Getting ready for Spring Planting

Knock Out rose cuttings

Today I spent some time putting knock out rose cuttings in pots to root them.

I only have 3 bushes at the present time, like the yellow/white shown here.  I planted these last year and they bloomed all summer.

I got lots of cuttings of some red roses, single and double, and today I planted about 150 roses.

I have 3 rose bushes like the white/yellow one we planted yesterday.

I am attaching some photos of the red, single and double, knock out roses.

Let the Gardening Begin!

 The weather the past few days has been warm and sunny and of course one's thoughts turn to gardening.  At least I start planning and working outdoors.   I have planted some vegetable and flower seeds in pots in the greenhouse.  I need to start thinning them and letting them grow a bit more before transferring to larger pots.

I have to open the door and vent of the greenhouse or it will get very hot inside - close to 100 degrees on a sunny day.  I have taken most of my house/porch/patio plants out of the greenhouse.  They made it through the cold winter just fine.

Yesterday I started potting some perennials coming up in the flower bed.
 Two pots of English ivy on the back, left side.  The other pots contain yellow coreopsis that will be twice this size in a week.  I made a seed bed beside the fence and sowed seed I have saved from last year, including large hibiscus, large zinnias, large marigolds (Inca), and black-eyed Susans.

Pansies are starting to bloom again in the flower bed by the patio.  I gave the rabbit a new coat of paint this spring and glued his ears back on, using some liquid nail mixture.  So far, so good.  They haven't fallen off yet!

This flower bed will have amaryllis blooming and lamb's ears and other perennials that will cover the mulch this spring and summer.

St. Francis goes back to the early 80s when James wanted to buy a statue for the flower bed.  He wanted to buy a large statue of Jesus, but I suggested this small one of St. Francis instead.  His head has broken off so many times when he topples over, etc.  I used liquid nails on it last week and gave him a new coat of paint also.  He is standing near the English vine that was damaged a little by our cold weather.  It is putting on new growth and will be pretty this spring.

The large purple and yellow iris are starting to grow and they usually are in full bloom late April.  A good low maintenance plant.

We are going to have a small vegetable garden again this year, including tomatoes, different varieties of peppers, cucumbers and squash, and herbs.  I started my seeds in the greenhouse and will put them in the garden around Easter, which is late this year - April 24.

You can take the girl off the farm, but you can't take the farm away from the girl!!

Jim's Latest Project

Ron Gilmer - Dec 1977 in MN

About two weeks ago Jim decided to go through our collection of about 2,000 35mm color slides and digitize them and put selected ones on a CD and make copies for our family.  He keeps calling me to come look at one he has decided to keep.  Ah, such memories - going back many, many years and looking at our family members growing up (and growing old-er).


The photo here was taken at home in Wayzata, Minnesota in December of 1977 when Ron came to visit us.  He was back in Texas in college and came home for Christmas.  While at home, he helped a neighbor who was building the house in the background of this photo.  Ron came home for lunch and his beard was frozen and I took this photo.

Jim in Bill's MG, 1977

Nell in new kitchen in Paris,
TX  1976

Ron and James at Lake Superior, 1977

Jim already had the slides filed by date (month and year).  He is keeping them in that order, plus adding captions of the names, occasion, location, etc.  Working a few hours each day, he hopes to have them all done by the end of February.

He will put the photos on a CD and we can have a slide show at our next family gathering.  Plus he will give our family copies to keep.  The slides are over 30 years old and beginning to fade.  He has been touching them up and other editing when needed, plus cropping some of them.

We stopped taking photos or making slides when digital cameras arrived on the scene several years ago.
Slide projectors are a thing of the past, except for using them hooked up to computers. We bought an Epson slide projector a couple of years ago and replacement bulbs for those projectors are over $200!   Maybe by the time our bulb blows out, they will have newer and less expensive ways of showing pictures on a screen.

Speaking of screens, have you tried to buy one of those "dinosaurs"  lately?  Nobody seems to use a movie screen anymore; instead they project pictures on a blank wall or built in screens in home theaters.  My nephew has a home theater in his basement.  We use the back of a door to look at our photos when we project them.

Technology is growing faster than I can keep up with it.  Yesterday I did a power point presentation at a club meeting, using slides from a tour earlier in the week.   I had the CD in the laptop, hooked up the projector, turned everything on and guess what!  I couldn't remember my password to turn on the computer.   I had to call Jim at home to ask him what it was.   From now on, all the info I need to use the laptop and projector will be included in the computer bag.

Our President's Day visit to the American Village

Nancy Brunson, George Washington, Caitlin 

Hines, Gaye Hines, Nell Gilmer, Donna Clark,

 Charlene Martin at Mount Vernon

On Monday, Feb. 21 - President's Day - Jim and I went with a group of DAR members and their guests to the American Village in Montevallo, AL  for a day of special events and a birthday party for George Washington.  Check it out at   www.americanvillage.org
Click on "Watch the Video" at the bottom of the homepage to get an idea of what takes place at Amer. Village.  Then look at The Photo Gallery on the left side of the home page, at the bottom, for lots of photos of events taking place at American Village.


There were 15 people in our group and 10 of those were DAR members.  We used our church "people mover" bus for the 3-hour drive to Montevallo.  This was my 3rd trip, but first time for most of the others.

Learning the Virginia Reel

 In the photo here, we are in one of the rooms at Mt Vernon and the girls in costume were telling us about the special parties and dances held at Mt Vernon.  They invited some children to join them for the Virginia Reel.

