Over the last couple of months I've been working in my #1 flower bed which sits between my husband Barry's shop and the sidewalk from the driveway to the house. Barry laid the sidewalk with red brick pavers many years ago (I'm thinking maybe 20+ years) and until recently it has been straight as an arrow and flat as a flitter. It's still straight but the brick has begun to lift in places over the last couple of years caused by stinkin crab grass, which had also taken over a good portion of the bed forcing out all but the most determined of the wood iris and inviting in the stinkin stingin fire ants! As bad as I hate to poison anything I treated the fire ants and in a week they were gone, gone to the other end of the flower bed =/ so I treated the whole bed and when the coast was clear started digging up the grass and in the process the Iris, lots of little Star of Bethlehem, Bare Naked Ladies, Jonquil and other assorted bulbs, roots, rocks and worms (I was kinda surprised at the worms, I figured the ant killer would have done them in too). The grass roots had grown under the pavers which had to be lifted one at a time to remove the mass of tangled white roots, the soil under them leveled and the pavers replaced, which left the sidewalk nice and flat again, no more tripping hazards for the toddlers and older folks like me. I finished up last night after dark, in the light of the waxing gibbous Moon, Venus and Jupiter.

The thing about diggin in the dirt and other simple tasks, requiring little thought, is it gives you time to contemplate.  Life, the good the bad and the ugly, comes flowing back like black and white movie snippets. Loved ones come and gone, mistakes made, victories won, hearts broken and hearts mended. I thought a lot about my old black dog Tish, probably because yesterday was the anniversary of her death in 2013.

This morning I watched a Sunday Stills video from National Geographic called “Heal: A Best Friend Says Goodbye. Winner of the Best of the Festival award at the 2015 5Point Film Festival, this touching tribute to friendship, loyalty, and beating the odds takes us inside one adventurer’s last days”. At the end of the story it asked if I wanted to share, but the only place practical for me was word press, so I'm trying to post this there also, but I wanted to share on Xanga too, it's been too long...

http://adventureblog.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/09/video-denali-a-story-of-friendship-love-and-cancer/

A quote from Denali:

"There’s was this really smart scientist guy who thought people could learn a lot from dogs, when someone you love walks through the door, even if it happens five times a day you should go totally insane with joy!"

ILYM

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower should peak in the bright moonlight, before dawn in the morning, May 6th.  I think for a change our weather will co-operate and I plan on setting the alarm and getting up to watch.  It's been quite a long time.  Below are the specifics from Earth Sky News:

Tonight’s large and bright waning gibbous moon is sure to obscure the 2015 Eta Aquarid meteor shower, which will probably produce the most meteors on Wednesday morning – May 6, 2015 – from about 3 a.m. until dawn. Want to watch in moonlight? Do it. You’ll likely see some bright meteors that shine through the moon’s glare. In a dark sky, especially at latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, the Eta Aquarids can produce up to 20 to 40 meteors per hour.

If you do find yourself watching in moonlight, remember, you’ll see more meteors if you situate yourself in a wide moon shadow somewhere … shadow of a barn or side of a mountain. If nothing else, use your car! With the moon out of your view, your eyes will pick up more meteors.

Our sky chart below shows the sky scene from mid-northern latitudes just before the onset of morning twilight. The Y-shaped “Water Jar” is the most prominent feature in the otherwise inconspicuous constellation Aquarius. Incidentally, this distinctive Y-shaped pattern of stars closely aligns with the radiant point of the Eta Aquarid shower. For more on the Eta Aquarid radiant and why more Eta Aquarids are visible from more southerly latitudes, click here.

Weather or not I hope you have an awesome evening and always

remember to look up

ILYM

It's been a sad week for me, we had another high school classmate take his life over the weekend, that makes five.   Five too many.  I copied this prayer from Old Hat's facebook page, it seemed appropriate.

