Puppy Gal Welcomes You To
Judy's Journal....
I started this feature for friends and family to answer their
"What's going on?" emails, therefore, I probably tell too much, but you are
welcome to laugh, cry and sigh with us.
"Life is too short to deal with ugly acting people!"
The opening of this bloom was such a pleasant surprise this morning. I slept late because
I was awake a good part of the night due to an allergic reaction. Bless Bob's heart he
did the morning chores all by himself. We're under a Heat Advisory until tomorrow night at 7 PM with a predicted high to be 95F. It's 91F already but the Heat Index is 101. Whew!!! I don't care if the yard is weedy, I asked Bob to please not mow until after this Heat Advisory expires.
I'm off to check on the animals, plants and birds. - Judy
Sunday - 07/30/06 Noon
Pictures of Ginger Girl at play this morning. She wants to be almost touching us all the time so getting her far enough from the camera to take pictures takes great effort.
Sunday - 07/30/06 6:30 AM
I'll be back after I've completed my morning chores and had a cup of coffee. The high here is suppose to be 93F, but right now it's only 73F so I'm off and running before it gets to hot to work outside. - Judy
Saturday - 07/29/06 2:00 PM
"Stand back non-believers, Looky yonder there comes the rain" or some such words from a very old movie probably 1959 starring Bert Lancaster, The RainMaker, I think!!
IT'S RAINING HERE!!! Finally and it's the good soaking kind. I hope it lasts for several more hours.
I ran out and threw Peter's 20-20-20 water soluble crystals in most of the flower pots. This rash action will either get washed out by too much rain, make them grow like crazy or burn them up, whichever I'm exhausted watering them and worrying about them.
I got up this morning, cooked breakfast, did a u-turn and went back to bed for two hours, got up at 11 to water the plants and hadn't been finished more than 15 minutes when the rain started. lol lol
I hope you are having a good weekend! - Judy
Saturday - 07/29/06 12:50 PM
Itty Bitty Beth - Pictures taken 7/29/06
Friday - 07/28/06 8:30 AM
This will be a short entry because I slept from 2 PM yesterday afternoon until just NOW!! I woke up at 9 PM, called to Bob to come to bed, he rubbed my back for a few minutes and I was asleep again. I was tired. Whenever I run in 3rd gear for too long this happens. lol lol
Thursday - 07/27/06 6:00 AM
Precious
Here are pictures of Charlotte & Pepper Jack's 3 year old daughter at Puppy Kindergarten. Isn't she precious
Thursday - 07/27/06 5:30 AM
I've finally agreed to place Ginger, Carlotta & Jazzman's daughter. I've been sick and
grouchy, not wanting to even answer the telephone for fear I would become a wild
woman with the next person begging me to ship her, being rude enough to question why I don't
ship, confiding they got scammed by the phoney missionaries in Africa routine or trying to haggle
about the price. Maura has Lexus who is Ginger's aunt so in my heart I am sure she will
take good care of Ginger and love her like I do. Bob and I both will definitely shed
tears when she leaves.
Speaking of that bloodline of Bullies, Charlotte, mother of Carlotta, grandmother of Ginger is 10 years
old now, sleeps a lot but doing well for her age. She is however weird about her bed. She'll spend the
longest time getting the bed arranged just the way she wants it and she thinks the world has
come to an end if it's touched by us or one of the other bullies. She'll start all over again
with the arranging. lol lol The other night we were watching the Bats flying within 10 feet of our heads at times as they gobbled up insects, when we noticed the two deer who live in the woods about 100 feet away and act like they want to come out to play with us. After a few minutes the count was now 3... the third one watched for awhile then, made a high pitched odd sound. She was calling her baby out for us to see. How precious is that!!! We were honored.
This morning, I looked down at my garden clogs and realized they were Cinderella Slippers. When I wear them I turn into a different person!! How lucky I am to know the joy of gardening. I'm going to play in the dirt before it gets too hot. - Judy
Thursday - 07/27/06 5:30 AM - By Bob (From Alice In Wonderland)
So she was considering, in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her
feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth
the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink
eyes ran close by her.There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself "Oh deer! Oh deer! I shall be too late!"
