Saturday, May 30, 2009

Our First Harvest

We had our first "harvest" yesterday. Actually, it was a much-needed thinning; but, we used them for our lunch salad so that nothing was wasted. The birds snipped off our watermelon starts; there is only one or two left. As of yesterday, we had one strawberry that was getting larger than any ever have; the birds hadn't found this one.

We have what appears to be several squash growing where we planted flowers -- the seed packet said flowers. Our beans and our peppers aren't growing much, but the tomato plants and potato plants are. The leaf lettuce has been beaten into the mud several times by all the rain; but it is looking a little better and we had some yesterday.

The peonies bloomed beautifully, then were beaten down by the rain. Roses, same thing. The white roses should bloom any day now. The grass is nice and tall.

I had 4 out of 6 piano students as non-paying this past month; I also have lost one, permanently, now, as of June. I think it is time to get out of the piano teaching business and apply myself full-time to my copywriting job. With people hurting so badly with the economy, the piano teaching has been unreliable for about two years now. I nearly lost my home last year, and I have only paid half of the May payment. My parents had to come to my rescue for my car. I'm 54. I'm too old for this nonsense, and they are too old to be rescuing their adult daughter. Time to make some changes.

I am going to attempt to post some pictures of our "recession garden" and our first harvest and first salad from the harvest. It was pretty good. MK does not like eating hosta leaves or dandelion greens or heads. They are too bitter for her taste.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

There Are Angels

There are Angels. Some are "living" here among us. No, not the ones with wings and halos. These come in the forms of Daddies and Moms, Daughters and Sons-in-law, and sisters. (Sons, too, but I don't have one of those!)

Monday, May 11, 2009

L's "Alleged" Murderer Set Free

After two years of being jailed, L's "alleged" murderer was released at noon today. On the news they stated that prosecutors decided it was the best way to go because if he goes to trial and is found not guilty for some reason, due to lack of proper DNA or other evidence, they would not be able to re-try him later if better evidence turns up; therefore, they set him free so that if better evidence shows up, he can be brought back to trial.

I wonder where he will be. What will he do? Will he be back in the neighborhood? Will it be unsafe to let the dog out to potty at night? Do I need to turn every light on in the house in order to feel safer, even though I'm sure lights won't make me safer.

I have no reason to feel that he is going to target me. I have no idea why he chose L. She was single, 52 at the time, red-head, quiet, minded her own business, fed the stray cats in the neighborhood, etc. Maybe she just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. Maybe she saw something she wasn't supposed to see. Maybe we'll never know. I hope they find whatever evidence they need to bring to justice whomever it was who ended this quiet lady's life. If I could ever ask him one question, it would be, "Why?" I'm quite sure his reason would never, ever justify taking her life.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Tiny Miracles - Or Maybe Just Tiny Minds (Mine)

Sometimes it's those tiny little miracles that happen that get you through a day. I decided to check my Paypal account today to see if I had at least $20 in it (you have to take it out in increments of $20 when you use the ATM machine to withdraw) to add to MK's "fund" for her trip to St. Louis over Labor Day Weekend. I was surprised to see I had more than that.

I had made a little ebay sale in April and left the money in there and pretended it wasn't there so that I could use it for MK's trip to St. Louis. Instead of just pretending it wasn't there, I had forgotten it WAS there. So, for now, instead of using it for the trip to St. Louis, I'm going to use it for the license plate sticker on the car. This will prevent me getting a fine or having the car towed away.

That leaves me with about two weeks to make up the trip money somehow. It will be okay.

Sometimes it pays to have a tiny mind.

Squish, Splat, oh H-E- Double Hockey Sticks!

You know it's going to be a good day (not) when . . .

You know how it is when you get up and the first thing you need to do is go pee, but the old Schnauzer needs to go worse than you -- and he is doing his if-you-don't-take-me-out-now,-I'm going-to-pee-on-the-floor dance? Well, so, I go to the back door and I don't bother to turn on the light (it is a dark back porch, hate that); I let Mr. Happy out the door. He just stands there on the sidewalk and looks at me. Something's up. He should be flooding a spot on the ground by now.

So, I'm standing there with my legs crossed telling him to go potty and pointing in the direction of his personal space in the yard. I decide to shut the door and come back for him after I take care of my own business. I take a step back and squish! I stepped in dog poop! Happy didn't have to go at all; he was just making the great escape before I figured out what he had done!

