Good Morning!
Today’s header photo is from Janice.
On this day in 1541 Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River. He called it Rio de Espiritu Santo.
In 1914 the U.S. Congress passed a Joint Resolution that designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
In 1933 Gandhi began a hunger strike to protest British oppression in India.
In 1956 Alfred E. Neuman appeared on the cover of “Mad Magazine” for the first time.
And in 1973 militant American Indians who had held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks surrendered.
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Quote of the Day
“You want a friend in Washington?
Get a dog.”
Harry S. Truman
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Today is Bob Herdman’s birthday.
And it’s Chris Frantz’s too.
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Wandering Views 
Survived the Kinder field trip. The kids were almost scared to go into the freezer and experience real cold. They loved buying ice cream.
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Seems strange to hear of people who had never been cold. But I suppose it’s possible. Even the Arabs in Arabia experience a morning chill at times. But I hear there’s no word in the Hawaii language for “weather”.
Hi Jo.
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I had a strange dream last night. Not a bad one, just strange. I dreamed that Elvera and I went back to Charleston in 1955. Back in time. We were still married (weren’t then), and we had another couple with us. They didn’t know we were back in time and wanted to go to Citadel mall. I was trying to discourage them from that because I knew:
1. The mall hadn’t been built yet.
2. Their GPS wouldn’t work
3. They would get into trouble if they tried to spend the phony money we have today.
I awoke at 3:50 and never knew what happened.
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Ah, Honeysuckle. We were just talking about that Tuesday night. You don’t see and smell as much anymore because it is a weed and people weed whack it down. It is what Summer is supposed to smell like.
Amos got his summer cut yesterday and is looking quite handsome if he does say so himself. He is much more comfortable.
I visited yesterday afternoon with my friends M and B. I laugh and tell them that they are my emotional north. They had do put down a dog they had rescued. They were about his 5th home. They gave it over 2 years, maybe more, but he had some behavior problems they just couldn’t work out of him. He had snapped at M several times and had flat out bitten B. B still had scabs on his right hand. It was sad, but I know they aren’t the type to just put down an animal because it is convenient. They discussed it at length with their vet and it was her suggestion.
Obviously I survived my trip to the Big City yesterday. Today we have a class in the corporate office to teach the agents how to “be nosy” using a program that pulls all the court and tax records on a property.
Have a good one.
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Ahh….1955, simpler times…I was 1 🙂
It is 30 degrees here this morning and we have a fresh inch of snow. Thankfully I brought in my plants last night…but the deck furniture is covered with snow and the hummingbirds and chickadees will be drinking slushies this morning 😦
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I left a comment on yesterday’s prayer thread about MrstherealAJ’s interview. So glad it was a positive experience resulting in an upcoming second interview.
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Honeysuckle plants are now covering the azalea bushes which need to be deadheaded. So one blooming season gives way to another, and the hybrids play hostess to the weeds.
We actually have two different honeysuckle experiences going on in our yard currently. One is a vine and the other is a large bush. I need to look up the bush and see if it is truly a honeysuckle like the vine. And yes, our yard smells so-o-o-o good right now.
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Now I know I have a new job regarding those honeysuckle bushes in our yard:
http://www.misterhoneysuckle.com/home/trouble.html
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So here is a question. Who among us have picked the honeysuckle flowers, pinched off the little green bottom, putted the stamen (?) through the flower and eaten the “honey”?
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There is another “weed” you can eat the pods off of—maybe it was rabbit tobacco? I don’t know. So many of us weed and feed our yards now.
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I have.
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Thankful that we have some gardeners here – what do you do with daffodil plants after they’re done blooming? Do you cut them down to the ground or will the leave die off on their own?
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Leave them. They will bloom next year if you cut them down, but if you leave them, they will split and create more daffodils. I usually cut them back sometime in June when the blades start drooping. Every so often, you need to dig them up, split and replant them.
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When I was a child we would go through a whole vine of floers getting that “honey” treat. Not sure if I ever shared that with our son. He is good at pulling honeysuckle vines, though. Those vines are persistent in returning year after year. I need to again get them off the azaleas before they keep them in the dark too long.
The iris and evening primrose are now blooming in our yard along with the honeysuckles and Mothers’ Day roses and ground orchids.
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I don’t think of myself so much as a gardener but as a planter. I try to have something in bloom during all the days of warmth. I plant and water a few times and generally leave the plants to do their own thing after that. Some do require trimming back along. I shared ground orchids with a cousin to thin them out. If I have time I will deadhead the azaleas after their blooms are spent. That is a tedious job but is suppose to be good for the plant.
