Last Sign of Spring

When you know that Spring is really here is when you spend at least one afternoon raking and trimming. We did that yesterday! All old piles of leaves, gone! Dead plants, gone! New growth trimmed back, weeds pulled, and dirt in the flower boxes loosened and ready. Holes to China filled in, bald spots reseeded and fresh straw strewn. And we were in before the rain, which is today nicely finishing up the job. Now we wait and watch the weather and Farmer's Almanac for planting times. This is the hardest part, though I have cultivated (ha ha) patience over the years.

Which brings me back to just thinking about what to plant. When looking through magazines on planting I came across a plant that looked like something I would be willing to try. Lantana is a drought hardy plant which comes in a variety of colors and which also takes little attention. My kind of plant! A bonus is that it is a perennial, though in my planting zone it may be treated like an annual. I may give it a try in the flower bed in front of the house.

The Third Sign of Spring

The third sign of Spring when you have animals, especially large dogs, is a muddy and torn up back yard. Sigh. With all of the rain it was inevitable that this would happen. Our neighbors also have dogs so that on either side of our fenced in yards they get going, with a lot of bouncing, barking and running like maniacs back and forth along the fence borders. So there are some cow (dog) paths newly formed . . . and then the crazed chipmunk gets them (the dogs, not the neighbors!) digging holes to China!

We have optimistically purchased some grass seed, filler dirt, and straw to see what we can do to repair the damage. But we wimped out today because it's still in the mid-thirties . . . maybe tomorrow?

Second Sign of Spring

The second sign that Spring is here, right after baseball practice starting, are the hints of all things blooming. Just this past week the crocuses (or is that croci?) popped up, followed by the daffodils and today the first bursts of bright yellow on the forsythia bushes were announcing that more greening is to come!

And the rain rain rain came down down down in rushing rolling rivulets . . . a quote from one of my very favorite childhood read-a-loud Winnie the Pooh also describes what has been happening here the last few days. Between the cloud bursts and sunshine my thoughts turn to sprucing up and planting. But you can rush ahead only to be disappointed . . . if you plant too early bad things could happen to those tender plants. Last year it was excruciatingly hard to wait until after Mother's Day to plant; but I did and was rewarded! What I will do to help bide my time is to plan what I'm going to plant.

In the fence boxes, I'll probably go with impatiens and hanging ivy; they look good together and are almost impossible to kill. For the ground boxes I'll go with rolling wave petunias. Along the fence we'll have morning glory, because they will be back from last year. I would love to have some black-eyed Susann's somewhere. I haven't figured out the front flower bed yet; last year I went with a variety of pinks, purples and white perennials; I'll have to wait and see if they made it.

The periwinkle is already blooming under several of the bushes out front and I love that as ground cover. I also have ivy and strawberries out back; plus a crazed chipmunk that the dogs are digging after back there. Argh!

I would love to hear of any other ideas for someone who has a brown thumb! Keep in mind that I am in post military housing, so any thoughts for things that demand time for long term results are not very appealing.

Baseball!

It's spring training time. The Beaver has begun his baseball practice and I get to watch Coach Curmudgeon turn a slap dash group of Bad News Bears into a well-honed pitching-hitting-fielding machine.

I call Beave's coach that because he has a gravelly voice, but he's great with the boys in a stern but humorous kind of way. The group this year is going to take some seasoning . . . one kid out there warming up needs to be signed up for remedial jumping jack lessons, I swear.

It doesn't help that the field the school uses is pretty rough. The ground hasn't been broken in, it needs some real sod-busting. It's all rocky! When a grounder comes your way it could hit a hard lump and take off in 50 gazillion directions, or straight up your nose. That keeps things lively!

I was watching the first batting/pitching practice tonight and we've already had a "cup incident." That's where one of these studly young men think they can wear the cup protection without the actual holder (you know just sliding it into their briefs) and then takes a direct hit which moves the cup and slams it directly into (or even worse between) the "fellas." Oh man! The whole team was feeling this guy's pain. And I was kinda sorry I was there to witness it.

