So excited

Well, I have finally gotten the "want to" to get to work on the outside of the house.  I planeted two huge half whiskey barrels in the front of the house.  We have the old style huge front porch (that we never use, the garage is in the back of the house so we go in and out there) but I keep one of the whiskey barrels on each side of the entry to the porch.  One has red and white geraniums with red and white vinca, the other has red and white petunias with white vinca that has a red dot in the middle of the flower.  Then I took the other four giant whiskey barrels and did what I did last year, put tomato plants in them and put them in front of the privacy fence (no talk about redneck gardening.  I also got the bed area fixed up over the cat and bird's grave and have plants in there, gazania, vinca, dianthus, and the start of a honeysuckle if it grows. 

My excitement comes over the climbing rose bush that the bunny Ben brought home, just about took out last year (bunny escaped through a little tiny gate at the bottom of the fence I had put in so I could run the pool hose out to waste off water)............ I didn't leave it open on purpose........  Anyway, I was working on my beds and noticed the rose had tons and tons of new growth and just covered with buds to boot.  I was so excited I was yelling at Ben to come look, he thought I had a bug trapped or worse, a snake.  Nope, just a beautiful, huge rose bush.

Everything is so green and pretty here in NE Oklahoma, I can't even begin to describe the beauty at this time of year.  The lake is a mess, but town is a bloom.  I'll have to get some pictures soon.  Crossing the river this weekend, I noticed that the leaves on the trees are actually in water and you can see no trunk at all.  The under current is so bad, we had a floater drown a couple weekends ago, but warnings are posted.  We've had hummingbirds for a few weeks now and the house wrens have once again taken up nesting on our front porch, so until the babies are out of the nest, you have to wear "protection" to water my plants.  Also, we've now mowed the yard 6 times, I believe.  Well, not we, Ben and the grandson.

We had five youth go forward yesterday in church, three for baptism and profession of faith, and two for letter move.  What a joy that was, the youth in our church, as small as it is, are alive and spreading the word.  It was very refreshing to see so many young people standing at the front.  Next sunday will be baptismal service, in addition to mother's day, will be a wonderful day.  Our part time youth director is just awesome and such a firm believer in Christ.  There wasn't a dry eye, I don't believe in the house, and for Baptists, there were plenty of verbal AMEN's being said.

Well, it's almost my quittin time, so guess I'll shut this off, there is nothing I hate worse than being late for quittin time.  Hope you all have a blessed and wonderful week.

Just a quickie today

Haven't posted in a while, not alot going on here, except work.  I did get a really nice bit of wisdome in my email, which I wanted to share:

Billy Graham is now 86 years old with Parkinson's disease.

In January 2000, leaders in Charlotte , North Carolina ,
invited their favorite son, Billy Graham, to a luncheon in
his honor.

Billy initially hesitated to accept the invitation because he
struggles with Parkinson's disease. But the Charlotte
leaders said  , 'We don 't expect a major address. Just
come and let us honor you.'  So he agreed.

After wonderful things were said about him, Dr. Graham
stepped to the rostrum, looked at the crowd, and said,
'I'm reminded today of Albert Einstein, the great physicist who
this month has been honored by Time magazine as the
Man of the Century.  Einstein was once traveling from
Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the
aisle, punching the tickets of every passenger.  When he
came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket. He
couldn't find his ticket, so he reached in his trouser pockets .
It wasn't there, so he looked in his briefcase but couldn't find it.
Then he looked in the seat beside him.  He still couldn't find it.

The conductor s a i d , 'Dr. Einstein, I know who you are.  
We all know who you are. I'm sure you bought a ticket.
Don't worry about it.' Einstein nodded appreciatively. The conductor continued
down the aisle punching tickets. As he was ready to
move to the next car ,  he turned around and saw the great physicist down on his hands
and knees looking under his seat for his ticket.

The conductor rushed back and said, 'Dr. Einstein,
Dr. Einstein, don't worry, I know who you are. No problem.
You don't need a ticket. I'm sure you bought one.'

Einstein looked at him and said, 'Young man, I too, know who I am.
What I don't know is where I'm going.''

Having said that Billy Graham continued,
'See the suit I'm wearing? It's a brand new suit.  
My wife, my children , and my grandchildren are telling me
I've gotten a little slovenly in
my old age. I used to be a bit more fastidious. So I went
out and bought a new suit for this luncheon and one more occasion.

You know what that occasion is? This is the suit in which
I'll be buried. But when you hear I'm dead, I don't want
you to immediately remember the suit I'm wearing.
I want you to remember this:

I not only know who I am .. I also know where I'm going.'

 
May your troubles be less, your blessings more,
and may nothing but happiness, come through your door.

Do you know where you are going to spend eternity?  Something to thinnk about.