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We’ve had fried dandelion before. Mrs L picked the flowers, put some flower on them and fried them. Not bad. Last week she picked a bunch of the leaves and added them to a salad. D3 thought it strange to be eating weeds. But dandelion leaves make a good addition to lettuce. (And weren’t all the plants we eat wild at one time?)
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My best friend Judy had a huge honeysuckle vine covering the side of their patio porch…we would sit there and pull those flowers off and sip in the “honey” while we played Beatles 45″s on the record player…what precious memories….she passed away 5 years ago and these memories just make me smile…and tear up a bit…
I just leave the daffodils after they bloom…they always come back….I leave the iris spikes as well…eventually cutting them off before the first frost…they are coming up again and I am in hopes all will be ok after the 20 degree weather we are expecting this coming weekend 😦
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Thanks for the advice.
The man who lived here (he passed away at the tender age of 63, which is why his widow sold the house) was a talented gardener. Last summer I noticed that he did what Janice does and had things blooming all over the place, all the time. Not being interested in such things, hubby and son have dug up most of what he had. I don’t mind, but I do think Mr. Wilson would be very sad, if he knew.
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😦 Me, too.
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Ann, to answer your question from yesterday, those with a latex allergy often have a cross allergy to mangos. It is probably due to the similar proteins found in latex and mangos.
Kim’s QoD: I have sipped the ‘honey’ from red clover blooms but not from honeysuckle, though it does grow around here.
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We sipped Columbine. I paid good money for my weeds and I shall continue to enjoy them. We have had dandelion fritters but we eat them straight off the lawn as well. The leaves are good unless they are too mature and bitter. And cattails are good. And shepherds purse. And mallow. And…….
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AJ- I wonder why you don’t like the Baltimore Orioles? I just read that the NY Yankees were originally based in Baltimore and went by the name Orioles. So, you are rooting for the Os even while hating them. Hmm.
It was a trivia question that Ken Jennings of Jeopardy! fame had last week that spurred my interest:
“What unusual distinction is shared by these teams in the four major North American sports organizations, and no others? The Baltimore Orioles, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Twins, New York Jets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Phoenix Coyotes.”
Answer: “All these teams once went by a name that’s now used by a DIFFERENT team in their organization: the Baltimore Orioles were once the “Milwaukee Brewers,” the Nuggets were once the “Rockets,” and so on.”
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Daffodils and many others: the leaves afterwards are feeding the bulbs for next year. If you cut them rather than letting them die back, they won’t be as well able to reproduce or bloom though many do cut them back and they do come back.
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My family dug up sasafrass roots to make tea whe I was young.
Did anyone make clover chains or necklaces? I loved doing that with my best friend.
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I have some daffodils (maybe jonquils, I can’t tell the difference) that grow in the same place as peonies. The flowers bloom before the peonies grow tall, so I just leave them alone until fall when I cut back the peonies after the first frost. I learned that from a friend.
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Son who eats everything and I do mean everything is actually listening when I tell him he can eat the dandelions but not the daffodils. He can eat pine needles but not elderberry sticks. He has decided that pine needles do not taste terribly delicious. He can eat our lawn but not a lawn that looks nice because it has things added to it.
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I think I have an orange honeysuckle on my property, a huge bush of it grows up the southern side of my house and now it’s sending vines off over the patio roof. Very pretty but invasive. The hummingbirds love it.
Summer out here smells like Coppertone lotion, beach sand and salty ocean air. You can actually buy the scent in a body wash and body lotion. I bought some a few years ago and still use it in the summer, the smell just immediately takes me back to lazy summer days spent on the beach.
Kim, I had to do that with a dog once, broke my heart. But sometimes it’s just the safest solution all the way around in cases where a dog has become aggressive. 😦 Not easy, though.
Question for the guys: Is it really necessary to replace all the fluids (transmission, brake, power steering, etc.) every 20,000 miles in a car? I’ve been taking my Jeep to a local service station, owned by one of our active community people who’s just very nice, but I’m wondering if they’re just a little too “thorough” for my pocketbook. (He offers loaners, which is great, but I could find a way to get to work without one, I’m sure).
In a perfect world I’m sure replacing all these things would be a good thing. But he told me yesterday the bill would be $900+ (mind you, there was nothing wrong with the car, it just needed a minor alignment and oil change basically). I told him to pick the most important, which he did for $445. But still, ouch.
There’s another place in town that’s a little more down to earth that I may switch over to. No loaners or bells & whistles, but he’s known to be very honest and just a basic mechanic.
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Donna, I would not spend $900 replacing the fluids unless there was a reason. I change oil on schedule according to mileage. The Ranger went almost a year between oil changes and didn’t mind. You never said how many miles you have on your jeep.
