The Mountain Thymes

 I may repeat things I've already posted.  It's not due to age. I'm too lazy to go back and  reread what I blogged previously.   I've joined the Murphy Health and Fitness gym that's located right across from Konhete Park where I walk so I can swim now too.  I didn't realize how much I missed being in the water.  The other gym, Erlanger Fit Plus membership runs out in September.  Cliff and I belonged to it since moving here and it has a great rehab program that both of us have used at different times.  One time I asked a therapist about knee discomfort/pain and he showed me ways to strengthen quads and leg muscles to prevent knee weakness.  Cliff did PT a few times for back discomfort due to belly pulling on his back muscles.  After the PT a patient get a free month at the gym.  We did Zumba and yoga classes together.  But now I need to swim.  Pool is heated when the temperatures cool down.   Our mornings have bee...

 My laptop was down again............... I finally got Cliff's Davis Vantage Vue weather station up and running.  The Weather suite is now communicating with the wall console.  I found his collection of instructions, quick set-up guides, and manuals all neatly placed in a large plastic sleeve.  This afternoon I called tech support to get help on the last bit of instruction that I couldn't figure out.  The tech was so understanding and went through the last steps I needed to do to get the station console communicating with the outside suite.  Now that it's working, it makes complete sense to me about what I needed to do.  I was so happy that after I thanked him and hung up, I cried.  I felt my connection to Cliff through his technology love.  Now I can watch the wind speed and note the rainfall and feel him here.   A few weeks ago I joined the Murphy gym because they have  pool and I really miss swimming.  It's been difficult to...

 Just recently I renewed my driver's license online.  That made me happy! Skip the trip to the DMV! It can be done only once but that's okay.  It was easy and it's done! About five years ago I notice the top rack in my Bosch dishwasher was starting to decay.  I ignored it because that's what I do sometimes when I don't want to tackle an issue.  Time went on.  One day I called Bosch and was emailed the replacement parts site but couldn't figure out which part it was so once again I ignored it .   Then Cliff was ill and I quit handling unimportant issues.  A few weeks ago I brought up the site again and still couldn't understand how to find the order part number.  Charlie figured it out and helped me order the whole upper drawer.  Shipping cost almost as much as the replacement part.  Today FedEx brought the new upper drawer.  I had to remove some parts from the decayed drawer and attach them correctly to the new one without...

 It's a good thing I don't go to work.  It seems to me it takes longer to do the tasks and chores I've always done in a shorter span of time.  I love spring and summer.  When I wake at 5:30 my mind says   yes, I'll have more time to do all the thing I want to do today. Doesn't happen....probably because I come up with more tasks that I think I can fit into my day.  We're in a dry period now.  I washed the yoga deck with a bleach/water solution Saturday afternoon allowing two days of drying and stained it Tuesday.  Before staining I had to blow all the ants and little creatures of my clean deck. Tibetan Peace flags sending prayers and peace out to the world with each breeze. The garden is struggling but some things are flourishing.  Butterfly bushes and native bushes thriving from the spring rains.  Mountain laurel, native azaleas, and dogwoods doubled in size this spring and were full of gorgeous colorful blooms.....better than any other...

 I wanted to blog this past week but the computer was in a deep coma on life support and probably overheard me tell Michael it was going to be thrown in the dump.  Just for the heck of it I tried turning it on again tonight and it woke up.   Friday I had a window put in Cliff's old shed.  It's really nice to have some natural light along with the fluorescent overhead.  Charlie put it in and framed the outside for a finished look.  He's going to stain it later next week.  We have rain coming again tonight.  I still have to soak the labels and gently remove them so I don't scratch the glass I keep some supplies for the raised gardens and the weed whacker in this shed and other tools in the other shed down by the big garden.  It beats trudging up and down the mountain while tending both gardens. Last week I bought a 5.5 cu wheelbarrow for working around the lower garden.  Tuesday the old rotted rails and posts got replaced. I've slowly...

 It was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride all through the night............. Cliff loved electronic gadgets so we had three weather alert radios in this little house.  One was placed on top of the fridge.  Another in the big bedroom and one positioned by his recliner along with his fire radio, pager, and TV remote.  Oh, and his iPhone and iPad.  Everything a techie needed within reach.  Every so often there would be a chuckle from the recliner that he couldn't the channel with his cell phone.  I did keep the weather alert by his recliner which is now favorite place.  From that position I can see the HB feeder and bird swing  and the one seed feeder.   The weather alert sounded five times throughout the night for storm and tornado warnings for Cherokee County and Murphy.  I listened then fell asleep again.  When it went off again at 5:45 I just got up and after checking the map figured I had enough time for a quick wake-up shower. This ...

" I can't get you out of my heart.  Without you I'm lonely.  My heart wants you only."  Ti amo,-ti voglio, amor   Jerry Vale  I listen to Italian songs on my Pandora all the time.   We're in for a week of rainy days, not continuous rain so it's not bad, just typical Spring rainy periods.  It's not cold so I'm thrilled.  This is my time of year.  The past couple of days the trees have exploded with new green leaves.  Feels like a topical rain forest which I love.  My gardens are happy. Nights are warmer, fifties and sixties, and weeds are running the show.  It's only been a couple of weeks since my Carolina wrens fledged from their covered porch nest and a new nest is under construction in the geranium window box.  Luckily the house staining didn't interfere with the building.  Sonny removed the box and placed it under trees while staining the front south side of the house returning the box before he left Th...