With only a week and a half until the first game they've got a lot of work to do. I'll keep you posted.

International Night

We had International Night tonight here on post. All of the foreign students put together presentations on their respective countries, and that included some native foods. Jordan was the first country display we stopped at. They had a very nice presentation; it included a lot of native sweets, dates, pistachio pastries, sesame cookies and rosemary tea.

We stopped by the tables set up for Egypt, Tunisia, Chili, Africa, Romania, Canada, Oman, Saudi and Hungary. We missed the tables from Korea, Japan, Germany and Pakistan. Sigh. Not enough time!

We had a most interesting discussion with the Bahraini students; theirs is a relatively new kingdom. Until just a few years ago they were just a state. The young captain also got us laughing when he told us about why some men take multiple wives. He said that there must be a legitimate reason for doing so; as in the first wive was not able to conceive a son, etc. I'm thinking that is not so much a reason as an excuse. Of course, he said, there are those that abuse the system. Ha ha!

It was also interesting moving from the Middle Eastern countries where any drink offered was likely to be a good strong tea or coffee to the European countries where various and sundry alcoholic beverages were proffered. Hungary gave us a good strong plum brandy, woo hoo! It was very much like the Tshlivovitz from Yugoslavia that my relatives are known for . . . served warm with a plum in a shot glass. And of course our neighbor from Canada had a great assortment of beers, eh!

The best thing about International Night is meeting the students and listening to them tell us personally about their own countries. It makes you want to visit each of these countries. A bonus for me this evening was learning how to burn the frankincense Ward brought home! We've had that stuff for five years and I never new what the heck to do with it . . . tonight the mystery was solved!

Small Talk

We had another dinner party last night. This time the table was set for ten, and I forgot to put out name plates so it was a jockeying for position and it did not end well.

The number ten threw everything off. You couldn't do male/female seating, and you can't bunch all of the males at one end or one side of the table. It was haphazard. Trust me, eight is the perfect number for a dinner party and for conversation flow.

But ten was what we had, and there was no help for it. So everyone just grabbed a spot. But my dinner partner monopolized the conversation at our corner of the table . . . I felt like Emma in the scene at the party where she just can't get rid of Mr. Elton and misses all of the good stuff from fellow party goers. That happened to me last night, and I couldn't send Mr. Elton off to get me a glass of punch! I tried turning ever so slightly to the person on my right . . . to no avail. Mind you, I enjoyed this person very much, I just wanted to share in what the others were talking about as well.

Small talk! This type of social discourse is a lost art . . . and I desperately needed someone to come to my rescue. So if any of you have any ideas that would work for extricating oneself from a conversation (without the other person knowing) please tell me!

Bibliophile Bungling

Our book club met here yesterday for our monthly meeting. We had chosen a great read, The Wedding Officer, and because the setting of the novel was Italy we had a luncheon with a Neopolitan theme, soup, pasta, savory crusty bread, salad, even Tiramisu for dessert! All washed down with a Da Vinci wine (no kidding!). So the gastronomic part of our meeting was perfect and fun.

Here's the rub. We didn't discuss the book very much. That has been happening with our meetings and is especially true when we all enjoyed the book. But it should be the main focus of our get togethers. How do we get back on track? Point of view, character development, plot and setting . . . that's what I'm talkin' about! That's why I joined the club, to stretch myself literaryily (is that a word?) . . . so how do we get this book club back on track? Subtly. Any ideas?

Utah

We returned from Utah earlier this week. It was a great visit and I'd like to tell you all about it, but Betty did such a great job doing that on her blog already that I'd just like to be lazy and send you over there. Besides, she's got photos! (So until she reads this and helps me out, you'll just have to wait.) If you really want to see it, read the comment posted below :-)

Widget Woes

Have you ever dealt with a government bureaucracy? I mean without pulling your hair out, gnashing your teeth, and finally wanting to take someone's life, maybe even your own!! Just kidding . . . but it can be a real ordeal, can't it?!