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Donna- Most cars do not need the transmission fluid changed for 100,000 miles or so, if ever. Brake fluid doesn’t need changed, just filled when it gets low. The same goes for the power steering fluid. The cooling system should be drained and flushed every year or other year, with new coolant added after flushing. And oil every 3000-5000 miles, depending on the kind of driving you do. I think your mechanic is taking advantage of your gender. Get a second opinion.
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Amos! 🙂
Tomorrow I drop my dogs off for grooming, a job that’s long overdue (like everything around here lately). Tess seems to be blowing her coat, it’s the time of year when big chunks & handfuls of dead fur start coming out around her haunches. Cowboy’s coat isn’t too bad, but he always is plagued with dry, flaky skin and hot spots this time of year (I bought some moisturizing spray at the vet’s that should help with that).
They’ll both look and smell much better after tomorrow.
And the Jeep has 1/2 new fluids. 🙂
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Thanks Peter — I think I will migrate to another mechanic and do without the perks (they also wash your car along with providing a loaner car for the day). I figure we’re paying for that one way or the other, even if it doesn’t show up on the bill.
Nice guy, I’ve known him through the newspaper so I don’t think he’s trying to take me for anything — I really think they’re just a high-maintenance place. (They’re also just a few blocks from my house so it’s been convenient, lots of people in town go there.)
I miss Wolfgang, my old VW mechanic. He was the best. If it wasn’t broke, he didn’t fix it. And he knew where to get good rebuilt/used parts to save you money.
Since switching to the Jeep, I’ve been sort of at a loss for getting a good mechanic I completely trust.
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Putting dogs down. We did that a few years ago on the veterinarians recommendation. She said the dog was part chow and once they started becoming aggressive, they don’t stop. We could not have her around the small children and could not give her to somebody else knowing she could well be problematic. She had been a wonderful dog until then and we still miss her.
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The Jeep is at 79,000+ miles now.
Let’s see, the bill says they did a ‘bumper to bumper’ safety inspection, drained oil, replaced oil filter, installed new oil, replaced transmission flux w/cleaner and conditioner, replaced a brake light that was out, rotated tires, replaced brake & power steering fluids.
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mumsee, I had a long talk with my vet before putting the one dog down. Tough decision but he also said handing her off to a new owner where she’d be an ‘only’ dog could still pose dangers (her aggression was toward other dogs, including my other dog who was really taking a beating, but he worried that it could transfer to people, said she had just become unstable & unpredictable).
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Donna, Re, Your 10:37 I keep a record of service on all my vehicles. So I checked on what I did to my ’07 Mercury Grand Marquis. Last service was 04/07/14, mileage 58,201.
I have had the tires rotated three times.
I have had the fuel filter changed once.
I have had the air filter changed several times, but not at every oil change. It depends on the air where you live. Southern Cal may require more. Look at the filter before changing. You can tell if it’s dirty.
I change the oil on schedule and change oil filter with each change.
I have never had a transmission fluid change. Nor break, nor power steering.
Check your owner’s manual. I don’t know how Jeeps work. I would have a lube job each time, but my system is sealed, which suits me.
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At 79,000 miles, that may not have been excessive, unless it has been done before.
You should never have to do it again. Unless you plan to put 200k on it.
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He said I’d probably need new tires around the end of the year, which was expected — they’re looking a little smooth here and there, but these tires have lasted a very long time, in part because I’ve bothered to get them rotated (though I noticed they charged me $20 for that and I could have gotten it done for free at the tire place; oh well).
The last time they did all the fluids was when it hit 60,000 (same place). I remember it because of the bill. 🙄 And yesterday he said it should be done every 20,000 miles. As I said, I don’t think they’re dishonest, only hyper-thorough. But I don’t think I can really afford hyper-thorough with a loaner and car wash anymore. 😉
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The oil change was overdue, it was due to go in around Jan.-Feb. but I kept putting it off.
I do tend to drive cars until they die. My last VW had over 200,000 miles on it when I bought the Jeep.
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Donna- “replace” could just mean that the fluids were low and they filled them up. Many places charge for tire rotation now, and $20 is the going rate. Was your VW a diesel? It probably had 200,000 more miles to go. As for high mileage, I have a 2001 Malibu with 258,000 miles on it, I have never drained or replaced transmission fluid, since it is a sealed system. My mechanic said that sometimes changing transmission fluid can cause more problems than it solves if not done right.