There's a white tail wagging just behind the tree...(Shhh... another baby is on the way, we think.)
Wednesday - 07/26/06 5:30 AM
Some interesting items that I thought I would share with you.
Since I'm sucking down Watermelon like I'm addicted to them, I searched the internet in hope of identifying what my body was craving. First I happened upon:
http://www.americade.info/melons11.htm
They are unbelievable!! Please do yourself a favor and look at the pictures.
Also a Watermelon Nutrition Facts
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=31
Then this recipe:
Pickled Watermelon Rind:
5 lbs. watermelon rind, pared and cut into 2" squares
2 1/2 lbs. sugar
2 C cider vinegar
2 C water
1 t cloves
2 t cinnamon
Mix 1/2 C kosher salt with 2 qts water and soak rind in it overnight. Weight the rind with a plate to keep it submerged. Drain and rinse, then drain again.
Cook in fresh water until tender (length of cooking depends on thickness of rind.) Drain.
Combine sugar, water, vinegar, and spices. Bring to a boil and pour over the rind. Let stand overnight.
Drain the syrup into a pot and bring to a boil. Cook for several minutes and pour back onto rind. Let stand overnight. Do this re-boiling three days in a row, cooking the rind in the syrup (with optional cinnamon sticks, if using) on the third day for 3 minutes.
Pour into sterilized canning jars, adding a piece of the optional cinnamon stick to each jar, and process 5 minutes.
Let stand at least 30 days before using
Some of the produce that it tells you how to grow:
Lemon Grass, Ginger, Water Chestnuts, Peppers, Tomatoes, Pineapples, Citrus, Apples,
Mango, Avocado, Potatoes, Onions, Sweet Potatoes, Peanuts, Dried Beans, Wheat, Rye, Oats,
Sunflowers, Carrots, Turnips, Rutabagas This is an excerpt from their web page, "Popcorn and Indian corn can be used as seed to grow more. Cherries, peaches and pears can all be treated just like you would apple seeds. Pumpkins and squash are filled with seeds that can be dried and saved for next season"
I slept very little last night so we're up and going, hopeful of taking a long nap during the hottest part of the day. I hope your will go smoothly. - Judy
Tuesday - 07/25/06 Noon
Tuesday - 07/25/06 11:30 AM
We've been up and working since 6 AM. After we walked and fed the English Bulldogs, we upsized the pots on 4 very large Hibiscus. Bob dug holes and planted 8 Angel’s Trumpets/Brugmansias in the ground because they were root bound in their pots.. Actually the final Brug isn’t completely in the ground because Bob got covered in fire ants.
Fortunately, quick action by both of us prevented him from being stung. He jerked off his
t-shirt which was covered with them, thousands, I ran for the water hose and screamed for
him to start jumping up and down. When the blast of cold water hit his hot, sweaty chest,
he started screaming he rather have the fire ants. Bob is such a sweet, dear person, but I
couldn't help spraying down his back as he moved quickly past me. I felt so evil afterward
and couldn't decide if I had sprayed his back because I was being devilish or for his own
good, however I will swear to him that I saw an ant. ROTFLOL (rolling on the floor
laughing out loud)I'll have to do something nice for him so I won't feel too bad about what I did. This is a May 4, 2006 picture of Bob holding Eve & Peanut's Male Puppy Brutus.
Monday - 07/24/06 3:15 PM
John and Beth sent us some "family photos" which included shots of our babies "Nicky" and "Rudy" -- Nicky, son of Miss B & Jazzman, is the beautiful, big red English bulldog and Rudy, son of Eve and Peanut, is the fawn and white English bulldog.
Sunday - 07/23/06 3:15 PM
We were very busy yesterday ... I had a list of projects I wanted to do since the high temp was only going to be 88F but I tripped and the impact started my gimpy foot to hurting every time I took a step so I asked Bob if he would go larking around with me....
