Tomato Monday...

Got a couple of pictures to share of our first two tomato plants ( we bought 2 more since these) and one planter of our strawberries ( we have 2). I took a couple of the vegetables in the planter but they've grown since I took them so I'll wait and take another picture. I've seen one squash starting to grow, that's one more than I was able to grow in Alabama...ha. They would bloom but never made a squash.

These are the celebrity tomatoes

This is the Roma's. It is loaded down with them.

One planter of strawberries. A bird got my first strawberry before I did...

I don't think the tomato plants have grown any taller since they put on all the tomatoes.

Thanks for the Mother's Day wishes. I hope all the Mothers out there had a great day.

Take care,

Sheila

In memory of Mr. Ray 'Dad' White...

I just wanted to pay a little tribute to Mr. Ray 'Dad' White (http://tomatogardeningwithdad.blogspot.com/). He passed away on Wednesday May 9th at 98 years old. He was a sweet man, who loved the Lord, his family, his friends and his blogging family. He also loved his garden, especially his tomatoes and roses.

I wouldn't have known about this blogging community if it wasn't for Mr. White. Around October of 2005, our local paper in Mobile, AL had a story on 'Dad, America's oldest blogger'. This was back when it was still AOL Journals. I started reading his journal and from his journal I found others. Then, they shut down AOL journals and the ones who still wanted to blog moved mostly to blogger. I didn't decide to give it a try until after it moved to blogger. So thank you Mr. White for introducing me to this blogger world and all the wonderful friends I have made here.

Rest in Peace 'Dad'

We'll miss you.

Sheila

Plants, plants and more plants...

I waited a day later to post my last entry so I could take a picture of the Broom shrub. I went out that day to water the tomatoes, bell peppers, blueberries and everything else that needed watering, and I put my arm down on the top of the deck rail. When I moved to water something else I noticed that area was burning.....I looked and I had picked up a boat load of splinters...well maybe not a boat load but a lot. Thankfully, later on, my new favorite daughter Cori...ha... picked them out for me.

This past weekend the project was building a raised planting bed. Hubby got to use his new drills again (Jack they're Makita's). So now we have more vegetables growing. More bell peppers, squash, zucchini, cucumber, onions, parsley, purple brussel sprouts, eggplant, watermelon, cantaloupe and strawberries. I may have left something out, but that is all I could think of off the top of my head. I think I will get a couple of jalepeno plants. We got the broom shrub planted and he bought two dwarf azaleas. Maybe that is all for now...

Take care,
Sheila

April showers bring May flowers...

Hello, hello, hello! We are still here. Hubby is still in a little bit of a plant buying frenzy. A couple of purple fountain grasses (actually my request, if he seen any), a couple of fireworks fountain grasses (red), a couple more tomato plants, and another hibiscus and some type of evergreen shrub. We decided to put the two large blueberry bushes we bought in large planters and put closer to the deck. We put the purple fountain grass where we had the blueberries.

 This is the evergreen shrub called broom.

Don't know where we're going to plant it yet.

We hired someone to cut our grass, but the last time they cut it they scalped our grass in a few places (they sent a different guy with a different lawn mower). So Hubby decided to start cutting it again. I've been doing the trimming while he does the cutting. I think he was hoping the lawn mower wouldn't work so he could buy a new one...ha. It had been in storage almost two years, but he added gas and a little oil and I pressed the primer butter a few times. He went to put something up in the garage and I asked him if he wanted me to try to crank it. He said yeah, so I pulled the cord and it started the first time...ha. We were both a little surprised that it did. But so far it has been working like a charm.

Thanks for the birthday wishes! Mine was the 12th and Cori's was the 21st. She is 19 now, I'm only two years older...ha.

Take care, Sheila

Spring has sprung...

I don't intentionally stay away this long. I keep thinking I'll do better and time passes way to fast.

A lot of you read my Mom's blog and know about my Dad breaking his hip. Thank you for the prayers and encouragement for her. He is doing fine except for driving Mom crazy with his stubbornness...ha. She doesn't want him to end up back in the hospital.

We have been a little busy around here. Hubby wanted to add some plants to the front flower beds so we spent a couple of weekends on that. He's bought a few trees to plant out back, a red bud, a Japanese maple (the deer liked the new leaves on that one, we had to move it closer to the house), an ornamental plum, some type of oak, some type of pear (not Bradford) and a cedar. We bought a couple of tomato plants and two big blueberry bushes.

He tried to play golf a couple of weekends but kept getting rained out.  But he made up for it this weekend and played both Saturday and Sunday...he's been battling a cold and ended up staying home from work yesterday. He worked today, said he wasn't coughing as much but sneezing more. Hopefully he'll get cleared up soon...couple of years ago he ended up with bronchitis.

We are supposed to be cooler tomorrow, 50's for highs and 31 for low. I'll have to bring my tomatoes in.

Take care,
Sheila

Proof of our little snow....

Here's a few pictures of the little bit of snow we got on Feb. 19th.

When it started.

The next morning before it started melting...

I think Rylie was a little scared of the snow.

She walked under the chairs to get out, then by the 

chiminea to come back in.

We are all good. I've been trying to get some of my books read. I'm reading 'The Help' now, trying to get it finished so we can watch the movie. Bought two new rocker recliners when we bought the house and one broke so called the furniture store, they said we can send a repairman in two weeks. Repairman came, need to order part, ordered it for both chairs since it might break too, takes two weeks to get part. Part sent to old address, even though they have the new one. I went to pick them up, large cumbersome boxes, loaded one in the trunk one in the back seat. Couldn't close the trunk so had to drive careful. Okay, we have the parts, okay we'll send the repairman...in two weeks....finally fixed yesterday. Last week hot water heater stopped working. Could light it and it would run for a little while, but go out again...called, they sent someone out, simple fix. Tightened a bolt basically.  Upstairs air conditioner wasn't cooling Wednesday night...says daughter...called yesterday, they came out and adjusted a few things, good to go.

Take care, 

Sheila

PS. Okay Lucy, I got rid of the snow blog background, but I did sneak in a little snow.

It's not a trick, it's really me...

Time to catch up again. Just wanted to let you know all the pictures, on the previous entry, were taken at my parents at Christmas. The pecan tree belongs to them not us...ha...but I did get a bag of shelled pecans from it.

I have had ankle pain (right) since last June. I had the doctor look at it before Christmas just to make sure I hadn't done anything to it. But I suspected it was caused from being a little bow-legged and flat footed, so my ankles over-pronate. The doctor recommended a place to get some shoes (he had some too), so I went there two weeks ago tomorrow and let them watch me walk, measure my feet and get me fitted into a pair of shoes. Plus a pair of inserts to go in them too. If they help they will definitely be worth the money.

The rain finally stopped long enough to get our driveway extension done. Hubby has already claimed it as his side...ha.

 Before

After

Jack the lottery numbers didn't work. They must have been the numbers for an overseas lottery or something...ha. I know it has nothing to do with my psychic abilites.

It is true, don't go shopping while hungry...Jarin and I went to Big Lots because I was looking for a file they had advertised and we ended up having a junk food fest. After I took her home I went to get a haircut, feels so much better after a fresh haircut.