Tuesday, May 4, 2021

shopping spree and misc. pics


Two days and 8” of rain, sometimes heavy, and wind has littered the yard once again with branches large and small and leaves of all kinds and driven the fire ants up and onto high ground, meaning into my flower beds.


In case you can't tell, they've built up 
around the base of the recovering gardenia.


The poppies are listing heavily and some are laying flat but they are going by anyway.

What I thought were maybe flower buds appearing on the sweet peas don't seem to be after all. I'm beginning the think they just aren't going to bloom. Of all those two packets of zinnia seeds I planted that sprouted in the trays, only a handful have survived and aren't really growing even after being put in the ground.

I'm finally feeling back to normal today after three days of a sour stomach, low energy, and sleepiness. I blame two nights in a row of those sweet rich desserts my daughter gave me. In retrospect, instead of us splitting two for two nights, we should have split one for four nights. I did get all three of my tables cleared off yesterday, something that occurs only infrequently so take a quick look because they won't stay this way long.

We headed into Shopping Mecca today to do what we planned for last Friday...liquor warehouse, sheets, and jewelry store, already too hot for a meal sitting outside. The liquor warehouse was the easiest, the sheets took us three stores but we did find some 100% cotton, 800 thread count, sateen sheets. Colors were limited to white, gray, burgundy, and dark blue so we got the burgundy and the dark blue and that's the most I have ever spent for sheets in my life.

Last stop was the jewelry store to see about the diamond stud. He looked through a loupe and then used some other sort of detecting device to determine, yep it's real and 44 points, just under half a carat, did I want the same color, and yes they can match it. Triple digits, high triple digits. Gulp. We looked at new pairs there in the store. They ranged from over two thousand for little ones to over 6 thousand for bigger than mine. Well, alrighty then, triple digits started looking pretty good. It should be ready in a couple of weeks. Happy birthday to me and thank you President Biden.

I have some photos that have piled up that didn't really fit in other posts so I'm putting them here.






Five abandoned eggs. The four little ones are from the wren nest in the garage, abandoned when I put the big blue tarp up to help protect the tropicals during the deep freeze. The one bigger one was left in the nest of the barn swallows after the other two hatched and fledged.


Fire ants weren't the only thing looking for higher ground.

Cinco de Mayo rose with baby katydid



19 comments:

  1. The leftover photos are fun. What are you using to hold the flowers upright in the first vase? Look like marbles.
    That bug eyed iris is a hoot.

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    1. it's an old metal spike florist frog. it wobbled in the glass so I put the little colored glass pieces in to hold it steady. the walking iris, looks alien. still no blooms on your iris.

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  2. Glad you are getting your other ear dolled up! for a whole bunch of $$$! Of course what will likely happen is that the other one will magically show up right after you pick up the new one.
    Those little eggs are so dear, so tender. Poor Mama bird.

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    1. It didn't turn up when I cleaned out the barn all the way to the concrete so it must have fallen out in the yard in which case it's deeply buried by now.

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  3. I love the iris shot. Such a shame about the eggs! I wonder why the seedlings didn't do better? Do you think there was a problem with the seeds, or something environmental like the weather?

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    1. I think it must have been poor quality seeds.

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  4. You got a LOT done! Good for you. New sheets and a new earring- terrific.
    Not all eggs hatch, and that's just the way it is. Still, it's sad.
    Those iris are absolutely regal.

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  5. You do have quite a variety of flowers in your yard! Always lots blooming year round?!

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    1. for most the year. high summer it's usually just the orange cosmos and zinnias. and sometimes it's even too hot and dry for those.

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  6. You really did get a lot done over the past few days. Great news about the earrings!
    Love the flower photos. That one flower with the white petals looks like it's looking right back at you. Beautiful!

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    1. walking iris. the bloom stalk eventually falls to the ground and sprouts a new plant.

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  7. I'm glad you splurged on the earring diamond. You're worth it! If the other shows up you can use it as some other stud..

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    1. I lost it outside, probably buried deep in the yard by now.

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  8. That bigger egg is (I think) a cowbird egg. Just as well it didn't hatch (although cowbirds gotta live too!). Love the walking iris photo!

    I'm glad you decided to splurge on sheets & your earring! You deserve it! I took my mom's diamond necklace in to be repaired last week (well, the chain - it had broken). Got it back yesterday - I'm glad because I never usually take it off & I was feeling nekkid! I lost one of her diamond earrings years ago, but they weren't all that much. I've thought about getting a second piercing in one ear to wear it in.

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    1. it's definitely a barn swallow egg, looks exactly like the other two that were in the nest. yeah, I'll be glad to get my diamonds studs back in my ears. been wearing pearls instead.

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  9. Thanks for that explanation of the 'walking' iris. I didn't know that. I'm glad you'll be able to get a matching earring, too. If the other one does show up, you'll have 'a pair and a spare' -- like the humorous 'heir and a spare' that royalty always hope for. As for those snails, I was in the Galveston cemeteries Sunday afternoon, and the snails were making for the top of the gravestones.

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  10. Ahhh that iris is gorgeous. And congrats on getting the matching stud earring. What a wonderful birthday treat.

    I lost my wedding ring together with another one the man gave me earlier on when I played with a couple of kids in the surf in the Indian Ocean. Several, in fact all available humans there on the spot, tried to find them before sunset but no luck. My daughter, six years old then, was in tears and hand-painted posters and hung them up around the fish market asking people to check inside the fish because she was certain that's where they would be found. She had just read the fairy tale about the tin soldier swallowed by a fish.

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  11. Thanks for the floral eye candy. I was just telling myself earlier that I really needed to buy some new sheets. I don't care for the new mixed fiber ones... much prefer 100% cotton percale. Will have to shop online...not up for store shopping these days. Blessings to you...

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  12. I think jewelry is so over-priced. I have a few nice pieces but find I rarely wear them My pearls are the cheapest and also my favorite. Our hot weather is almost here and I will hate it.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.