 Our last cold spell is this weekend, the blackberry winter. I got to the Murphy farmers market by 9 this morning to buy a bag of fresh crisp spinach and a huge head of butter crunch lettuce which will last one person two weeks.  Fresh greens go quickly and our small market has only two farmers right now.  My plan was to walk the river loop after the market but the wind picked up and a cool misty rain changed my mind. I have "empty nest" syndrome again........... I slowly walked over to the nest to check if the babies were still inside the nest and caught this one sitting on the edge.  When I came back with my phone it was hiding but I took the picture and as I slowly walked away it jumped out of the box and flapped to the porch floor probably thinking "monster alert!"  It hopped around the floor flapping but not becoming airborne.  I left it lone so parents could tend to it, took the Toyota and went to Lowe's.  Lowe's was so mobbed with mulch and plan...

 It's raining so I can't go out and play............... Last night after showering at 8:30 and turning off the TV I sat out on the back porch, no lights on, and listened to the night sounds.  Sky was cloudy so no stars were visible but I did watch the fireflies flicking.  According to the Farmers Almanac these are actually dormant beetles that emerge in warm humid weather so we are seeing them early. Last night at 9 our temperature was still near 70 degrees.  Off in the distance I heard the whippoorwills calling.  Perfect spring night...................... I've been busy the past couple of days getting the porch ready for pressure washing and staining.  Finally did the last cleaning today.  Pressure washing tomorrow.  It's amazing how much stuff I had to remove and get off the porch.  I didn't think I had collected that much.  The HB feeders will stay up until the guy gets here.  I'm concerned about the baby Carolina wrens that are ...

 Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson wrote the lyrics to "It's My Lazy Day."  ....Well, it must be the season No rhyme or no reason  I'm takin' it easy It's my lazy day.  When I got up this morning and knew I didn't need to go to town or get the mail or make a pie, I thought today was going to be my lazy day.  I showered but dressed in loose yoga pants and a loose warm pullover, did thirty minutes of lazy yin yoga, which consists of laying on the mat and holding the pose for three minutes before taking a different stretching pose.  I discovered yin, which is perfect for aging joints or soreness from overworking in the gardens and just before crawling under the covers at night, a few years ago.  After eating a hot oatmeal  breakfast ,  I made a cozy mug of tea and headed for the recliner to sit and watch the birds gather the sunflower feeder.  And there I sat enjoying the quiet.  I think I dreaded the freezing temperatures returning ev...

 Temperatures behaved like a roller coaster these past five to six days dipping to twenty some nights.  Most of the houseplants stayed in the sunny windows day and night except for the cold hardy collards and arugula.  Those containers got moved up against the house on the covered porch and I put plastic and a large tablecloth over them.  Tonight should be in the mid-forties so everything stay out except the baby transplants I just did today.   It took me two days to vacuum over the weekend when I decided to move some furniture which started my going through magazines, keep...not keep, then vacuuming the recliner seats and sucking up only one of my favorite new socks.  It's that definite sound of an object quickly disappearing up the vacuum tube when you realize that sock is a goner. Decided not to cut the Miele vacuum bag open.  They are expensive and that's the last one until I order more from Amazon. They are very efficient bags trapping over 9...

 In my head, spring has arrived................ The Carolina wrens agrees.  The pair built this tunnel nest in two days.  I've seen late winters that they build but abandon and other times the female lays her four to five eggs and sets on them through the bitter cold nights.  We can still see a snowstorm one day and seventy degrees the next, especially during March's transitioning from winter to spring.   A few weeks ago I started assembling my new raised gardens and thinking about where the gardens would receive the amount of sunlight certain plants require.  The heavy wine barrel gardens had been scattered around and needed to be moved back into the sunlight.  The only way I could moved them myself was to dig all the dirt out and put the dirt elsewhere.  So a few days ago I started shoveling dirt into the wheelbarrow, moved closer to the raised gardens, and shoveled that soil into the new empty raised beds.  Once I emptied the barrel I...

 It was cold here today. Not a full sun.  Clouds inhibited any solar warmth.   Birds almost emptied the feeders. Threw more farm seed from Tractor Supply on the ground for the ground feeders like my winter juncos.  Don't think we went much over thirty, dry breeze, wind chill BUT it's lighter earlier in the morning and lighter longer into the afternoon with sunset today at 6:31.  I feel spring. I'm still sleeping a restful night with no hangover in the morning.  This Rx works for me.   Sent a seed order to Baker Creek for seeds I want to try but can't find here and have been searching images of different ways to do raised gardens. Found a container through Amazon to try. It arrived today and was easy for me to assemble with pictures so I didn't need to read or call Jim and Lauria for explanations.  Being a visual person, I like pictures.  This container is a 4"L x 12"H x 2'W.  I started small and if I like it will order the 6'L x12"H...