I've just gone through this concerning a particular Widget that I was told could be funded by Uncle Sam because it was an important part of a particular program, (mainly because I said it was). So far, so good. I found a way to purchase these Widgets through a friend because her organization wanted the same Widgets and we placed an order together. Now mind you, I'm not selling these Widgets for profit or anything like that, they are given away as instructional materials. Because of the size of our order we were able to get a substantial discount, so of course we were all over saving the government money, right?

The trouble began when going with my Widgets back to the government office to get reimbursed with a receipt that says it was so many dollars, I'm told, oops, you didn't get that through a government approved vendor. (I actually got them directly from the author.) It is indeed the very Widget that we need, at a very good price, so common sense tells me that this a good thing.

Common sense is often nowhere to be found in government offices . . .

A Nine Point Landing

While visiting Betty and her husband we went skiing. It's been a number of years since the Cleaver clan has been skiing, so naturally I was a bit apprehensive. After a few snow plows and a bit of shushing there was nothing to do but get on that lift and go for it. Betty and her husband were the first ones up, followed by the Beave and Wally with Ward and I bringing up the rear. It was a gorgeous sunny, snowy day and a long lift ride. Nearing the top I begin to fiddle with my poles and soon we're at the drop off point . . . only I'm still fiddling with my poles. You really don't get a sense of panic at this point because the lift ride is really very slow moving . . . but you still need to make your exit! Ward has glided off and I'm still fiddling with my poles and I look up to note, uh oh, I'm on my way back . . . so I make a hasty decision to jump!

Oh yeah, so this is what it feels like to be an Olympic ski jumper!! Well, not really, but I ace the landing (meaning I don't fall and wipe out) and nobody from my party even notices, which would have saved me a lot of embarrassment . . . if only the guy operating the ski lift hadn't stuck his head out of the shack and yelled, "Great landing, I give you a nine point o!" Ha, that should have been at least a 9.6 (hey I so STUCK that landing)!

Who Raised These Guys?

Thoughtfulness does not come naturally, I think. Hopefully you are taught these things growing up. And to prove my point I'm going to tell you about my two adult children who did some very thoughtful things recently.

Betty not only planned out in great detail an itinerary that was very interesting for our visit to Utah, but also provided meals for us, which included packing lunches for our many outings and making dinners as well. Wow! In fairness, I'll have to give some credit to Betty's husband (and by extension to his parents) as he was in on the planning as well. Think about what this entailed. Okay, so you're thinking figuring out a schedule that involves six people (besides yourself) getting up, getting showers, breakfast and on the road is easy? Ha! Let's not even get into the different personalities and circadian rhythms and ideas of what we should do when and what articles of clothing are appropriate for the current weather conditions. Whew! They handled all of these variables with aplomb and (mostly) patience. Thanks guys!!

Then, Wally got a chance to demonstrate what mercy really is. He came through for his little bro. The Beave, being the careless guy that a typical 14 year old can be, first dropped his ski gloves while riding up the chair lift. Then, as if that really hadn't given him an idea that you really need to hang onto items securely while going up the lift, on the next trip up , he managed to lose a pole. Wally was kind enough to go back and retrieve both of these items, and what really demonstrates his thoughtfulness is that he did not rub it in or berate his little brother. That is grace. I figure Wally will probably hold onto this incident for future use!

But as you can tell by the title of this post, I'm actually giving the Ward and myself at least some of the credit for everything I've written about because, hey, we raised these guys.

