respublica

This is me these days

Dale agrees this is me.

 

July was the busiest month

It's August and I'm rather thankful. This has been one major July for us. We spent time out in Washington DC, staying with our daughter who works for the senate. The initial purpose of the trip was for Dale to say the opening prayer for the start of the new Senate session. That was cool enough but even better was getting to be around our oldest grandson who was a Senate page in July. Dale prayed and we watched Christian work on the Senate floor. He also spent the week after paging interning in Katie's office. He is flying home today after the experience of a lifetime.

After getting back home we had a ton of gardening work to do which seems unending this year. pictures can be clicked to enlarge.

Dale giving prayer in the Senate while grandson Christian paging at the door. The surprising thing to us was that the senate is very strict about absolutely no cameras, phones, picture taking in the senate chamber. Ours were locked up in Katie's office. Anyone caught taking a photo was ushered out immediately. The photo I put up was taken off of CSPAN 2 by our older daughter in St. Louis.  We got it after we all returned home.

I have to say that Christian became a buddy of Katie's two Aussie-doodle pups as did Dale and I

We have quite a few pictures but this is a glimpse. 

We're Flying Away

Tomorrow we are heading out the Washington DC to spend a bit of time with our daughter and family. And her two cuddly dogs. Actually the main reason for this trip is that Dale was asked to say the opening prayer for the start of the Senate's new session on Thursday. He is thrilled to say the least.We will spend a bit of time around the capital and the rest at their home in Maryland.

I have not flown since the Covid shut everything down and it does not particularly thrill me but it sure beats that drive.

Happy Friday!

Away from the computer today because we worked and worked in our yard. Dale decided it was time to take down the old backyard fence and build new. So dthat involved not only removing sections but clearing out weeds and overgrown bushes which stood inside the fence. I helped and then emptied our third big planter of potatoes, this time the brown skinned ones. This sort of thing does not leave much time for anything else.

 But it's all good. Now that it is evening Dale is way overly thrilled that his White Sox are playing the Cardinals tonight and it's actually going to be on TV.

Obsessing about trash

I admit I am all about getting trash put into bags and out into the cart. I don't like it sitting around. Two weeks ago Republic Services completely forgot to pick up our streets. We are Tuesday pick-up and that week it did not come. We figured there must be a reason since the guys who do our street are very reliable, never miss, always early and friendly. So that week we just figured a truck was broken down and it would be picked up on Wednesday. But it was not. Thursday came and no pick up. It became obvious to the neighbors that we may well have been forgotten. On Friday we called twice, first me and then Dale later. We learned that others were calling as well. Finally a truck came at 4 Friday afternoon just as the Legion fish fry traffic was coming down the street.

I was glad to finally have what turned out to be almost two weeks of trash finally gone, but still wondered what happened.

Now today our trash is again sitting at the curb with no pick up. We realize the 4th of July holiday moved us all back one day. But today is that day and it is getting late. The fact that our drivers have always been very reliable makes this more worrying.

I'm stressed over this because of the heat and a worry they may make us wait til next week. For quite awhile I received texts from Republic if there was something new or a delay issue. I guess that is in the past.

Update. Finally got the trash picked up late in the afternoon. Thankful

I'm back!

I've been away from this blog long enough to have the site ask me for my password. Thankfully just clicking on the "open" portion got me in. It's been a really really busy bunch of weeks added to having problems with my laptop not powering up. But all is well for now.

We've been physically working in our yard, all sides of the yard, planting, weeding, harvesting etc etc. We have had no rain that I can remember since some time in May which meant a lot of daily watering. Last night a strong storm rolled over us and much needed rain fell. I can't remember a year with so little rain. The flowers and vegetables have managed to thrive with hose water thankfully.

Today I am going to empty our second big pot of potatoes and see if we get as many as came out of the first last week. Planting them in pots is so much easier that having to dig them up out of the ground and the production is about the same for us. The pots are on the deck so I get a tarp and tip over the container and the potatoes being on the bottom, fall out last. Sort of easy peasy.. Then I put the potatoes on newspaper in a cardboard box and take it down to a cool dark place in the basement to cure. Don't brush any soil off the spuds until they're cured. 

Thus far the harvest. I am anxious about the cantaloupes, though. We have really healthy vines with many flowers but no sign of a flower turning into a cantaloupe. Hopefully it will happen soon. I bought a number of pollinator plants this year because I realized cantaloupes really need the bees and wasps to help them generate fruit.

Asiatic Lilies

The past couple of months we've become big fans of Asiatic Lilies or Oriental Lilies. A couple of weeks ago Dale brought home a bouquet of them and they were amazing, like no flowers we've ever had. Not only did the blooms get huge but they lasted for a couple of weeks in the vase. The fragrance is just wonderful as the flowers poof it out several times a day and they come in many colors. We've replaced the bouquets with others we have found at our local Schnucks, often picking different colors. These are the flower of the year for us.

So imagine how exciting it was for me to find these Lily bulbs for planting at Joe's Market Basket in Edwardsville yesterday. We are planting them in our back yard today.

Saving the vegetables

Last week many of the broccoli and Brussels Sprouts plants I'd planted in our raised bed were being chewed up and eaten by squirrels. It was just so defeating. But Dale went to work and built a cover for that area made with chicken wire inside a wood frame. That has really worked and those darn squirrels can't get in. The new growth is just so satisfying.

Before the cover:

I"d been trying to use Cayenne Pepper to keep them away and it worked until it rained.

Now things look so much better.

And the potatoes we are growing in pots on the deck are doing great.

Dinner woes

With all the awfulness on the news this week, I feel guilty about obsessing about what to have for dinner, but here we are. Since Dale retired we've eaten at home almost 100 percent of the time. Covid shutdowns got us out of the habit of going out to eat and when we talk about going out, we never seem to be up to it.

I have used a rotating menu which I'm tired of. I made a nice roast beef last night which took a bit of effort and was worth it...not an every day plan though. I ask Dale what he'd like for supper and 95 percent of the time he mentions hot dogs. I really believe he could happily live on hot dogs.

So here we are once again.

Good-Bye scary Pin Oak

When we bought our house back in 1981, there were two small Pin Oak trees in the front yard. We like the way they sort of softened up the look of the front of the house, but over the years these two grew and grew. Not only did they grow so much they hung out over the street and our roof as well as the neighbors roofs. Two years ago we had the tree on the right side removed and today will say good-bye to the second one.

They turned out to be just terribly messy trees dropping small acorns every where, clogging up the gutters and getting perilously close to falling on the power lines across the street. I am really happy to see the last tree be taken away.