How do I know it was him and not Sophie (Italian Greyhound), or even Baby (cat)? Well, Baby and Sophie go in their own litter boxes, or in close proximity. Besides, their poo is small. Happy's is larger and he walks all around when he poo's, so it isn't in just one spot. That's right. Poo all over my back porch! At least he went there, near the back door, and not in his favorite place on the dining room floor. Dumb dog, dumber than they come, dog!

Oh, yeah, and when I had opened the back door, it raked through the poo. Nice, real nice.

So, I hobble around on one foot and one corner of one heel, sort of crossing my legs, and I get his poo picked up in a bag and then use my Swiffer Sweeper Wet Wipe Mop Thingy and mop the floor real quick. No problem. Off to the bathroom!

Squish! What the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks is that cold and slimy . . . ohhhhhh, vomit. Yes, dog vomit. This is Sophie's. How do I know? She does this from time-to-time. She eats grass and then up it comes later. Oh, and she was doing it again moments later. Anyway, same foot, now slimed, and a new sheet of Swiffer Sweeper Wet Wipe Mop Thingy, legs still crossed, and I'm mopping again -- this time the kitchen.

I finally did make it to the bathroom, jumped in the bathtub and washed my feet, and somehow managed to get there (potty) in time not to have to clean up my own mess. While in there, I hear MK calling, "MOM! I think Sophie's throwing up!"

What's with the ants and spiders this spring? I've been fighting ants, tiny ones . . . and yesterday I killed 4 white spiders and then one more this morning. I have a ridiculous fear of spiders and they seem to want to haunt me right now.

Last night, MK and I were having fun throwing bean bag toys at each other in bed and her eyes suddenly got as big as quarters and she points to the wall above my head, "SPIDER!" I leapt out of the bed so fast you wouldn't know I can barely move in the mornings due to arthritis. Amazing what the fear of spiders can do for you!

Anyway, in the morning, MK was getting out of bed and there was another one in her bed. You know what, that little slowpoke can really move! Amazing. MK, not the spider. Well, actually, the spider moves pretty swiftly, too. Well . . . he used to.

Friday, May 8, 2009

UNCLE, already!

I cry UNCLE! Gee whiz! I give up. Someone got into my car again in the wee hours Wednesday morning. It is parked in the street now instead of the driveway. It still has the garbage bag over the missing window from the last break-in; at least they didn't need to break any windows to get in. It is still not in driving condition.

I haven't had the money to replace the window or the ignition switch. There is also some other problem with starting it besides the ignition -- thus, the unsuccessful attempt to start it by last month's car thief. This time, I'm not sure if they were trying to steal the whole car or not since the ignition is already torn up, it is hard to tell. They did ransack the glove box and the center console. There's nothing in there they want. They just throw my papers all over the inside of the car.

I won't have the money any time soon to fix the car. Income is just not rolling in right now. It will be fixed when I can scratch it up. The license plate renewal is due on the 14th, and I don't see that happening either. If I could get a certain someone to get his old piano and crap out of the garage, I could keep the car in there -- but, after it's been in there for 7 years or so, I don't see that happening. After the second time the car was damaged, I stood there and cried and he said, maybe I can get that piano out of the garage (which he hasn't, still) and you can keep the car in the garage. As J says, that's like closing the barn door AFTER the cow escapes!

Wed. morning I went to R and asked him if he could get that piano out of the garage and told him someone had been in the car, he basically said that won't do any good and I need to junk the car. Well, why not store it until I can scrape up enough to get it running again? Don't people fix cars anymore? I sure can't afford to buy another one.

J has offered to let me have/drive his (deceased) mom's car around town and he set a price for it and I could just work for him to work off the amount instead of coming up with the money. Well, that is very good of him to try to help me, but he says it can't be driven on the highway because the overdrive is out. R says I could still use it to take MK to Indy for contest, but I would have to take Rte. 40 (which I do anyway) and drive 45 mph. This would help me for in town purposes for a few months, but eventually, I'm going to be saddled with two gimp cars, and several hours of labor I don't really have time for.

License plate renewal is due the 14th, and I can't pay that this month, so I've got to find a way to get the car off the street so I don't get fined and the car get towed away, which I'm sure would cost me a lot, too. R said if I could get it started, we could take it over to his brother's in WTH and leave it there until his brother returns from his 3-month duty with the Nat'l Guard. When bro returns, he could maybe find out how much it will take to fix whatever it needs, and maybe I could eventually get it done.