I drove and we went to several places; butcher shop for the best ever sausage, pork liver to cook up for the Bullies and a big sack of femur bones for the dogs that I baked for 3 hours in the middle of the night. Then we went to a salvage food store down the road, I love that place... lol Caviar 2/$1 small jars but none the less it was a great buy. Bob bought all they had around 18 jars. That should hold him for a while... I don't eat it, I think of it as salty, nasty little tough balls.
Then we went to the bread store where I bought a
bag of kinda smashed cupcakes, powdered donuts, etc for $1. Bob nibbled on some while
traveling around, then I put the rest in the freezer for "our gang". Some of the Bullies love them
frozen. while others won't eat anything sweet. We saw a truck sitting in a parking lot
with watermelons on the tailgate so we stopped and ending up getting 4 for $6. The 2 small
ones with yellow blotches on them were only $1 each, have a very nice taste to them and
are just the right size for use to eat and not have any left over to have to store in the
frig. The other 2 are sugarbabies $2 each, Bob really likes those and we normally raise
some but not this year.
You should have seen the Bullies' butts wiggling when I started unwrapping their frozen
treats this morning, only the young adults got the bones, so to be fair the others got
frozen treats. Gabby took it in her mouth then opened it wide and let the frozen powder
sugar donut drop to the floor. She then looked at me like I tricked her. She's so picky
... she tip-toes around water puddles also while most of the others plow right through
them. lol lol The above does sound a bit like a comedy sketch out of "I love Lucy" doesn't it? It definitely was my Lucy Day and I enjoyed every minute of it. - Judy
Friday - 07/21/06 10:00 AM
Good Morning!!!
We're making do by working early morning and late evening. We are running the appliances before the sun comes up and hanging the clothes out to dry early morning to keep from using the dryer in the house. We've got lots of pop bottles full of water in the freezer, laying them to the side so liquid can be poured in to chill before they are consumed, we're drinking 99% water, but lots of it. I like to get to the bottle about the time it starts to freeze so I'll have slushy water.
All of the grown dogs have cut down on their eating by at least 50% and come to think of it Bob and I have also. Light and easy food is all we're wanting, but I am a fool about peanuts, bought a 20 lb bag of raw peanuts which I parched for snacking and we're about half finished with them. Another confession, all of a sudden I'm crazy about Ramen noodles. I hadn't eaten any in years but recently bought a big box ... probably my body craving a replacement for the salt I'm sweating out.
I absolutely hate to use insecticides and I do so hope it doesn't kill our earth worms, frogs and beneficial insects but the Angel's Trumpets/Brugmansia were all going to die if we hadn't sprayed them. Something is attacking the leaves on the oak trees but we don't want to take a chance in spraying poison up into them because they are 50-60 feet tall.
I believe I'm finally over the "summer crud with fever" and as you can probably tell I'm running in
third gear because there is so much to do that I couldn't do while sick. I'm buzzing so fast
Bob asked me to down throttle a bit. lol lol Have a GOOD weekend. - Judy
Thursday - 07/20/06 11:00 AM
It got fairly dramatic here yesterday and I meant to fill you all in but afterward I was too tired to even think straight.....
Around 2 PM we were taking a break and trying to cool off in the upstairs bedroom which has a window a/c unit, plus a floor fan running to circulate the air. Over all that noise we heard a loud sound as if a boiler had sprung a leak. The yarddogs and inside dogs immediately started barking going to get whatever it was. There was only one thing that was under that much pressure, the propane gas tank. We rushed downstairs checked the tank and all the gas lines, nothing.
Then I said "Bob listen to all those katydids, they'll eat
my Angel's Trumpets". To which he replied only a few katydids, the loudest noise is the
propane tank on the other side of the covered dog run, as he hurried off to investigate.
