The Hummingbirds Return

The weather has swung from nice to cold and back - here it is, the last couple of days of April, and the April showers are here.  I bought a very cool new hummingbird feeder, it is called a Humzinger and it looks like a space ship.  

I put the old feeder up a week ago and then over the weekend I put up the Humzinger.  And today in the rainy drizzle, a humingbird showed up - tiny and green with a black head.  And, of course, no camera handy!

I got the camera and have lurked by the window all day to catch this shot.  Not so bad.  

Even though it doesn't feel like it ~ Spring must be here.

Enjoy,
Leslie

Tech Friday

I finally bit the bullet and bought a new laptop.  My old trusty Dell has Windows XP, which is now exiled into oblivion by Microsoft and it is 8 years old and apparently not as fast as the new ones.  (Which isn't that true about all of us?)

So here it is.  All I have to do is figure out my security key (thank you Carole and Amy) and then transfer everything from the old to the new.  Please note the Scrabble game on the old one on the right - Carole and I have been playing on-line since 2008! And we play every day!  And, sad to say, my words are not getting any better.  And that I have not yet gotten the new one up and running.  I do sort of look high tech with two running on the table - or I like to think so.  (However, if you notice my OLD not smart phone, you will know that is not true.)

And then my vacuum cleaner decided to stop doing what vacuum cleaners do. Which is work. Now I am not too upset - as you can see I have very attractive duct tape keeping the hose attached to the cleaner.  That is because of a major design flaw with the model.  If you use the cleaner and the hose twists, it will release from the cleaner.  In case that is a surprise, that is a problem - from the get go.  It doesn't take an engineer to figure that out, hence the duct tape to fix it.  

I told mom that since I had the new one, I was going to take my deceased one and the ancient Electrolux that is behind her closet door as a shrine to the recycling place at the dump.

"Look at this!  Has anyone seen it move? It weighs a ton!"

She says "No".  I asked her when was the last time it had been used and she blatantly lied and said that she had used it last year!  Really?  Anyone - can you visualize mom and the vacuum cleaner?  She may use it to hang a coat or a bag off it. I can tell you there are no vacuum cleaner bags around for it, which means it is not being used.  Which means that I can't get it out now because she will look for it everyday since I put that thought in her head.  Lesson learned ~ don't ask, just remove and then cultivate plausible deniability.  

At last, but not least, the connector cord from my ipod to the computer has failed.  Why is that? How much work does it actually do? So I have to get a new one so I can add all my new tunes to my ipod.  I know everyone will be pleased that I have new Blake Shelton and Waylon Jennings to add to Poison and Motley Crue and Wilco.  I can hear Amy saying that the "music" I had downloaded caused the cord to fail.  Not hardly.

Oh, my new vacuum cleaner?  Fabulous.

Much love,
Leslie

An Afternoon with Jake

This is an early birthday present for Amy.  

Amy asked me to go with her to the barn - she wanted to ride Jake.  I was going along so I could call 911 - if she fell off.  Everyone has a job, that was mine.  At least I had the phone charged up.

I also took the camera.  My philosophy is take a bunch of pictures and a couple will be good. 

The weather was gorgeous and bright.  And my camera is pretty good - a nifty little Canon that fits in my pocket.  The bad part is - and there is always a bad part - when the sun is bright, you really can't see what you are taking a picture of.  Which may be one of life's smaller mysteries. Thank goodness for the delete button.  No more torn up pictures in the trash.  Now just delete and gone forever.  To bad you can't do that with other stuff.  Boyfriends, moms, liver.  I digress.

This is Jake.  Or as his bridle says: Jake E. Pants.

Now,getting the correct bridle - notice all the hair on the floor.  I thought about gathering it for a sweater - they make sweaters for people from dog hair, why not horse hair?  Amy said it itched. 

Here they are - I think a trot - I liked all the dust clouds.  Buffy is with us and she has no fear.  She tootles around - 

Here she is coming up on the right.  Keeping her eyes on Amy and Jake.

All done - and no excitement.  Jake didn't spook.  Amy didn't fall.  Another successful day at the barn.

Now it is time for eating some grass at Jake's special place.  Who knew? With a new friend looking on.

This is the life!

So, there you go.  Happy Early Birthday, Amy!  From your favorite sister and all your buddies!

