second verse, same as the first

Not much has changed since Friday except we came back with another truckload of stuff, mostly boxes of old business records (8 to be exact), two boxes of tchotchkes I had put aside for the grandkids and had misplaced (so I was glad to come across them), a box of silver and crystal items that belonged to my mother that had been put aside for my son (who has decided he doesn't want them as they don't fit in his lifestyle), the rest of the red crinum lilies that I finally dug up along with cuttings off the heritage rose and the yellow trumpet flower (that are now in pots having been dipped in root stimulator), 

and the air conditioner/heater window unit from the old shop with help from the teenage boys that are squatting in the house.

My 17 year old grandson has basically moved into my vacant house, dragging the bed and box springs and the run down loveseat from our little apartment part of the house to the living room where the big air conditioner is, moved his TV and clothes over. We got there one day last week to find 8 teenagers camped out, one group playing video games and another group playing cards. They had fetched the patio furniture and barbeque grill from his house next door and fixed themselves dinner the night before. So cute to see the boys playing house. They have been very helpful without complaint though, loading the truck for us. My grandson calls nearly every day letting us know when he has to be at work in case we are coming in and need him to help with heavy stuff.

We finally have a firm time and day for closing. Monday at 11 AM. We're going to try and be completely out by the end of next week but I figure it will take longer because, well, just because it does. Kevin (the buyer) is being very accommodating. I think we really have, this time, got everything but the air compressor, refrigerator, sandblast booth, old truck, and the etched glass still installed in the old shop. I'm calling my installer Monday to arrange for them to move the two big pieces for us. It doesn't seem like much left to be done and once our son-in-law gets his trailer, maybe it will go quicker than I think.

Ha! What are the odds of that?

I've been wanting to get in the pool just about every day this week but somehow I managed to supercharge the water with chlorine and it still hasn't dissipated to 'safe' levels. Maybe today.

Looks inviting, doesn't it?

busy busy and pictures

Well, I meant to post yesterday but...

Autumn is here for her week and I haven't had time so here's some photos that have been languishing.

I strolled out in the yard the other morning and sprinkled all over were these little mushrooms. The caps were about the size of a nickle.

We had some tree work done last year and we got delayed and didn't get back home til the next day but the guys went ahead and did the work, which was fine, except that instead of just trimming the one limb off the magnolia, they decided to 'even it up' for us and cut all the lower branches that I could reach. One branch has grown enough so that I could reach this one flower. I had been watching the bud for weeks because I didn't want to miss it.

The crinum lilies are blooming. Have to go dig up the rest of them from the city property.

A small ball moss fell out of one of the pecan trees.

Two more of the plumerias I had thought frozen to death have come out. That's all but two of them now and those two are still green at the dirt line so they may still regenerate. And the mexican bird of paradise that my grandboy and I hacked out of the easement almost two weeks ago is sprouting new growth all over itself.

I was cleaning off the table in the garage so I could do some cold work and went to put some safety goggles away in the box where I keep them on the shelf. The top to the box was halfway off and wrens had built a nest in it. Crazy fucking wrens. I don't think they used this one. The males will build several nests hoping to entice a female into one but this one was too close to the door into the house and I know I startled it several times.

The double orange day lilies have been outstanding this year.

I've been putting up corn so we will have some later in the year. This is a sweet bi-color hybrid that I bought from the farmer. Unfortunately it underscores the edge of the cliff that the fungicide neonicinoids are pushing us over. These poisons are commonly used and have been shown to be a major culprit in the dying off of honeybees. I have not seen any bees this year (or butterflies for that matter). Well, an occasional bee but nothing like the swarms that have been common is past years. These ears of corn show incomplete fertilization. Each strand of silk must be fertilized to produce a kernel. Fully 20% to 25% of the 20 ears of corn were affected.

The boys were having a confab.

granny camp 2

A week ago today, I picked up the grandboy who is 16 this year. I have really sort of expected or feared that as the kids got to be teenagers, they wouldn't want to come for their week but that has not proved to be true. Although, this year the grandboy did ask if he could bring a friend with him.

This is mostly what I saw of him and his friend.

They came with a TV, gameboy, laptop, iPod, iPhone and spent most of their time ensconced in the back room. They would stay up most the night and sleep most the day. His friend would emerge for meals or when Mikey dragged him outside for brief forays in the heat.

Mikey would come out several times a day and spend time with us before heading back into the back room.

The back room is the third bedroom that was added on to the house later. It serves us as a storage room for frit, old reproduction molds, packing and shipping stuff, mold filling tools, craft stuff, games, sewing machine, and guest room for the kids. The futon is back there and it opens out to a full size bed.

He also avoids pictures and I had few opportunities for stealth mode photos.

Here, I chased him around the house with the camera.

He made coconut ice cream and brownies and helped with banana pudding.

Avoiding the camera as best he can while he charges the ice cream maker.

The boys went out one afternoon with the baseball and bat.

When he wasn't lazing in the back room he was lazing in the old green recliner in my studio space.

One afternoon they made a 'redneck' slip and slide as he calls it.

He and his friend Tyler are skaters and one evening after it had cooled off some they were out on the concrete apron with the rail that they brought with them.

Here's the result:

Wharton always has their Freedom Fest the weekend before the Fourth of July. I worked at the store on Saturday so Marc brought the boys down to the square and to the car show. 

They didn't want to do any of the activities and it was blazing hot yesterday, 105˚, 13˚ hotter than normal for this day, so they headed back to the house.

We finished dinner just as the fireworks were starting so me and the boys jumped in the truck and raced to a spot where we could see them pretty well.

And that was his week. I took him home and returned with Jade for back to back weeks.

We are just chilling out the rest of the day.