Anyway, my whole point here is, when bad people do bad things to other people, they don't give one thought to the hardships they cause those people. One brief moment they cause harm, damage, pain, even death, and unsuspecting innocent people are left with the consequences for longer periods of time. Financial difficulties are increased when trying to deal with what has been done -- taking money or time away from other things needed in their lives or their families' lives. Of course, in the instance when they physically harm someone, or even kill them, the effects can last a lifetime.

A few years back an acquaintance was murdered. She was a single Christian woman about my age. She was a good person who took care of aging parents and minded her own business. One parent had alzheimer's, the other one was deceased at the time she was murdered. All she was doing was feeding the outside cats before she got ready to go to work. Why? Why?

She lived relatively close to me. I lived in fear for a couple of years after that. I still leave lights on inside the house all night every night. I feel like I would have some warning because I have two noisy dogs. The one accused of murdering her was already in prison for something else when they found out it was him. He may be in prison, but I still live in fear. We've had some really bad people living right next door to us over the years. Right now, so far, there seems to be ok people there.

Street fights in front of my house with 21 or so people . . . gangs of people forcing their way into the house next door when there was a baby living there . . . threats of shooting . . . shots in my porch window . . . numerous of mine and R's tires slashed here . . . graphic threats (shown by way of graffiti drawings) of what would be done to me if I remove the graffiti one more time . . . my sister's car window shot out while she was driving to work, R was "rolled" (I think that is what you call it), or knocked unconscious as he was leaving work one night and his $50 taken from his pockets . . . attempts to steal my car two or three times . . . what am I to do? Wait it out? Hope nothing physically happens to me or MK? Hope the house next door burns down like so many in this neighborhood do --( and why do they?????) That would take care of any more riff-raff moving in.

I think I am a good person. I don't bother anybody. I try to help people in whatever little ways I can. I work hard. I scrimp to get by. I do without a lot. The government and other financial advisers tell us to cut back on spending. I don't think I can cut back much further. But, those bad people out there are forcing me to find ways to spend over and over and over on fixing up what they don't care about, but what means a great deal to me and MK. Uncle! I give up!

Squash Bloom

Squash Bloom
I found a new setting on my camera for shooting flowers!

Bean #1

Bean #1
So far, we have three bean pods. Bugs are eating the leaves.

Bean #2

Bean #2

Bean #3

Bean #3

Second Strawberry

Second Strawberry
The birds found the first strawberry (pictured yesterday) and ate right out of the center of it! This is a new one that showed up today. I'm sure it will be gone soon. We have buds for more.

"FLOWERS" NOT

"FLOWERS"  NOT
Actually, squash, lettuce, flowers, and grass where we planted what were supposed to be flowers! This is what happens when children help you garden. But, the squash looks excellent!

Our Recession Garden & First Harvest

Our Recession Garden & First Harvest
These are the beautiful squash plants growing where we planted what the package said was FLOWERS! Actually, I think MK may have mis-labled them in the spring planter box we started everything in.

Peony

Peony
The peonies were beautiful only a few days before being ruined by rain.

Leaf Lettuce

Leaf Lettuce
Recovering from being beat down by rain

First Harvest from Recession Garden

First Harvest from Recession Garden
This is actually from a "thinning" of the garden.

Parsley

Parsley

One and Only Strawberry

One and Only Strawberry
The birds had not found this strawberry, and so far, it is the largest one we've ever had left on the vine.

Onions

Onions
We planted MANY onions, but this is the only patch growing well. We thin it to get our green onions and they are tasty!

Potato Plants

Potato Plants
They are growing like crazy!

Hosta

Hosta
Aren't the leaves pretty?

Potato Plant Blooms

Potato Plant Blooms
Pretty light purple with bright yellow centers. I've never seen any before.

Our First Recession Garden Salad

Our First Recession Garden Salad

First White Rose of Summer

First White Rose of Summer
This is the first bloom on the white rosebush this spring.

Max the Mouse

Max the Mouse
Max the Mouse in Cinderella, Cinderella

Sledding Fun

Sledding Fun
FUN!

Sledding

Sledding
Another one bites the dust

More Sledding

More Sledding

Oh, that's gotta hurt!

Oh, that's gotta hurt!
And yet, another one bites the dust . . . er, snow.