Love,
Leslie

A New Season

It appears that Spring is finally here ~ we celebrated Easter with family which meant good food and lots of laughter.  And, loads of Easter candy!!!!

I decorated the front porch - and actually cleaned it off - so it is not completely embarrassing - you know what I mean.

Melanie helped, somewhat.  It is still too cool to plant in the pots - I do look longingly at all the pots, but I don't put anything in until after May Day.  I only have a short two weeks.......

Then in "when did this all happen" category, Mom and I were invited to PAX River Naval Air Station to attend one of our mid's RETIREMENT Ceremony!.  What?  We have known him how long?  24 years?  I certainly don't feel that much older.  What?  We went and had a marvelous time.  In the small word category, his Captain was in the same squadron in Hawaii with Carole and his father-in-law was in the Class of 1952.

And, mom just announced that another of our favorite mids, David made CAPTAIN!  Again, what?  She read it on facebook (I don't have facebook!)  Where has the time gone?  I will just say Congratulations to all.  This is truly the start of a new season.

Hope yours is just as special.

Love, 

Leslie

Mom's Addiction - grocery shopping

Ok, here is my rant.  

I don't get it, I ask her to stop.  I take her to her favorite grocery store!  She loves Fresh Market, so I drive her.  I do bring a list and she likes to get other stuff - I do not censor her groceries. Well, I try not to.  

We went to Fresh Market YESTERDAY!!!!! And this morning, we got a delivery from Peapod. What did we get?  Pretty much what we got yesterday, plus a full chicken and a full package of chicken thighs.  Why???????  

Please also note the 2 pounds of frozen shrimp in the upper left and the ENORMOUS bag of green beans with the smaller pack of snap beans in front of it.  

And, the box of pasta.  Here is a photo of the boxes of pasta in the pantry.

Don't forget - there are only 2 people in this house.  So, when Mom cries "Poor", which she does, just say, "well, at least you won't starve."

Love, Leslie

Animal Kingdom

I thought that I would devote a blog to the pets that run our lives.  I like to think that I have some control, but in reality, the pets rule.  

This is Bennett - who thinks he is my husband.  He is my shadow and prefers to go where I go.

And this is Melanie - his sister.  Both are from the Lab Rescue Society of Northern Virginia.  Melanie loves to carry socks around.

This is a rescued Love bird ~ very affectionate and will take a bath in my hand.

  

And then the two parakeets ~                   

And, at the end of the day, what's not to love.

Love, Leslie

Happy Birthday

Today is Mom's birthday ~ started with breakfast in bed and my now famous spinach and cheese omelet and presents.  Then flowers arrived from Nancy and they are gorgeous and smell as if they were just picked from the garden!

Then lunch at Mike's and it was warm at home, but windy on the water, so we had a window seat and watched the water and a pair of ospreys.  Lots of chit chat and laughter and more presents (these are from Amy) the cutest basket filled with Mom's favorite things:

And from Carole, very fancy olive oil ~ please note the very favorite Meyer Lemon oil ~(a special favorite):

Mom was thrilled and had a fabulous day and loved talking to all her daughters ~ the ascribed 5 Sisters.

Much love,

Leslie

Spring Sunday

It was cold today ~ and no matter how much I want it to warm up, Mother Nature is not in a hurry. I was outside loving the daffodils.  Here is where we were a short 6 weeks ago:

Bennett was loving it:

But I much prefer this:

I know you can't see the daffodils, but they are gorgeous!!!

And, in closing on this beautiful, cold Spring day, here is Mom, painting.

I hope your day was beautiful.

Love, Leslie

PS ~ I had to mention on this Sunday, the Orioles beat Verlander and the Tigers and the Nationals beat Atlanta!   Woo Hoo!!!!

Just want to share a very sweet Thank You!

I just want to share a very sweet Thank You ~

Over the past weekend, I drove up to Baltimore to attend the University of North Carolina versus Johns Hopkins lacrosse game.  I know none of the players, but I do know one of the coaches (Chris) and I like to show support.

It had been weather forecasted that we might get a blizzard, but luckily it warmed up just enough to not snow. When I left the house, it felt warmish, so I wore a turtleneck, a fleece shirt, North Face waterproof hooded jacket, waterproof shoes, ballcap and jeans.  I also brought handy dandy trash bags just in case.

