The Mountain Thymes

 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 walk.  The air is heavy all the time.  We&

 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 causing finger and hand pain.  The

 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 year I remember. The but

 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 been raking the leaves and dumpin

 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 is a good day to catch up on all the neglected inside ta

" 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 Thursday.  This morning while preparing