Boy howdy, was it letting vapor or gas out of the 250 gallon tank. We called the gas
company and they told us because it was so hot the gas in the tank had expanded therefore
the pressure relief valve was letting off the vapors. OK We're busy working inside and
didn't go back outside until after around 6 PM, it's still blowing it's top but no gas
fumes. I called the emergency number, told them it was still going and had lost 5% of the
gas volume. We had it filled last winter in case there was an emergency and the Bullies
had to spend the night in the dog run, but there was no such emergency so the tank was
still full. They immediately called me back to let me know a repairman had been dispatched,
but he lives about 50 miles away. By the time he got here there were strong gas fumes and
the tank had lost 10% of it's volume. Propane gas pools instead of rising in the air and
earlier we must have had enough wind to carry it away. It turned out the problem was grit
in the relief valve which would not allow it to reseat (seal)itself. After all was said and
done, it was about 9 PM when the service man and his wife left.I just had to post these pictures of Bob all dressed up this morning to spray insecticide on my Angel's Trumpets . He didn't have a straw hat so I asked him to wear one of mine and that's one of my fancy scarfs we used to protect his neck and head. Boy did he get hot in that outfit in 85F heat.
Hopefully today will continue to be a calm day. It's supposed to reach 100-102F this afternoon. Remeber to be cool.- Judy
Tuesday - 07/18/06 5:00 PM
The high temperature for today was 98F, still no rain but the chance for some has increased to 40% for Saturday. Yesterday I drove to Corinth, MS for insecticide, but as of now have not treated the plants. Bob has to be the one to do it either early morning before it gets hot or late evening when it cools off, unfortunately by the time it cools off we barely have time to walk the dogs before it gets dark. We're going to get up extra early in the morning, rush to get the Bullies out and back in, then spray.
Please keep a careful eye on your Bully to ensure they don't have a heat stroke. - Judy
Monday - 07/17/06 7:00 AM
Gracious, it is so hot and the ground is so very dry. We're not as bad off as the people all around us and further South but I surely would appreciate some rain. I checked the extended forecast for our area and it's suppose to be in the high 90's and partly cloudy from now until next Saturday, then there is only a 20% chance of rain. I'm going to get those Bullies doing their Bully Butt Wiggle Rain Dance.
We're being watched very closely whenever we are outside. We have cut down the trash trees to the edge of the woods. There are two deer who live in the area just inside the trees, about 120 feet away from the side of the house and 40 feet away in the front. We suspect last winter they were eating dog food from the back porch where I keep a dishpan filled with food for the "strays that came to stay". At times we heard running feet on the porch and then silence on the high end as if whatever it was had jumped to the ground, but couldn't imagine what it was. I then realized the strays couldn't be eating all the food I was giving them. One night as we pulled up the drive we saw them dash away from the area just behind the back porch.
They graze in the open area on the young grass that's growing where the trees use to be, they frolicking in the open like two pups at times and aren't at all afraid of us or the dogs. They've never bothered anything, probably because the yarddogs keep them in their area.
They watch closely when we are outside and at times we have the feeling they would like to come out and play. I told Bob not to try to get them closer, they might decide they wanted a Angel's Trumpet salad and I put systemic insecticide on them Saturday. BUT he didn't pay attention when I told him not to talk to the "cats" and make them friendly because a Bully might 'get' them and you've seen the pictures of Mr Cat with the Bullies.
Wishing for rain .... Judy
Sunday - 07/16/06 1:30 PM
Yesterday was a disgusting day!! My beautiful Angel's Trumpets (Brugmansias) have something attacking them. I notice the plants appear to be dying from the top down. I used a high powered lens to check for insects but couldn't find any so then I posted pictures on a forum asking for assistance. The conclusion of several growers was Broad Mites which are extremely hard to get rid of according to them and the information I found on the internet. I've either cured or killed about 20 plants, the ones with the mites and those around them.
I became so hopelessly confused trying to decide what to do. I came within
a hare's breath of disposing of all the infected plants but at the last minute opted for stripping off leaves.