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No, VW ran on gas. It was such a good car — but it was coming up on some major engine work and several other things were starting to go (stuff I could live with — like no a/c, one power window stuck “up” — but things that made driving it somewhat uncomfortable at times). It was still the original engine, though. Clutch was replaced a few times, as I recall, including one time when the clutch cable just broke. So weird, the clutch pedal just fell to the floor.
It served me well, though — and I sold it for $500 to a friend of the mechanic’s who did his own work on cars, so I’m sure he was able to keep it running.
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So now the vet called and Tess’ blood work showed some liver damage — might not be a big deal, but they’ll need to re-check in a few weeks after I have her on a medication I now need to go pick up.
Always somethin’
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😆
There’s a panel on FoxNews. four women, one guy. All the women have nice legs and short dresses. The guy is behind a table.
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We are not a sexist country. We treat everybody as equals. We do not gawk at people’s body parts. We are too mature. We would never use a certain group of people to get others to watch our program.
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I bought tires at Costco for a good price and calculated I should be able to dative on them for five years. That was before oldest adorable granddaughter was born and I remember marveling a child I hadn’t met yet would be in Kindergarten before I needed new tires!
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New book audition. What comes to mind when I say “Oregon Trail?”
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A computer game that son use to play to encourage social studies interest.
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The old wagon tracks that can still be seen going in through Oregon.
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Steve Petit (sp?) Is the new President of BJU. I watched the webcast announcement. Our son went to a great summer camp there for several years and as a homeschooler I got all our IOWA standardized testing materials through them.
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loved that computer game, such fun. That and Carmen SanDiego are the only games besides solitaire that I have played. I love geography.
Chas, my kids have been cold, but never the temperatures in the freezer. It doesn’t snow here.
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Just posted a prayer for you, Jo.
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Hi Cheryl 🙂
Thank you to everyone’s compliments on the pic, it is an old pic taken by a friend who is a professional photographer and who found our daughter to be a favorite subject for a period of time. It also happened to be one of a very few photos I had access to at work when I set up my access here, so I went with it
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We get to have mrs the real join us? Wonderful!
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My boys played the game as well–I never even looked at it. Oh well. And yes, wagon tracks through Idaho! Thanks.
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Besides what has been mentioned, I think of the story of the seven children on the Oregon Trail whose parents died, so they had to make the rest of the trip themselves. I forget the title, but I think it was also made into a movie. Not sure if it was based on a true event, though.
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Welcome to the zaniness, Mrs AJ!
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Okay, now’s my chance!
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57!!
Hey, I needed that. We found out our buyer’s loan was rejected, so we now are not moving. Our house is still on the market, and we are going to fix the roof and raise the price.
What a merry-go-round we’ve been on!
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Michelle, not sure if this will be helpful, but there is a picture book our family has checked out of the library several times over the years, entitled Mississippi Mud: Three Prairie Journals, about a family going on a wagon train from Kentucky to Oregon. The three oldest children write journals, seeing their experiences through different eyes, and some of their entries are recorded in this book. An interesting read, if nothing else. 😉 We really enjoy this book.
There’s a little more information here: http://www.amazon.com/Mississippi-Mud-Three-Prairie-Journals/dp/0060244321/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1399599121&sr=8-2&keywords=mississippi+mud
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One of my ancestors wrote a book on her journey on the Santa Fe Trail (“Land of Enchantment,” Marian Russell), the University of New Mexico republished it in the 1980s and I bought a copy for my mom. She had all the other descendants sign it.
Hi Mrs. Real. 🙂
I got interviewed by a local TV station today. They wanted to interview the people I’d interviewed for a recent story on kids who grew up in our local Navy housing, but none of them showed up at the event we were both covering. So the TV reporter says “We’ll just interview you” and, next thing I knew, the camera was rolling.
Always funny when reporters wind up interviewing other reporters …
I didn’t watch it but someone put a note on my FB page tonight that she saw it. I was hoping no one would, TV’s not really my medium.
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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/518117.Land_of_Enchantment
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I think my tires have lasted 5 years this Christmas. Goodyear Wranglers, which are the basic mid-range tires for Jeeps.
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Why do I watch the news? Another gruesome story. An 88 year old man was murdered and beheaded and his wife was kidnapped and the man’s head was taken. Now the story is on about the kidnapped girls in Nigeria. I prayed for them last night at our prayer group. Lawlessness seems to be taking over the world.
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If that new girl gets out of hand, just let me know. I’ll ban ‘er. 😯
She is cute though…. 🙂
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Hello, Mrs. The Real. 🙂
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She is very cute. 🙂
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thanks for bravely joining the group Mrs. Real.
Well it is Friday afternoon and my workweek is over. I did go to the weight room to finish it off.
So, of course, you are all asleep. Anyone want to talk??
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