Our daughter prepared meals for us back in January and it was so wonderful. Even though school is out now her time is not her own. She embarks today on a two week training course in OKC. She will be teaching a class next fall (sorry, I can't remember the title of the course) that is like CSI. Pretty cool! Theirs is the only 3A school in the state of Texas teaching this course. I told her others will follow and they will be watching her school district. No pressure.
We picked six cucumbers today and a few squash. They are so good. I can't wait for the tomatoes to start ripening. I love love love vine ripened tomatoes. Can you see the holes in the leaves of the cucumber? Grasshoppers. There are hundreds of them! When we walk in the coastal grass field they scatter and there are multitudes of them.
I made an icebox lemon pie. Jury is still out. We like our lemon desserts at this house.
Lemon Pudding CakeI made this a couple of months ago and really enjoyed it. There is a pudding on the bottom and fluffy sponge cake on top. Good!
I recently received a stick hand blender. I am having fun. Anybody out there have one and can recommend ways to use it? Thanks in advance.
We recently had our roof replaced due to hail damage earlier in spring. Then last Tuesday had some painters come and paint our ceilings. I didn't anticipate all the plastic coverings and rooms that would be taped off. I stepped outside when they arrived to let them get underway. I had a hair cut appointment before lunch. After that I thought I could come in and hibernate in the sewing room. Nope. The way our house is laid out the ceiling from the hall, living area, foyer, dining, and kitchen all run together so it all had to be painted. My sewing room is down the hall and was taped off. SO-I turned around and went back outside.
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| Can you see the nest? It is in the upper center of the picture. |
I sat in the shade under our big sycamore tree and watched a female oriole build her nest. How cool is that?! I would've missed it if I hadn't been out there. It was amazing. The female oriole had a piece of yarn or thin plastic and wove it with her beak like a needle in and around the stems of the leaves. She is still working on it. From my research she will work on it for several weeks until it resembles a sock. Then she will lay her eggs. I believe these may be Bullock orioles. That day as I sat and enjoyed nature I saw not only the orioles but mourning dove, barn swallows, humming birds, and mocking birds. We have noticed that this year there are very few egrets and grackles. The grackles had been coming the last few years and building nest in the top of our pine trees. Not this year. I don't miss them one bit. Noisy birds.
This year we had barn swallows in a nest on the front porch and one on the back porch. The one on the front porch have already hatched and flown and have laid their second set of eggs. The ones on the back porch got a later start. They and I couldn't agree where their nest should be. They wanted it right by the door. I told them -- nope, not going to happen as I knocked it down. Eventually they relinquished and built it at the other end of the porch. Their babies have started to fly in the last couple of days. The parents sure don't like Butterball (the cat) anywhere nearby. I did find a dead barn swallow a few weeks ago so they probably have good reason. They swoop and fuss at him. One probably got too close with their swooping. What's a cat to do?!
I will see about getting bird pictures and adding to the blog.
Blessings,
Enjoyed reading your post about all that is going on. We watched wrens take twigs into their house which was interesting like your experience. I hope hubby's surgery goes well. Take care.
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