If two of them had not been such desirable hybrids, the complete plant would be in a tied off plastic bag in
the garbage dumpster, instead of just their leaves. A 7 inch cutting sold for
$273 on eBay last winter. The grower, who is a friend, sent me two of the cuttings for my
birthday present last year.I became so confused from all the internet research I was doing on the systemic insecticides I had on hand, all of which it turned out had the same insecticide but different names. I kept researching and found it banned by EPA, but then I found one of the products for sale on a USA website ... Oh Glory!! Does that mean it's now allowed?? All I could find was a May 2006 EPA document asking for input into it's reevaluation, but no conclusion on if it was approved. When I tried to access the EPA records, the website got an error.
Finally I used one of them because it was in granule form and I could shake it into the pot. The product recommended specifically for the broad mite is $100 for 8 oz. Can you believe that!!! It's a concentrated form and it will only take a dab to treat the plants so it will last forever, but!! Plus I have to buy protective clothing and a mask, to apply it to the plants. That scares me, I like the 'shake in the pot' stuff, but I used all I had and it's no longer for sale. I'm now looking for a soil drench I can use instead of something that must be sprayed on them.
Later after doing all this, I was working in another section of plants across the drive and noticed, some of them also have the mites. I don't think I've ever been so disheartened with my plants. I grow them because they bring me joy, but that certainly hasn't been the case the last two days.
The only thing to do is take a deep breath and get on with taking care of the problem so we can have lots of beautiful blooms next month to make us smile. - Judy
Friday - 07/14/06 6:30 AM
A "heat advisory" has been issued. The heat index today will be 100-105 F, from Noon to 7 PM. I can't tell you what a hardship that puts on us!! Pray the utilities don't go out. I suppose we need to buy a generator, deep breath.
This morning I present for your reading pleasure some very interesting articles. Thank you Lynn for the links.
Rabies is a different matter, first of all it's the law. In addition, it makes an animal crazy, therefore I figured a crazy squirrel, dog or whatever might attack them while they are out to potty and occasionally we do have one to take a walk away from the immediately area.
Click the underlined words for my newly created web page:
Thursday - 07/13/06 10:30 AM
One of the most complicated and confusing issues with English Bulldogs are skin and hair problems. Since I'm still sick but not incapacitated, I decided I had put off producing a comprehensive webpage on the subject for long enough.
My that sounds "so dedicated" but actually I'm doing it in self defense!!! I get at least five emails a week, plus phone calls from people wanting assistance in this area, both bully owners and other breeders. There are several breeders who tell their Bully owners to contact me, which at times I find offensive because I'm rushing to catch up with my life and they are adding more to my load. In the future I will simply refer these people to my new web page. It is a work in progress therefore I will be updating it for the next few days.
I hope you are feeling well and enjoying life. - Judy
Wednesday - 07/12/06 5:00 AM
We're up and getting ready to start the day..... As soon as it is light outside, we'll take the older pups, who are staying with us, out to their play pens for a couple of hours of exercise before it gets too hot. As soon as we place the younger pups, we will be concentrating on telling you all about the older pups: their personalities, daily doings and such.
We've made the decision that "PuppyGal.com" will become a members only website. I'm having way too many strange telephone calls and emails. Why would someone send me an email wanting to know if I have any available puppies, I reply we have the 2 females, then they tell me they were scammed out of $750 by the "missionary couple in Africa" so they are unable to get a puppy at this time. People are calling me who obviously have been on the website, but haven't taken the time to read what I have written. They are so illogical that they beg me to ship them a puppy... in this summer heat!!?? I clearly state on the website several times that I do not ship my "babies", period.
Then there are the people who call, because they want to come visit. I actually have people call me and say "my son/daughter/husband/wife wants to come see your puppies". English Bulldogs are the number one stolen dogs in the USA. There are two breeders in the area who have had litters of puppies stolen, therefore you can see why I'm very cautious when strangers call wanting to visit.
