June 2011



Veggie garden June 10



On today’s noon news the weatherman said we’ve had the sixth wettest June on record. The only problem is it’s been a constant wet. I’ve been lucky to have one day a week to try and keep the yard mowed but some parts of it never dry out. There is no really level place in our entire yard so the lower places are really wet. That’s why I decided to build a raised, enclosed vegetable garden a couple of years ago. This year it’s planted with peas, onions, carrots, lettuce, green beans, 3 hills of potatoes, a tomato, cabbage and broccoli. The green beans are climbers so they go up an old garden gate along one side. The peas grow up a shorter fence on another end. I also have a separate potato patch and other tomatoe plants and a large planter box with onions and radishes. I actually have a lot more tomatoes than what I planted. We have a bare place where we tore down an old shed. One day I threw out a bad tomato towards that place thinking maybe the birds would eat it. I was very surprised a few weeks later to see tomato plants coming up! I decided to let them grow and just weeded around them. I also have green peppers and grape tomato plants in pots. I can’t wait for the fresh produce! All I've had so far is radishes and green onions.



June 28, 2011



I walked around the yard today picking up sticks which fell after the last thunderstorm. I ended up with a garden cart full. The sun is actually shining for the second consecutive day but parts of the yard are still like walking on a wet sponge. I did find and pick a handful of wild raspberries down by the old corn crib. They’ll taste good sprinkled on some ice cream later.

We are so lucky to have a swarm of bees living in an old shed wall.  I love having them around to pollinate the plants and they've never been any trouble.

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Our son and his wife were here for the weekend so he could attend his 20th high school reunion. (Has it really been that long?!) Our house is tiny. His bedroom has been turned into storage and we got rid of our hide-a-bed and replaced it with a loveseat. They camp occasionally so they brought their tent and put it up in the most level place, our front yard. Unfortunately, their air mattress deflated and then it rained early Saturday morning enough that the tent leaked and they ended up inside. Saturday night, I made them a multi-layered blanket bed on the living room floor. While they were here, Jay helped his dad replace our kitchen faucet that had been leaking. The old faucet was a single-lever that was supposedly guaranteed to never leak. HA! The new one has double handles but it’s so nice to have that drip stopped. Thank you Jay!



Jay & Dianna, June 25, 2011 at class reunion







Do you remember..........?



Tamarisk (taken at night)

Finally a dry day today and I decided I'd better mow while I could.  As I sat on the mower I observed how things were growing.  In my front yard, I have a tamarisk tree which is covered in tiny pink blooms right now. The only reason I have it is because my paternal grandparents had one in their yard and I always liked it. As I was thinking about it I wondered if my siblings remembered Grandma's tree.  I know my younger sister probably doesn't and my brothers probably do. Then I wondered about my other sister Pam who's been gone for over 3 years now and I realized one of the things I miss the most.  She's not here to ask, "Do you remember.....?" "Do you remember wading in the creek in Arkansas?"  "Do you remembr the big family reunions?"  "Do you remember when we went to the beach and threw Ritz crackers to the seagulls?"  "Do you remember all the late nights we chatted online after everyone else had gone to bed?" I do. I remember all this and so much more.  Miss you Pam.


My sister Pam
9-10-55 to 3-9-08



My first Jeffery Deaver novel

The Sleeping Doll by Jeffery Deaver

© 2007, Pocket Star Books, a division of Simon & Sshuster

From the book cover – “California Bureau of Investigation agent Kathryn Dance, a kinesics expert and master interrogator, locks into a “dazzling mental contest” (The New York Times) with a modern-day Charles Manson in this heart-pounding thriller.

Serving life in maximum security for masterminding the slaughter of a wealthy Carmel family, the unrepentant Daniel Pell may also be linked to another killing, a cold case that will heat up quickly if Kathryn Dance can get the confession she seeks. But when Pell escapes, a harrowing manhunt takes off – and Kathryn will race to uncover the secrets of the past from the lone survivor of Pell’s bloodlust: a teenager now, the little girl who hid in her bed to save her own life, The Sleeping Doll.”

I have heard a lot about Jeffery Deaver but this is his first book that I’ve read. Mysteries and thrillers are my absolute favorite genre of books and this was a good one. Kathryn Dance is an agent for the CBI ( I kept thinking of The Mentalist) and she specializes in kinesics which is the study of body language. She’s often able to tell if a person is lying just by the way they react to her questioning. She is hoping to pin an unsolved murder on Daniel Pell but he escapes with the help of an accomplice. He is a brilliant person and is able to stay one step ahead of the police most of the time. Then just when you think the story is done, Deaver throws in a twist and then another and finally leaves you hanging – just a little bit – ready and anxious for the next Kathryn Dance story.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and will look for more Deaver books. The only problem I had was with the title. The girl called “The Sleeping Doll”, although an important part of the plot, was just a tiny bit of the whole story. I don’t think it warranted being the title of the book.

Starting up again...

It's been a LONG year.  I kept thinking I would start blogging again and just never had the oomph to do it. Losing Buddy hit me harder than any other pet, I guess because she had been such a large part of our lives. She left quite an empty place in our hearts and home.

The bad economy hit close to home also.  Jim was laid off June 17, 2010 from the job he has had for the past 40 years. We are lucky it's such a small, hometown company though. They let hime work one day a week to keep the insurance and savings plans paid. The $20 a week he actually brought home and the unemployment have kept us going. We aren't hurting for money but neither do we have much extra.  Better off than a lot of people, I know. He went through his 6 months of unemployment and got an extension for another 6. He has recently been called back to work for a few weeks so that will extend his benefits even longer. He is old enough to retire but if he does, we will lose the company paid insurance on me so he keeps on working. He has applied for Social Security so financially we will be okay one way or the other.

I have another house cat, not a replacement for Buddy exactly as Cooper is completely different in all aspects. He was just one of our outside cats and I had NO intention of bringing any of them in.  However, in January he caught his back leg between two boards and broke it badly. The vet set it but it got infection in it and it ended up having to be amputated. He was so sick with the infection he spent almost 3 weeks at the vet's.  I can't say enough for the care he received.  The doc and all his nurses babied him and spent SO much time with him!  Yay, Madison County Vet Clinic!!  You're the best!  Doc Hollen knew Jim wasn't working and he donated his surgery fees and only charged us for the daily care!



I'm surprised at how well he gets along on 3 legs now. He goes up and down stairs, jumps on the bed, and plays with his toys like a regular cat.





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I'm not reading as much as I did....maybe only 2 books a month.  I will try and review the ones I DO read and maybe start accepting the books I'm offered again. Thanks to everyone who has read my blog and commented in the past year.

Kat