I arrive at Johns Hopkins a bit early (worried about parking) - this was going to be a big game and Hopkins was going to honor their multiple national championship lacrosse teams - so I knew to get going.  There was a lot right next to Homewood Field and a sign that said "Handicapped Parking $10.00".  And I asked the guy if I could park there.  He said "Yes, if you have a handicapped sign".  I said that I had one at home (I do, Mom's").  And he said "Come on in a park."  What a great guy.

I parked right next to the stadium.  What a great spot.  Maren says that I lied - that it wasn't my handicapped sign.  Well, it was nice.

It had started to rain - a steady drizzle and I was handed a clear poncho to use.  Hopkins didn't want any umbrellas to obscure anyone's view of the game.  I had reserved seats so I sat right behind the UNC bench - waved at Chris and made myself comfortable - as comfortable as one can be- in the rain.  I put one of the trash bags on the bench so I wouldn't sit in water.  Put the hood up.  It continued to rain.  Brought out the trash bag and I opened it up, stepped into it and tied it at my waist.  Put on the poncho.  It rained.  It got cold.

30 people attended that game.  There were a few die-hard fans there that stayed.  All of us could have used those big golf sized umbrellas and wouldn't have bothered anyone.  I stayed.  My fingers pruned up because I did forget gloves.  My shoes are no longer waterproof.

When the game ended - a UNC victory 13-8 over Hopkins - I hugged Chris and handed him two zip-locked bags of cookies.  The only items dry were the cookies.  I told Chris I would see him in Baltimore for the lacrosse championships.

I walked the few steps to my car.  Everything I had on was sopping wet and very clammy and very cold.
Thank goodness for high heat!!!!!

Two days later, I received a lovely thank you note from Chris and in UNC's honor, here is my Spring Shrine to UNC lacrosse:

Thank You to Lori for the sweatshirt!  Go Tarheels!

Love,
Leslie

Our War With Water

It finally felt like Spring.  You know the feeling - above 38 degrees, the daffodils are sprouting and some have even opened.  The yard still looked ugly - bare branches on the trees, spotty grass, lots of dead leaves, downed branches - but you are blinded by the yellow and the buds of forsythia.  

I love these daffodils!

Just as winter has finally (hopefully maybe) released us from its clutches, I was out in the back looking loving on the daffodils, the little buds on the rose bushes and hydrangas - It was beautiful and peaceful.

I noticed a funny wet spot in the yard and glanced over at the pipe that the sump pump pumps water through....and saw that the window well was FULL of WATER!!!!!!

My peaceful easy feeling was GONE!  I dumped the water out of the birds bowl and started bailing.  And bailing.  And bailing.  Then the sump pump came on and put water back!  I knew this was wrong and if this was going to continue nothing good was going to happen.  So I put in a call for a plumber (cause if it is water you need a plumber, right?)  Then I went a bought a sump pump to keep the water out of the window.  I brought it home and prepared to put it together.

I don't know who plots out the directions for these things - but if America is ever brought down, it will because of undecipherable directions.

So, what to do?  I called my next door neighbor, who has always said to "call me for anything." So I did. David came over and put the pump together, pumped out the water in the window and then said, "You know, this is not the problem and you don't need a plumber.  I can fix this - this is what I do."

And he got a shovel and proceeded to dig it out (and it was lots and lots of mud) and I dug a trench to move the water away from the house.  And in a couple of hours, the water was actually moving away!  A miracle!!!!!

Then David starting digging up the underground pipe - which had several problems.  It had been clogged with dirt, punctured with rebar from the garden beds, and somehow the cable guys (they are always easy to blame) had run cable thru it. I would not have been too surprised if an animal fell out.

So, we quit as the sun was going down and picked it back up this morning at 10am.  I had called another friend who cuts the grass and he was here at 10 - and all the pipe was pulled up and replaced.  A better trench had been dug so it angled out and down from the house - that does make a difference (who knew?)

David's wife and two year old son came over, Mom came out and chatted, I brought lunch for all, chased the little two year old around who brought his own shovel and was digging all over the place.  My two labs tried to help.  Amy came over and brought Buffy to add to the majority of non-helpers.  It was lovely.

And now, the water is draining away from the house.  The yard is not the best it has ever looked - and mom reminds me that this is the ugliest time of year, the beginning of Spring.  But I am happy.  And the best of all? The guys worked for beer.  What a deal.

This is the crime scene - after it had been repaired.

I hope everyone's beginning of Spring is peaceful and easier.

Love, Leslie