Soooo ..... I've finally gotten to the point that I do not allow people to come to visit when we have a young litter of puppies, not only for the above reason, but several years ago, the kid across the street came over to play with the puppies. I didn't know his mother had picked-up a sick puppy, took it to the vet, who diagnosed it as having PARVO. The virus was transmitted to our litter of 6 (8 wk old), we spent $3000 but were only able to save 3 of them. The absolute emotional trauma of the pups being at our vet's during the day then we transported them to the emergency clinic for after hours care, having a puppy to die in my arms while being transported, shook us to our foundation. Then there was the man who came to visit, picked up one of the pups, held it out and dropped it ... killed it. These are some of the traumas we have experienced in the past, many years ago ... but all these experiences have accumulated and we find ourselves no longer willing to expose the "babies" or ourselves to the possibilities of going through them again.
We need a "place" where people can visit and see the pups through a glass window. A place where we can quickly judge the person so that we can make a determination as to their character before they are ever exposed to the "babies".... gosh does that sound like a hospital nursery or what!!
As you can tell by the above, almost from the start we crossed the line between the "babies" being animals and being an extension of ourselves, because so much of our energy and hearts go into raising them. This is a very difficult, emotional position. I once had a vet to ask me how I knew one of my grown dogs had a elevated temperature, one degree, I responded "because we rub noses". - Judy
Tuesday - 07/11/06 5:00 PM
I thought I had better post or you all would be worried about me. I'm still sick but
doing better. I accompanied Bob to Corinth, MS yesterday for groceries, but left him
standing in Wal-Mart with a half-full basket because I could no longer endure the bright lights.
They caused me to be a little disoriented, therefore I was fearful of fainting. After we
arrived back home I was able to assist him for a couple of hours, then I deserted him because
my cough was coming back. Although this may not sound good, it is
positive progress.
With these beautiful Hibiscus blooming so profusely I don't know how I could, but today I
started off grouchy, I get that way when I'm sick. I mellowed out after an early afternoon nap. To make up for being grouchy, I apologized and then
made Bob a cast iron skillet full of Jalepeno cornbread, which he loves. I had already cooked a big pot of spicy
navy beans with generous chunks of ham, so that's our supper for tonight. It's still 90F, so we're delaying starting the evening chores. If I run the washer, dryer, or dishwasher, it will heat up the house too much and we can't take the Bullies out to potty in this heat. Whew!!!
Take care and don't get over-heated. - Judy
Sunday - 07/09/06 2 P.M. [by Bob]
New pictures of Miss B's baby girl-- Itty Bitty Beth...
She's so sweet and wants to be cuddled! She loves her brother but he plays too rough!
Itty Bitty Beth is AKC, vet health check, shots, wormed, kissed, packed with cuddles! $1200.
And here are a couple of "action shots" of Ginger Girl -- She's three months old and does Not stay still for picture taking...
She's playing with Kate who would rather not play...
Ginger has a perfect tail, perfect markings, perfect coloring -- bronze and will be on the small size (35 pounds?). She is $1200, AKC, shots, health checked by our vet, parasite checked, and toenails are clipped -- ready to go!
Sunday - 07/09/06 Noon
I had only gotten out of bed long enough to go out and water the plants, but around Noon could no longer lay there reading. However I read a passage in one of the books which rang so true to me, that I wanted to share them with you:
I'm back to bed with another book. I hope you are having a peaceful Sunday afternoon. - Judy
Saturday - 07/08/06 Noon
The deep sigh of satisfaction that this picture should bring to your heart is one of the
reasons we raise English Bulldogs. Moments before the male had his leg across her chest and
it looked so protective. If there is a clap of thunder or a loud noise, she runs to him. When I
had gotten back to them he had moved his leg.Confession time, I'm sick. It started off with a sore throat, low grade fever, then progressed to the point of being bronchitis. I started taking antibiotics and I believe I've stopped it from getting really bad. I should have known when I got grouchy with Big Bob that I was getting really sick. My nature is to try to "out run" being sick, so I trod on working like I had good sense. lol lol That just goes to show you how foolish I can be.