Lord, remind me. When it all seems too much, remind me that your grace is sufficient for all of my needs. When I am overwhelmed and going under, remind me that it is your mighty hand that lifts me up. When I am besieged on all sides, remind me that you are the fortress into which I can run for shelter. When I am worried and anxious about many things, remind me that what I should choose is to sit at your feet. When this life is roaring around me, remind me to listen for your gentle whisper. When I have come to the end of my strength, remind me that your power works best in weakness. When there is too much on my mind, remind me to think on whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right and pure and lovely and admirable and excellent and praiseworthy.Remind me, Lord.

Amen

While I was reading the prayer and comments I found this old Irish hymn in Steven Christians comment.  How lovely, I'm not sure if the song will come up here, but you can copy and paste the link.  It'll do your soul good.

Be Thou my Vision:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CMclLT_Hjg

Be Safe - Be Happy

ILYM

Winter storm Remus was perfectly named for our area....we live about 20 miles northwest of Rome, Georgia.  Rome, Georgia sits among seven hills just like Rome Italy, they even have a statue of Romulus and Remus in front of the Civic Center.

School was out for three days and as my work follows the school closing schedule so was I!!!!   It was a really nice snow storm though....no power outages, the grocery store stayed open except for one day, and the road crews were on top of things from the very onset, spreading some sort of brine on the roads, so they were passable.  Not that I got out mind you, I mean I would have gotten out except that the new Granddaughter was not having anything to do with the cold white stuff.  So we stayed in the house, it was really a nice break.

However Nash made the most of his time in the snow, Barry made a really cool sled out of an old pair of snow ski's, they found a perfect sledding area at the city cemetery, Nash said it was the perfect place cause they couldn't hurt any of the people that lived there.

This is Nash and his Mom, Tiffany, and the best sled in the county!

They built a great snowman too, they used a dipper from Nova's baby milk formula for a pipe...and of course coal ( really it was charcoal  ) for the eyes and nose, and a Nascar ball cap - it was the weekend for the Atlanta 500 race.

- The snow has all turned to mush now, so Hi Ho Hi Ho it's back to work I went, and things have really been nuts around the office.  Hopefully I'll find some time to put some of the nuttiness down  soon, until then everyone stay safe and warm.

ilym

p.s......I have jonquils blooming, enough to have a bouquet on my desk, so it won't be long until the weather warms.

Hello!

I just wanted to drop in and let anyone still out there that might be interested that I'm still here and doing fine.  I've just  really been busy at work and home.

Also - it's snowing here in NW Georgia, it's been snowing for almost twelve straight hours now...We are not accustomed to snow like this here, but don't worry - we have plenty bread and milk.

Stay safe and warm...ILYM

Today started the Great  Backyard Bird Count - his is my fifth year to participate.

Here's some details....

Mallard by Rene Wilbur, North Carolina, 2014 GBBC

Focus on Birds

The 2015 Great Backyard Bird Count photo contest is also underway and open for submissions. Take your camera along as you count and make sure you submit all of your best photos of birds (and birders!) to the 2015 GBBC photo contest. Each year judges from Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Audubon, and Bird Studies Canada pore through your photos and select the best in six different categories: Overall, Composition, Behavior, Group, Habitat, and People. Check out the amazing 2014 photo contest winners for inspiration before you head out to take some of your own!

GBBC 2015 Has Landed!

Data entry is open and we're waiting to take in your bird checklists from every corner of the world. Watch the dynamic map on the GBBC home page lighting up as the lists come in!

Not sure how to begin?

Download our "easy as 1-2-3" instructions which describe how those new to the GBBC can create their free account, how to go about counting birds, and how to enter tallies into the website.

If you've already participated in the GBBC in the past two years or already use eBird, you don't have to open a new account--just use the same login name and password you chose when you created your account.

Handy Resources

As you’re counting birds and submitting your checklists this weekend, we want to remind you of the wealth of birding resources that Audubon, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Bird Studies Canada have to offer.

