It's Been Awhile

Hey!  I'm still alive and kicking, although not too high.  I thought about blogging several times this month but just never got around to doing it or by the time I decided to do it, I was no longer in the mood.  Oh well.  It's a good thing no one expects a post from me or realizes I haven't posted. ha ha

All is well here at Rocky Top Ranch.  Fall has made it's appearance.  Some trees show off their lovely colors while others just lost the leaves and now stand bare.  It's been so windy here the past several days.  I've mowed the grass for the last time this year, I suppose.  The house plants that were put outside for the summer have been moved back inside and I've thought about having a fire in the fireplace several times.  Murphy has decided she'd rather be inside...she just shivers in this cooler air and wind.  (I don't like the hair shedding she brings inside, but I'm a softy...)  I just sweep more than once per day when she's in here.

Both of my sons started their new jobs at Amazon Fulfillment Center which recently opened here in Murfreesboro.  I'm so thankful they have good jobs with awesome benefits.  They work 4 10 hour days and enjoy being off on Thursday, Friday and Saturday!  

Andrew is growing so fast and too smart for his britches.  I love my grandson so much.  He will never know how much he means to me, aka Nana.  

Hubby is blessed to be terribly busy with work.  I'm thankful for the work but wish he could find time to rest and relax.  He's always been a workaholic and that certainly hasn't changed.  I appreciate all he does to provide for us.

I don't celebrate Halloween, so my thoughts are shifting to Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Both holidays will be here too soon.  I have visions of things I'd like to do, such as having my daughter-in-law over for a day or two of baking, making baskets of Christmas goodies, shopping for gifts and decorating for Christmas.  Maybe it'll happen.  

My thoughts and prayers are with those affected by Sandy.  I cannot fathom how they must feel and the tough times they face.  May God give them strength.

I guess I've rambled enough.  Here's wishing those who see this and those who don't a wonderful, happy fall day!

Candle Flies? I Was Enlightened (Pun Intended).

I recently had to clean out my pantry.  Here's all the stuff I moved out of the pantry and into the kitchen.  Oh what a mess I had.  The reason this was necessary shocked me.  CANDLEFLIES.  They are little moth looking things.  I thought these things were coming in from outside and that they were the kind drawn to light - especially those that fly around florescent lights.  I have a florescent light in my kitchen and one in the pantry.  They seemed to prefer my pantry...

I got my flying insect spray and sprayed them several times throughout the week.  They always came back.  I won't go into the gory details of how they get there, but I googled "camel flies" which I thought I had heard them called.  Turns out they are candle flies.  That's when I realized the pantry had to be emptied.  Anything related to grain was discarded along with chips, cardboard and everything else that was not in a can or air-tight container.

The picture above shows a few items remaining, but they were also removed.  The shelves, walls, ceilings, door and floor were all washed with Clorox disinfecting spray - TWICE.  I had become paranoid and I was determined not to put anything back in there until I was comfortable doing so.  Every canned good I kept, all of my cookware - ANYTHING put back in there was washed with Clorox and or Lysol.  When that was done, this is what was was allowed back in the pantry.

Needless to say, while putting things back in there, I decided to reorganize.  That's when I had an idea about where to put my cookware.  In the past it was put on the top shelf and not in an organized fashion.  My brainstorm resulted in this:

The things that wouldn't fit on the wall were the only things that are stored on the shelf.  I was rather proud of myself!

I can assure you that I check my pantry several times throughout the day just to be sure I don't see one of those pesky candle flies.  I haven't, but I'm still paranoid.  Everything I purchase that comes in a box is now stored in air-tight containers and the box is discarded.  For the record, I found out that ziplock bags are not air-tight.  

I hesitated posting about this but decided if it kept even one person from having to go through the aggravation, gagging and throwing away several hundred dollars worth of pantry items, it would be worth the embarrassment.  Then, I decided I had no reason to be embarrassed because my house is kept clean and the "devils" came in from things I had purchased.

Hoping you find no candle flies anywhere near your home!

Happy Birthday, Jon!

 My oldest son turned 31 today.  He's given us 31 years of love.  You'll never meet anyone with a bigger heart than Jon.  There are no words to express how much I love him.  There's nothing quite like watching your child grow up and not being embarrassed at all to give his mom a hug in front of his friends.

 He loves his nephew.  He loves kids and is ready to have his own.  He'll be a wonderful daddy.

Here's a picture of Jon and his wife.  He loves her dearly and the day he got married was the happiest day of his life.  Moms love knowing their sons are happy and loved.  

Happy Birthday, Son.  I'm so thankful God gave you to us.  I will always love you unconditionally and I hope you know that.  I think you do!  You have always made me feel loved and special and that feeling is the best!  I hope you had a wonderful day.  I love you and pray God's blessings for you and Brenda.

This Too Shall Pass

Do you ever just have one of "those" weeks?  Well, I do and this week has been one of them.  Thank God it's almost over and we've survived!  

Not too long ago I introduced Greg's fiance.   They parted ways earlier this week.  Everything happens for a reason and God is in control.  Sometimes we are better off without what we think we want!

