I decided to start early this year in my quest for total porch domination. The scrap beginnings of their nest were very small, as was the pile of waste they were leaving in the corner when we sprung into action. I made the pilgrimage to Home Depot for the wood, that my neighbor so kindly cut at just the right angle to keep them from nesting...just like he'd done for his porch...or so he said! His porch is just dandy for the second year running, while the birds have decided that cliff-side living is the real estate they desire one door down at our house.
Granted the tin foil did work last year, but I was going for something a little less, um, how shall we say? Unattractive. Mission not accomplished, as once the building started, the husband pounded another random piece of wood into the mix. That just provided the birds with the option of double-decker styling. I headed out with some emergency tin foil to just reinforce the corners. (Mind you, this was accomplished as my children took turns swinging baseball bats all around to keep the dodging and swooping ticked off birds at bay, so that the ticked off mommy didn't get attacked!)
As I was talking to my neighbor a couple of days later, two birds were literally bringing in their supplies, and working on the nest while we stood eight feet away. Much progress was made while we were away this past weekend, so this is what things looked like after the husband risked life, limb and eyeballs taking the mud nest down. (Please note: this photo is not to highlight how badly my windows need to be cleaned.) I really needed the beautiful flowers to distract guests from what is going on up there!
**I was chatting with a friend today who was working on cleaning out her garage. I was so envious of her project, that I had to head out to my own garage. I am fairly certain that I could've found something...anything...more pressing to attend to. I could've been blogging for goodness sake! (Instead of sitting here now hoping dinner cooks itself!) I guess I just can't find productivity in my day without getting rid of stuff! Four cubic feet of the garage look better than they did this morning. The fridge out there is cleaned out, filled with beverages, and turned on. Returnable bottles are bagged up and ready to go. That is enough justification for my garage cleaning envy issue. Luckily, I had at least gotten the groceries for the shower earlier in the day, so I had something relevant, to what is actually going on, accomplished.
**How come the days I visit the grocery store for a weekly shop rarely leave me any better equipped or interested in cooking dinner than any other day. It's as if the mere fact that I have entered the wondrous walls of Wegmans is enough thought on its own, as if the groceries will just gather themselves and band together into something yummy. In some ways I was better off running to the meat market on a semi-daily basis to grab something for dinner.
** I am reading this memoir written by a cleaning woman. Glamorous, I know! The thing is, I don't think I like her very much. I have read a lot of memoirs, and have never really felt like that before. Her tales are somewhat amusing, but I kind of want her to shut up sometimes. Yes, I could stop reading the book, but no, I actually can't. It's this thing I have about once I start a book, I feel some need to finish it. I read one of Oprah's early "picks", and kept thinking it must've been me, and that any moment I would realize what a fabulous novel I was in the midst of...nope...didn't happen.
Hope you are someplace cool and dry...with snacks!
I have two shamrock plants on my windowsill that were completely done about three weeks ago. I was thrilled to see them sprouting new green, but was a bit taken aback when they saw the outdoor splendor and jumped right in with more white blooms than they have ever displayed before. It is also 90 degrees here today, so it is far too hot for me to even get outside to enjoy the display for myself. So harrumph on that topic.
**There are other reasons I have been thwarted in my efforts to enjoy the front porch this season...about four reasons to be exact...devil birds! Perhaps you've had a chance to check out the fun the barn swallows provided last year...here, here, and here. I hate them. There, it is as simple as that. I am feeding a festival of goldfinches in the backyard, and admiring cardinals and the occasional blue bird. I have nothing against feathered friends as a species. But, I hate barn swallows.
I decided to start early this year in my quest for total porch domination. The scrap beginnings of their nest were very small, as was the pile of waste they were leaving in the corner when we sprung into action. I made the pilgrimage to Home Depot for the wood, that my neighbor so kindly cut at just the right angle to keep them from nesting...just like he'd done for his porch...or so he said! His porch is just dandy for the second year running, while the birds have decided that cliff-side living is the real estate they desire one door down at our house.
Granted the tin foil did work last year, but I was going for something a little less, um, how shall we say? Unattractive. Mission not accomplished, as once the building started, the husband pounded another random piece of wood into the mix. That just provided the birds with the option of double-decker styling. I headed out with some emergency tin foil to just reinforce the corners. (Mind you, this was accomplished as my children took turns swinging baseball bats all around to keep the dodging and swooping ticked off birds at bay, so that the ticked off mommy didn't get attacked!)
As I was talking to my neighbor a couple of days later, two birds were literally bringing in their supplies, and working on the nest while we stood eight feet away. Much progress was made while we were away this past weekend, so this is what things looked like after the husband risked life, limb and eyeballs taking the mud nest down. (Please note: this photo is not to highlight how badly my windows need to be cleaned.) I really needed the beautiful flowers to distract guests from what is going on up there!
**I was chatting with a friend today who was working on cleaning out her garage. I was so envious of her project, that I had to head out to my own garage. I am fairly certain that I could've found something...anything...more pressing to attend to. I could've been blogging for goodness sake! (Instead of sitting here now hoping dinner cooks itself!) I guess I just can't find productivity in my day without getting rid of stuff! Four cubic feet of the garage look better than they did this morning. The fridge out there is cleaned out, filled with beverages, and turned on. Returnable bottles are bagged up and ready to go. That is enough justification for my garage cleaning envy issue. Luckily, I had at least gotten the groceries for the shower earlier in the day, so I had something relevant, to what is actually going on, accomplished.
**How come the days I visit the grocery store for a weekly shop rarely leave me any better equipped or interested in cooking dinner than any other day. It's as if the mere fact that I have entered the wondrous walls of Wegmans is enough thought on its own, as if the groceries will just gather themselves and band together into something yummy. In some ways I was better off running to the meat market on a semi-daily basis to grab something for dinner.
** I am reading this memoir written by a cleaning woman. Glamorous, I know! The thing is, I don't think I like her very much. I have read a lot of memoirs, and have never really felt like that before. Her tales are somewhat amusing, but I kind of want her to shut up sometimes. Yes, I could stop reading the book, but no, I actually can't. It's this thing I have about once I start a book, I feel some need to finish it. I read one of Oprah's early "picks", and kept thinking it must've been me, and that any moment I would realize what a fabulous novel I was in the midst of...nope...didn't happen.
Hope you are someplace cool and dry...with snacks!
I'm poolside with a cold beer. Does that help?
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