• Head over to the brand new Audubon.org to explore the new mobile-friendly online Guide to the Birds of North America, featuring illustrations from David Allen Sibley and exclusive content from Kenn Kaufman.
• Also be sure to check out the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds, which has photos and details on nearly 600 North American species, as well as thousands of amazing audio and video recordings from the Macaulay Library.
• If you’re participating from outside the U.S., head over to Avibase, a world bird database hosted by Bird Studies Canada, with information on nearly 10,000 bird species and 22,000 subspecies.
• Too busy birding to sit down at your computer? Then check out these great birding mobile apps to help make this GBBC the best one yet!

Have a Love-ly Valentines Day

ILYM

Michele Fauquet posted a picture of his snowdrops from quite a few years ago, mine are just starting to push up through the soil...it's such a reassuring sight. Actually mine don't look exactly like Michele's, they may not be snow drops at all...if any of you know what the might be if they aren't I would love to know. Anyway, here's a photo of my snowdrops from quite a few years ago also.

and a legend too!

A legend about the origin of the snowdrop tells us that after being expelled from the Garden of Eden, Eve sat weeping. An angel comforted her. Since the Fall, no flowers had bloomed, but snow fell ceaselessly. As the angel talked with Eve, he caught a snowflake in his hand, breathed on it, and it fell to earth as the first snowdrop. The flower bloomed and Hope was born. In Germany there is a different snowdrop legend. When God made all things on the Earth, He asked the snow to go to the flowers and get a little color from them. One by one the flowers refused. Then, very sad, she asked a snowdrop to give it a little of its colour and the snowdrop accepted. As a reward, the snow lets it bloom first whenever spring shows.

Hope - it's a good thing

Have a great weekend

ILYM

and another photo of Nova Rae:

she's always hoping for supper =))))

My precious nephew sent me a bunch of old pictures...about 500 of them!  Lots of them made me smile, some made me cry and some made me laugh out loud, like the one below.

This was one of our pups, his name was Darrell

he belonged to the same nephew that sent me the photos,

If only I'd bought stock in nerf balls...I'd probably be a rich girl today =))))

We did all learn to put our shoes up and out of reach though.

Have a great week everyone....It's still cold, only now it's damp too.

ilym

Three Smile Days in a Row - I'm so thankful to have so many reasons to smile and be happy!

These are our Great Grandsons Braylon and Brodye.

Braylon is on the left, he was born December 20, 2013. He was about three months premature but is doing fine (the first six months of his life were real scary though).

Brodye ( on the right) was Born December 21, 2014.  He was only four weeks early and is doing great, so great that he got to come home from the hospital today!  YAY!!!!!

Our Grand daughter in law, Jaclyn's birthday is December 22nd...Our Grand Son Reece is in the Army, their stationed at Fort Carson near Colorado Springs, Co.  He will be deployed to Kuwiat in a couple months for nine months and Jaclyn and the boys will come home to Georgia while he's gone.  I hate for him to go but I sure look forward to seeing the great grand babies1

It only got down to 8* here last night, it hasn't been above freezing all day but the wind hasn't been howling and the sun has been shining all day so it was actually very nice....It is Winter after all, and the good thing about clear cold nights is it makes for starry starry nights.

Speaking of stars, if your out tonight you should look for the comet Lovejoy.  The constellation Orion is rising, with its three prominent Belt stars pointing straight up. Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) is at the upper right of Orion now.   Alan Dyer, who took this photo, said, “The comet was obvious in binoculars and a very careful look revealed it as barely visible to the naked eye, even in moonlight. But you had to know just where to look!

Here's a map if your interested!

ILYM

I got/stole this photo from my daughter Sarah, she lives in northern Virginia.

This a picture of their driveway this morning....How lovely!

If your in the Purceville, Va area you should drop by Sunset Hills Vineyards for a visit.

Bundle up everyone - it's gonna be a four dog night anywhere you go!

ilym