Thomas Jefferson (from Elba)

Next we went to the Assembly room where we listened to Thomas Jefferson talk about his place in history.  We learned that Mr. Jefferson was from Elba!  The son of our friends Jack and Jane Brunson.  He's a great actor and knew a lot about Thomas Jefferson.  He answered many questions from people in the audience.

Jim taking over as President

Nell and Jim at Mt Vernon

 We visited a replica of the Oval Office and Jim wanted his picture made at the President's desk.  There were big windows behind him so it was hard to get a photo.  The seal on the blue rug is beautiful.

This photo on the right was taken in front of the replica of Mt. Vernon.  This was where the events all began at noon, with cupcakes celebrating George Washington's Birthday.

Mr. Washington welcoming us

President Washington walked out to the steps of Mt. Vernon and welcomed guests to his house.  He wasn't wearing his white wig so I almost didn't recognize him (plus he seems to have gained a little weight in his old age).

We visited the home of John Adams and others when they lived in Philadelphia - called The President's House.  Toured the replica of the courthouse in Philadelphia and went inside the chapel, a replica of the one where Patrick Henry delivered his famous speech.  He wasn't there yesterday.   We heard him when we attended the dedication of the chapel in 2006.

It was a fun day and we especially enjoyed the interaction of children attending the events.  They were so attentive to the costumed speakers and listened to every word, and many asked questions.

We left to return home at 3 pm, and toured the campus of the University of Montevallo, a beautiful old campus, on the way back to I-65 to head home.  Had a great day.

Apartments for Rent!

Hope we have this many guests!

Saw some purple martins this morning outside our bedroom window. I watched to see if they were inspecting  apartments in our new purple martin birdhouse in the back yard.  They didn't check it out while I was watching.  Once you get some birds building nests in your birdhouse, you will have that same family returning year after year.


Papa Smith used to have several gourds hanging from a pole. He cut holes in the gourds for the birds to nest.  I could never talk Jim into letting me have gourds but he did allow the beautiful birdhouse that I got from Bill and girls last Nov. for my birthday.  Ronnie helped him install the steel pole in cement when he was here Thanksgiving.  It is a telescoping pole that is easy to raise and lower.  We lowered the pole recently when we were expecting strong winds.  Maybe I can lower the pole and check the progress of eggs hatching when we have a family taking residence, and see the baby birds.


Purple martins are supposed to help control the mosquito population.  They feed on insects. My veg. garden plot is nearby.  I'm hoping they will eat the insects that invade the garden this summer.


We have had a big variety of bird visitors this winter at our bird feeder in the back yard.  First the big birds (blue jays, cardinals, doves, red wing blackbirds) come and eat.  Then they move on and smaller birds move in for breakfast. Then the tiny wrens and other little birds play around for awhile.  It's so much fun watching them.  I don't know how many big bags of wild bird seed we have bought this cold winter.  The feeder has 2 sides and I have to fill it often.


When we were pruning the shrubery the past couple of weeks, we found so many bird nests.  Mocking birds love to build nests in the climbing rose bushes, among the wicked thorns.  Others built nests in the trees.  We have several bluebird boxes and all of them were used one or more times last summer.

Our purple martin bird house
Pole is raised about 15 feet

We had a lot of red wing blackbirds this year for the first time.  We had those at the farm and I thought they nested near wet areas.  There's no water around where we live now.


Too bad I can't get close enough to get some photographs.  They fly away when they see me at the window with my camera and zoom lens pointed at them!!


Wish we could get rid of the noisy crows and most lately lots of buzzards seem to be roosting in the woods in front of us.


I never see a large flock of blackbirds without remembering the Alfred Hitchcock movie "Birds".

There's a Strange Kind of Hush, All over the World Tonight

One of their first albums

Peter Noon - 45 years later

Last night I went to a concert sponsored by the Coffee County Arts Alliance at Elba High school auditorium.   It was great!  I went to see Herman's Hermits (an older version of the 1963 group).

Herman's Hermits is an English beat or pop band, formed in Manchester in 1963 as Herman & The Hermits. 

Peter Noone a few years ago

I remember our boys had records of this group and I was amazed that I remembered so many of the tunes after all these years.  I guess I heard them so much when the boys would play them on their stereo (no headphones back then so everybody had to listed to the music when it was playing).


He had the audience participating and singing along several times.  Remember "Mrs. Brown: you have a Lovely Daughter"?  He has a beautiful tenor voice on that one.  And that crazy song "Henry the VIII, I Am" -  that was so much fun singing along.


Teenagers who grew up with this music were in the audience with their own children and grandchildren.  Unlike modern day music, at least you could understand the words of the songs.


Jim elected not to go with me; said he didn't know that group.  He would have remembered once he heard the songs being played.  He missed a fun-filled evening.








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Spring is here!!

Spring has arrived!  Daffodils are blooming and the sun is bright orange.  I even went outside without a coat  to get the newspaper this morning.  With a few more days of sun we will have flowers everywhere.  It has been a bitter, frigid winter.  Certainly not typical Alabama weather.


The sun was bright orange this morning.  Soon won't be able to see it when all the leaves come out on the trees.


We have set aside tomorrow (Friday) to finish pruning shrubs and trees and fertilize them.  Have seeds growing in pots in the greenhouse already to put in the garden and flowerbeds in a few weeks.


Growing up on a farm, spring brings so many memories to light.  I remember our daddy plowing a garden spot and planting a big garden.  We would follow behind the plow and pick up earth worms to use to go fishing.  When it rained, we would remove our shoes and go "bogging" in the freshly plowed dirt. Usually did this a little later, in March, when it wasn't so cold.


We used to go to the woods and find wild honeysuckles blooming (native azaleas they call them now) and large purple violets - the first harbingers of spring on the farm.