 I figure I'd better blog while I'm sane, for as long as it lasts.  I wasn't going to start any seeds for a few more weeks but I feel spring happening in my veins. On the 10th I planted six arugula and six collard seeds and covered the sets with saran.  Now I need Mother Nature to provide sunshine.  Germination is between 7 to 14 days.  These are cold weather greens so on sunny days I can put them outside no matter what the temp.  My poor kitchen garden that Cliff built for me about 12 years ago is no longer useful. I'll begin taking it apart on a good day.  It's rotting and falling apart but it has served the purpose for all these years.  The huge oak tree now has a canopy so large that  it shades the little garden too much.  Time to make some garden changes.   I had a large kalanchoe plant that I hoped to cut up and root for five smaller plants.  This was a week ago and they don’t look like they are dying.  I think ...

 Thursday afternoon I had an odd thing happen.  I felt light-headed and felt like the room was beginning to spin.  It only lasted less than ten seconds but I did my BP a few times.  First time was unusually high for me because I'm not on any Rx, 155/75.  So I calmed down, took some relaxing breaths and waited fifteen minutes before taking it again. Then it was my normal 117/67 with pulse of 65 but Friday morning I called my doctor.  This morning he called back and apologized because the note got misplaced and he had just read it.  I just wanted to make sure I wasn't having a TIA.  After listening to me for awhile he suggested it very well could be from sleep deprivation.  I've been waking three to four times a night with a mind that talks to me, sometimes chattering nonstop.  Between the holidays and Cliff's anniversary in January what I'm experiencing is normal,not unusual.  If I experience any more spells, he'll order tests for me...

 The first day of our three days of predicted rain was dry, overcast and 61 degrees.  I vacuumed out the red Toyota and swept out the left side of the garage. Thursday the Kia got washed and I swept out that side. Getting things done slowly.  I’m still not sleeping well some nights.  Some next days are rough and I’m so weary I can hardly wait for bedtime.   Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year, the year of the Dragon so I went to our Chinese restaurant and ordered shrimp with red curry sauce.  Lauria told me to eat Asian food today.  The new Bellview Volunteer Fire Station is close to being finished. Cliff’s friend, Dutch, has been at the station daily working with the construction crew to ensure things are moving along. He’s hoping for the certification of occupancy by the end of the month. I go over often to check out the new tiled bathrooms, kitchen, and other additions. Last Saturday I drove the Toyota to the old station where the guys we...

 When Mark was here at Christmas he suggested I try to blog from my iPad.  This way I should be able to go right to my photos. So…..here goes. Started this puzzle on New Year’s Day. Finished it today. After all that concentration and searching for the right fit, shape, and colors I let it set on the counter for a couple of hours then broke it apart and scooped 750 shapes into a gallon zip lock bag.  The Tibetan Buddhist ritual of creating a sand mandala came to mind when I began destroying my hours of creativity.  Using a sand filled  tool called a Chakpur the monks gently tap it dropping grains of sand creating an intricate design on a wooden board.  They then destroy it symbolizing the impermanent nature of life.  Now my creation is destroyed, bagged and returned to the box for someone else to enjoy.   I loved this puzzle.. it was peaceful and fun and kept my brain busy on the rainy cold gloomy days. The next one has 1000 pieces. It’ll be a real...

 What a difference a day makes.  It was 23 at 8 a.m.  With a cloudless sky and full beaming sun it's a beautiful day.  Yesterday the house felt cold all day even with the heat running constantly.  At 1 p.m. it's 50 degrees and with the coming in the windows no heat is needed.  I ran into town this morning for mustard greens then stopped at Tractor Supply for birdseed.  When I pulled in the driveway suddenly a feeling swept over me that I should check the propane tank gauge.  We're on an auto-delivery but this was a strong feeling.  I think it was Cliff telling me to check it right then.  He checked more often if the generator ran or if were in an extremely cold spell for days or weeks.  Boy, was I surprised to see the needle in the red on empty!  When I called Freeman they dispatched a driver and within an hour the truck arrived.  The driver told me the day my generator ran for hours burned lots of fuel. That was the time ...

 Today is the first day the weather has a true winter feeling.  Mid-afternoon our high was 40 degrees with a heavy overcast sky.  Some snow is possible for higher elevations.  I doubt we'll see anything more than flurries or a passing snow shower.  I made a hearty winter soup full of vegetables, mushrooms, sweet potatoes in Fire and Kettle Beef Bone broth.  The Fire and Kettle bone broths are rich and hearty.  Great for winter soups.   My floor needs vacuuming and a stack of papers  need to be shredded but I had no interest in either today.  A better idea was to settle in my recliner with a hot cup of  cocoa and go through iPhone photos eliminating duplicates and unnecessary pictures.  This one brought a smile to me face. June 27, 2016 in Myrtle Beach with Lauria, Jim and grandchildren.  I went down a water slide with Grant.  It was so much fun to play! and forget that I was an adult.  Cliff and me with Kath...