Saturday, May 23, 2020 - Happy birthday Amy!; Downtime Day; Extra Warm Weather Has Arrived May 24, 2020 - Happy 21st Birthday Logan! Digging up Rhizomes; Making A Delivery; Dinner Guest

Saturday, May 23, 2020 - Happy birthday Amy!; Downtime Day; Extra Warm Weather Has Arrived

Shortly after I was up this morning, I sent a Happy Birthday note to my niece Amy.  I hope you had a great day Amy.  I love you!

Today I didn't do much of anything, other than finishing up our laundry, caught up reading the blogs I follow, working on mine and just enjoying a day of leisure.  I intended to do some cleaning - but it can wait.  Sometimes you just need to rest!

Dean went by the post office about 9:30 to pick up our mail.  I finally recevied my medication so I'm good for another 90 days.  

Dean left a short time later for the lot to start burning the pile of limbs and tree trunk he took out of the pine tree a week or so ago.  There is a nearby tree stump, where he piled everything on it.  He hopes to burn the stump as well.  It didn't burn as much as he hoped but if he keeps adding things to it, in time hopefully, it will be eliminated.  He also mowed, since we have rain in the forecast.  It looks like the rain might be around for awhile, so even though it's just been a few days since the last mowing, it might keep it from being too tall the next time he has a chance to mow.  It was very warm with quite a bit of humidity today.  

I stopped at the lot to visit with Dean for a few minutes.  He had already mowed the main part of the lot, but still had some on the northeast side to finish up.  From there I stopped by Cindy's and visited for an hour or so before heading home.  

It was hot and humid today.  I had both air conditioners running during the heat of the day to keep us cool.  I finally added the reflective material in our big window.  While it doesn't get the direct sun like it did in our last spot, we still get some.  It made a big difference.  

Dean grilled some chicken breasts wrapped in bacon I bought at our local grocery store a couple of days ago.  To go with it, we added sweet potatoes on the grill.  A great meal.  We need to start eating like this more often to get rid of the few pounds we have gained over the last couple of months.

We watched TV the rest of the evening.  It was a nice, slow paced, enjoyable day!




May 24, 2020 - Happy 21st Birthday Logan!  Digging up Rhizomes; Making A Delivery; Dinner Guest

Happy 21st Birthday to our Grandson Logan, our first grandchild.  While each and every grandchild is special to us, getting to meet the very first one is a special moment for sure.  We immediately became Nana and Papa for the very first time.  What a blessing it was!  Logan I hope your day was every bit as special as you are!

It was a beatuiful morning, so we headed to the park to walk.  One of the ladies that we typically see most mornings on our walks was there with her sister Tracy.  I first met these girls when our mothers spent time with each other back in the early 70's.  It was good to see her again.  

Cloudy skies this morning - they disappear later in the day!

The flower beds are looking great!

This tree is so pretty.  From the first picture I took of it a week or two ago, the flowers were only at the top.  Today I took this one, plus a few close up of the flowers since they were low enough on the tree I could get better pictures.  My friends thought it might be honeysuckle growing up the tree - but after checking it out today - it is definitely not honeysuckle.  

Two tree names came up when I checked Google Lens - Golden Rain Tree or Bejing Gold Tree Lilac.  I'm not sure which it is but it's a very interesting and different tree.  I've never noticed the flowers on it before.

A still morning.

This cat was walking along the fence row.  He stopped to watch us - and stayed there for quite awhile.  It wasn't until we were almost even with him that he took off.

I love this fountain in our park.  

This flower bed (same one below, taken from the opporsite side) is my favorite in the park.

We returned to Bentley for our breakfast shakes.  Dean headed to the garage a short time afterwards.  I straightened things up before I left around 10:30, making a quick stop (I thought) at Dollar General before heading to the lot.  I wanted to get a new pair of gardening gloves and Dean wanted me to look for a squeeze bottle (like you would put mustard or ketchup in).  I found them both right away and headed to the checkout, waiting patiently for my turn.  When it was mine, the gloves did not have a tag on them.  With at least 4 people in line behind me, I had to run to the back of the store and get another pair, so she could ring them up.  

From there I drove to the lot to dig up some rhiazomes (iris bulbs) for my friend Betty.  It was a perfect day to take care of it.  

Dean told me he put jelly in the oriole feeder yesterday, but today it was full of ants.  My cousin passed a tip on to me from my Aunt, put vaseline on the pole to keep the ants from getting to the bird feeder, so I also brought vaseline along.  Dean put it on in a couple of places, hoping they will be unable to get past it.  We then refilled the dish that goes in the hangar.

We noticed this tree the other day and thought it might be a mimosa tree.  My grandparents had one in their yard when we were young and I loved it.  I took a picture of it, then checked Google Lens and it says it is a mimosa.  The flowers typically come on between May and July.  There's nothing on it yet so we'll see what happens.

I left soon after this so I could stop at the grocery store for a few things, however my cart ended up with more than a few items.   Those few things added up to slightly over $50.  They had some nice pork chops so that's what is for dinner tonight with some fresh roasted vegetables - sweet potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower.  

Later in the day I took the iris bulbs to Betty, then returned home to start our dinner.  Pork chops are so often dry when you grill them, so I did some research earlier, on how to keep that from happening.  I found info on Pinterest that said to soak them in water with 3 T kosher salt to 4 cups water, and an equal amount of brown sugar.  Cover them for up to 2 hours in the refrigerator. 

Three of the five were very tender.  The two might have been on top in the bowl I put them in.  If I try this again, I will put them in a sealed plastic bag, and move the brine around a few times to see if that makes a difference.  Even though the two weren't as tender they were still quite good.

We enjoyed visiting with our neighbor while we set outside to cook our meal.  He is part of the wind turbine crew staying in the park.  It was interesting hearing details about the wind turbines and meeting his "ugly cat" as he referred to it.  He told us it was a Donskoy - it has hardly any hair and their skin feels like suede.  I'd never seen anything like it before.

I invited my cousin Todd, who is also owner of the park we are staying in,to join us for dinner.  The park is full and a good number of the mobile homes he owns and rents are also full or will be soon.  He's a busy one man show.  I thought it might be nice if he could relax a bit.  We had a great visit after dinner and we enjoyed his company.

We watched a little TV aftewards.  At 9:30 I kept dropping off, so I was glad when Dean said he was ready to go to bed.  I was too.

Another great day.  While it was cloudy this morning the clouds burned off and it was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon/evening.