Well, I officially bought my first plant of the season, a reddish and cream colored honey suckle.  I'm planning on putting it in the bed above where the cat and bird are buried.  Now that has to happen this weekend.  I think it will be beautiful when it is in bloom.

We're still getting our lawns watered by the Lord, so it's mowing on the agenda for the weekend.  Only been a week since it was last mowed and we look pretty shaggy.  It's still to soggy to get the gigantic rider (I'll have to get pics of the bad boy for you) so guess most of it will get mowed with my little small dude, an entire acre.......That's it for today, I'll post again next week sometime.

Legend of the Dogwood

I forgot my lunch I had made for today, too many errands to do on my way to work, so had to punt for lunch.  Decided that a salad from a local Tea Room would be good for me, and I love their Yogurt and Dill Dressing (which they gave me the recipe for, have to share it sometime).  Anyway, on the drive back to the University, I noticed the street I was on, a residential street, was just lined with Dogwood Trees and it made me think of the legend I have always heard about the Dogwood Tree.  It is just a legend, to my knowledge has no biblical backing, but it is neat anyway, and if you examine the flowers of a dogwood.......... well, read the legend:

In Jesus time, the dogwood grew
To a stately size and a lovely hue.

'Twas strong and firm, it's branches interwoven
For the cross of Christ it's timbers were chosen.

Seeing the distress at this use of their wood
Christ made a promise which still holds good:

"Never again shall the dogwood grow
Large enough to be used so.

Slender and twisted, it shall be
With blossoms like the cross for all to see.

As blood stains the petals marked in brown
The blossom's center wears a thorny crown.

All who see it will remember Me
Crucified on a cross from the dogwood tree.

Cherished and protected this tree shall be
A reminder to all of My agony."

~ Author Unknown ~

Oh, the salad was wonderful, very fresh fancy lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers, and croutons they make themselves.  They also make their own bread, awesome stuff.  Guess I could have taken a picture, but I don't think there was time........... I was hungry.  I also got my afternoon tea there, they put just a hint of cinnamon in their tea, really unique.

Supposed to be a georgeous weekend here, may take Lucy out and put a few rounds through her, as Ben has a new something or other that he wants to shoot, supposed to be all the rave with local police officers right now, and Josh will want to shoot one of the carbines, I'm sure, he knows which two will never be fired.  Now that we have a stock of ammo and can fight off the hoards, we can burn a few rounds.  I'd really like to try fishing, but depends on whether we can get to our regular spot, which luckily there are two roads to, one upper and one lower.  The lower is under water, I'm sure, but the upper may be dried out by now. 

Well, need to put a requisition in the system for the Band Director (has no secretary, and asked for a favor, so I'll oblige him).  More on the Sooner family later.  Have a great rest of the week, and hope the weekend is as beautiful as they are saying it is going to be.

Oklahoma Caviar

Lotta talk about Black Beans lately so decided to share one of my favorite recipes, Oklahoma Caviar.

1 can black beans, drained (or I've seen it made with black eyed peas too)

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1 onion, finely chopped

1 green pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 can rotel, mild or regular, drained

1/2 cucumber (peeled, seeded, and chopped)

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped (I cut back on this some, half a bunch is too much in my opinion)

Juice of three limes

Salt to taste

Set overnight in refrigerator to marinate.  Serve with tostada chips.

Short post today, no rain today, supposed to get up around 75 but windy.  We do have a 50% chance or rain tomorrow and 30% chance on Friday.  Weekend tho is supposed to be beautiful.  Time to either garden, go to the shooting range, or go fishin' if we can get to our hole.

Have a great rest of the week, everyone, enjoy this nice weather.

Currently Listening Michael, Row the Boat Ashore: The Best of the Highwaymen By The Highwaymen see related

Michael, Row the boat ashore........

and Michael said, I gotta find a shore first.  Once again, we're inundated, shouldn't complain......... we will be crying in August, but the storms last night, actually in two phases, one early and then the whopper over night, were pretty fierce.  Tornadoes everywhere.  Supposedly 5 highways were closed most of the night, with 5 and 6 inches of water standing on them.  The pic at the start of the blog is one of the flooded roads, they expect to be closed a week or so.  My clerk who lives near Cherokee Landing State Park on Lake Tenkiller's house flooded this time, and she's not in a low lying area.  The rain just came so fast and so hard.  We didn't flood, but have pools of water standing everywhere in our yard and the bar ditches are over flowing.

I guess a small town about thirty miles from here had a tornado go through it, don't know about any damage, other than it or the rain washed out a portion of the highway going through it.  One of Ben's employee's has to go through there and said the entire southern part of the county is pretty torn up.  I just pray for any who had damage to their homes.

The good news is this is supposed to clear our today and head east............. enjoy the rain Grampy, hope it is more calm than it was when it left here, and leaves the tornado's behind.