Air Travel Blues

While traveling recently I failed the gate inspection! I forgot just about everything. When looking through my "suspicious" handbag the TSA found three unsecured lip glosses. I was told that I could either trash them, or go back and bag them at the initial entry point to security with a 3 x 5 plastic bag provided by security. Have you purchased lip glosses lately?! So I said no problem, the line wasn't long, so I'll just go back through. That was my first mistake. I handed my carry on to the COL and walked with my handbag back to the POE (that's TSA for port of entry) and was going to proceed through again when I realized after frantically searching that I no longer had possession of my wallet and therefore none of my ID cards! Whoa! I'm trying to maintain my composure as I call the COL on the cell phone. No answer. Ditto with the Beave! AAAGGH! I'm getting flustered (that's a southern term for really aggravated)and the guard is eyeing me with suspicion . . . they won't let me page the COL for whatever reason . . . they finally decide (because the one guard remembers me from not five minutes before with my military ID) to process me through as an S3. I can only assume that must mean a "highly suspicious flustered anglo SAHM" and I get the FULL inspection treatment with the air puff booth and everything. AARGH!

Cell Phone Billing

I just received my cell phone bill for the month and if I wasn't confused before I sure am now. The only reason I noticed was that it was just a little bit higher than normal, and I knew that my company had been sending notices out that they were changing billing but getaloadathis! I'm being taxed from three different states, two of which I'm not living in nor do we have a cell phone number in . . . I realize it can be confusing when you have a family plan and we are military so we move a lot, but here are some of the charges:

Kansas State-Univ Assessment (huh?!)
Washington State-B&O Fee (again, huh?!)
DuPont (WA) City-Utility Users Surcharge (double, huh?!)
Kansas State-911 Surcharge and Taxes (I'm also being charged these for Kentucky and WA)
DuPont (WA) City-Sales Tax
Leavenworth City-Sales Tax

There are a myriad of other charges that appear to be associated with Kentucky, and as I'm living in Kentucky I'm OK with that (I guess) . . .

The company has broken down these charges into two groups, one stating the following: surcharges are not taxes or amounts we are required to collect from you by law. My understanding is that these are entirely arbitrarily set by the company. Hmmm, does that mean my base rate is not enough for them?

Then let's move on to the fees and taxes they are required to collect from customers on behalf of the government. Why are they collecting for states that I no longer live in and have no originating cell phone number in?!

It seems right and proper for me to pay taxes only in the state I reside in. Am I wrong?! Maybe a "to-go" phone is the way to go.

Church Cancelled?

Yes, you heard that right! The snow fall and ensuing icy road conditions meant that many churches in our area canceled today's services. We were at the the KCAA state basketball tournament last night when we learned that our church had canceled this morning's service. I was surprised, but the church building sits up on a large hill, so I could understand, especially after driving home last night in icy conditions. We did have a plan B though, and just thought we would go to another church service, one where we have been before and our friends attend. Imagine our surprise when we got there and the parking lot was empty! We hadn't seen it listed as canceled on our local TV station.

Any way, I used it as a chance to catch up on my reading through the Bible in a year. I always seem to fall behind. If you miss one day it's a bear because of the old testament reading!

Hostess Gifts

Been invited to a friend's home for dinner and just now thought of what to take for a hostess gift. Sometimes it's nice to think outside the box of the usual things - wine, candles, candy, flowers. I went scrounging through my prebought gifts, you know, things I pick up when I see them. This is what I had on hand:

Wine
Candles
Stationery (small pretty boxes)
Teddy bear in a matching gift bag
Specialty soap

The trouble is I know this couple well, and she shops at TJ Maxx just as much as I do, so there would be no surprises as she thinks a lot like me as well.

I scrounged some more and found the perfect thing that I had picked up quite a while ago, Maker's Mark Bourbon Flavored Cherries! And I also was able to throw in some red Maker's Mark cocktail napkins.

If anyone else has ideas on what to keep on hand to give as hostess gifts I would love to hear from you.

Now I'm going to go do one of my favorite things, eat a meal that someone else has prepared!!

Six to Eight Inches of Snow?