The end to a tough week is the beginning of the weekend and my precious grandson, Andrew!  Every frustration I have is quickly diminished once I see that little smiling face and hear the words, "I love you soooooo much, Nana".  A hug and/or kiss from Andrew can make us feel much better.  

Hope the rest of your weekend is a great one.  I'm hoping next week will be much better for all of us.

I'm Still Kicking

Although I haven't blogged much lately, I'm still breathing and kicking.  I'm not kicking very high today after having worked in the yard yesterday.  When I have more energy than usual, I try to tackle things that need to be done while I can.  Payback is awful when one has fibro.

I enjoyed a trip to my sister's house in Mississippi earlier this month.  The only negative thing I have to say about that is, I had to come back home sooner than I would have liked.  I think I could have stayed there another two or three weeks.   In fact, I'd go back tomorrow had it not been two weeks since I've seen Andrew.  He comes over Thursday, so I'm staying here!

Books Books Books

My mother loves books.  That's putting it mildly.  Those of you who have been to her house know that books are everywhere.  There's not a room in the house without books.  Well maybe the laundry room doesn't have books, but there are magazines stored in there.  I would guess she probably hasn't read more than a part of each book. 

I've encouraged Mother to donate most to a church library.  If she started reading now and didn't stop, there's no way she could read all of those books unless she lives to be 100.  Bless her heart, she just can't seem to part with them.  The reason is quite simple, I believe.  It is because of her childhood.  She would go to bed at night and read.  Her dad did not like it that she read after she went to bed and would demand that she cut off the light and stop reading.   Maybe she stayed up too late reading.  I don't know, but I do believe that's the reason she has so many books.  After she married, no one could tell her not to read and not to have books. 

My book collection is probably less than a tenth of what Mother has accumulated over the years.  I  have nowhere to put them other than in boxes or storage tubs.  I decided they were doing no one any good if they were being stored.  So, over the past month I have gathered them in one place, gone through each one and have them boxed to take to my sister-in-law who is involved in the literary guild.  The books will be put to good use and I'm delighted.  My boys would never read my books so there's no point in keeping them.   I kept a few - some that were special or gifts but there's one collection  I'm keeping.  Those are my Guideposts books.  Each year for Christmas, Daddy and Mother have given  each of their children a Guidepost book for Christmas.  They are priceless.  It's my parents' way (mostly Mother's) of making sure we something to help us get through life and to re-read even after she's gone.  The Guidepost is my favorite gift every Christmas.   It's my daily devotional and if I get too busy to read it first thing each morning, something is missing in my day.

I love my parents and am very thankful that they are still with us.  Look to the left of Daddy and you will see a tack of books! 

Mother will never part with her books.  And that's okay.  I think she she likes knowing they are there should she "ever get around to reading them".  That's her reason for keeping them.  She hopes she will find the time to read them.  I hope she does!

Just Being A Nana

I survived two weeks without seeing my grandson.  I missed him so much.  He came bouncing into the house Friday afternoon and said "Hey, Nana.  I came.  I came to see you."  Of course my heart melted and then he jumped into my arms and gave me a hug and kiss.  That's all this Nana asks for!  There's nothing like being loved by a grandchild. 

Greg's fiance has a three year old daughter.  She and Andrew have fun together but also fuss like a brother and sister.  They are having to learn to share everything - including Nana and Pa. 

Colored tongues were funny and they were happy to show them to anyone who would look.

Sitting on the patio eating potato chips.  Andrew appears to be trying to get Serenity's attention.

They had fun playing in their pool  (I did too!)

Finally - both of them looked at me.

Cortney and Serenity got to ride Smokey!  Both were thrilled and Pa looks happy too.  He and I seldom ride the horses. 

If you notice there's a red cup in almost all the photos.  It was so hot and I drank lots of ice water.  It went everywhere I did.

The green plastic fence was used to protect my tomato plants.  I'm aware this is not a tomato.  Last year I planted watermelon seeds and only got one watermelon because the rabbits, squirrels or something started eating on them.  I probably had 20 watermelons that they got and the seeds were left after they did their damage.  The vines this year came from those seeds.  Some of the vines have grown around, up, under and over the plastic fence.  This little one was hanging yesterday.  This morning, it was on the ground.  Sure enough, something had been eating on it.  It made me mad!

Last, but certainly not least, I finally got some of Jon and Brenda's wedding pictures put into a frame. When I started, I had plans to give it to them, but changed my mind because I wanted it in my house.  Maybe I'll do another one for them.

 A lot of my time has been spent watering flowers, trees and roses.  I've watered part of my garden, but it's about 10 miles from here and I have to take water in gallon jugs, etc because there is no water source there.  We've had no rain in over a month now.  This sweltering heat is killing the grass and the dry weather is not good for my garden.  I'm hoping we get rain soon.  I also hope we get some cooler days.  It's been as hot as 113 degrees here.   I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...actually I'm dreaming of temps in the 80s at this point.

That's all for now.  Happy July!