After experiencing some near 70 degree days we are now in blizzard conditions with an accumulation of six to eight inches expected today. Wow! Even I am excited about this, though school went on as scheduled because this is that wonderful soft kind of snow that is falling pleasantly like a Christmas snow globe scene. I wasn't daunted by it and went out on my usual morning run. I did have to shorten it though, because it was globbing on my glasses and it was just beginning to get a little slick. Fun!

Crazy California

There's been another story coming out of California that reaffirms that they are just Crazy out there! This one is about something that is near and dear to my heart, homeschooling.

A ruling from the California appeals court could subject the parents of 166,000 students in the state to criminal sanctions, if they don't meet certain state requirements or send their kids to government schools. Here we go again, we've been down this road before!

Right now the argument seems to be over the language of the state requirements, that is what constitutes a "private school" and credentialed teachers. I don't want to get into all the details and all of the rhetoric about best interest of the child, because there's just too much to go into.

This particular ruling concludes that the state provided no circumstance that allowed parents to school their own children at home! That means that those 166,000 students that are being home schooled, well, their parents got some 'splainin to do.

Get some popcorn, this is gonna be good!

Other crazy things about California:

*Using the terms 'Mom' and 'Dad' banned in public school setting

*Parents who spank are considered criminals

*'State interest' argued in teaching homosexuality

*State education chief pushes 'gay' pornfest

I'm telling you, instead of Eureka their state motto should be Deleterious, because they are Crazy in California!

Thumper's Rule of Entropy

Yesterday my Science Fair post had some trouble due to a little known law of nature, Thumper's Rule of Entropy. This law states that "if you can't say nothin' nice don't say anything at all, but if you do say something in the comment section that is crass, or mean , or unkind the post will immediatley go from order to disorder, and implode!"

So that's what happened to my Science Fair post :-)

Big Guys Eat a Lot

Hey, I've snuck up to the office while there are 16 officers eating dinner and dessert downstairs. So shh! I just wanted to report on the dinner, it all went very well, except maybe I fell short on the pork tenderloin, maybe, just a wee bit . . . and that's because I always underestimate what these big guys can put away. I fixed 5 tenderloins, so really that's roughly 1/4 tenderloin per person. Now to me that's a lot . . . and these guys are all officers with PT tests, weigh ins, etc. The colonel doesn't eat that much, but some of these guys!!! Next time I will do better with allowing more, because like any cook my real reward is seeing folks enjoy the meal. Or maybe I will serve more filling appetizers :-)

Update: There were 18 officers plus the 3 of us. When did those two guys sneak in? Hey it was the General and the DCO, am I going to turn them away?! No, that's when you add water to the soup, right?

Thoughts On the Adornment of Women

Last night I went to a ladies get-together that was also a jewelry party. You know the catalog ponzi scheme type. You know when you go that you will buy something simply out of peer pressure, and sometimes that is exactly why you go. It's a fun way to browse and get opinions from your friends, it's kind of like the old quilting bee get together, accept of course the only thing produced is a purchase. I actually almost always enjoy these types of parties, escpecially if its a group of fun women, and last night's really was; the jewelry was just an excuse to enjoy each other's company.

Anyway, I got to thinking about why we women like to adorn ourselves. It goes without saying that we all (generally speaking for our gender) do like jewelry. The colonel always thought that I really didn't go in much for this, but lately I've been purchasing some things, and he asked me about it. I replied to him that, no I've always enjoyed jewelry, we just couldn't afford it so much.

But that doesn't really answer the question as to why I like jewelry. Don't get me wrong, I'm not into flashy, look at me stuff. But things that enhance what I'm wearing, yeah, that's the ticket. Hey, I'm not going to get on the psychiatrist's couch over this, but I just hope there's no underlying need for attention here. Nah, I just like jewelry :-)

But my all time, anywhere, any occasion favorite? Pearls, of course!