Last night I wrote the following to a lady who had told me about her husband....Oh My!!! Your husband sounds like Big Bob. When we lived in Memphis and he was working, on his lunch hour he went to a very expensive grocery with a Deli that could not be beat. They had a great salad bar... he loaded up his "take out container" and went to the weighing out station. There the female employee was chatting with a friend and when she saw Big Bob waiting, she kissed her friend on the cheek and said goodbye. Big Bob asked if the kiss was part of the service and she said, yes!! She put the weight label on his container and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
That is what makes them so special, they do flirt but they make the ladies feel good about themselves without feeling threatened.
Big Bob also held the hand of a young lady who worked for me in corporate America as she gave birth to her child, the result of a rape. I told her I could help her with everything else but I would pass out in the delivery room... she was scared. I asked if she wanted Big Bob to hold her hand and she said OH YES.
We're blessed to be loved by them
I enjoyed sharing those thoughts with her and now all of you. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. - Judy
Friday - 07/07/06 5:00 AM
I was a little "off my feed" yesterday so I took it easy, doing only that which had to be done, luckily Mother Nature had taken care of the plants. We cycled 'our gang' out to potty and exercise, brought them back inside under a/c and I just piddled; washed a couple of loads of dog beds, then our clothes, made pasta salad, minced meat/cranberry pie, a small pudding with the left over filling and white corn salad. We gave monthly wormer to all 'our gang' including the strays that came to stay and the cats. The cats are difficult to worm, but I fooled them with a can of the mackerel. The wormer was hidden in it and they never knew it was there.... gobble, gobble. We completed the evening chores early and I went to bed.
Today the temperatures are suppose to be mild for our typical summer, so hopefully I'll get a lot accomplished. The most difficult part of life is making decisions. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. - Judy
Wednesday - 07/05/06 9:00 AM
It finally rained!!! It's cloudy now and there is a medium size rain formation slowly moving our way from Memphis, TN, it should be here in a couple of hours. Plus our high temperature is only going to be 85F so I'm a extra happy person this morning.
Below I have posted an email I got from Jessica last night. These are some of the cutest pictues I have even seen. - Judy
Hi Judy & Bob,
I wanted to pass along more Sampson pics! We've had a ball this July 4th!
See Sampson playing "cars" with Konnor - they just love each other!!! Then Sampson sleeping :) - then playing nurf football...then playtime with Sophie.
He is doing wonderful - he sends his sloppy kisses your way this Holiday.
Thank you! - Jess, Ken & Konnor
Tuesday - 07/04/06 2:00 PM
I had to call the sheriff office last night because some fool was shooting off fireworks, as dry as it has been here I was afraid it would start a fire, not only that but in-between the fireworks they were shooting off guns. All the Bullies, were barking and crazy Big Red was ready to take them on. Both the yarddogs and the cats were scared and trying to get into the house. The cats have never tried to get into the house before because they were scared, to get some chicken, yes. When I went out in the drive to confirm there were gun shots between the showers of fireworks, they huddled around my legs. The people must have had a police scanner because not long after my phone call they stopped. I figured they heard the dispatcher radio the sheriff's deputy my complaint.
I just came in from my second watering of plants, everything is going to be dead if it doesn't rain soon. Even the dogwood tree in the flower bed was wilted. We have a 20% chance of rain today, 70% tomorrow and Thursday 40%. I've been doing a rain dance, but I guess I'm just not kicking my heels up high enough. I even turned the music up real loud and got the Bullies doing the Bully Butt Wiggle while I chanted lol lol
I hope you are enjoying yourself today. - Judy
3:00 PM
PS The other night I noticed jerky flying birds swarming overhead. Swarming because there were a good many of them and they were going in every direction all at once. More like how bees dart around, than birds. I searched the internet then asked some bird experts I know and they confirmed it had to be bats. I thought it was kind of creepy at first then but they really are amazing to watch and we have few misquitoes, so they must be the reason. Love my bats, because misquitoes love to bite on me and I'm allergic to them!!!
Tuesday - 07/04/06 4:30 AM
It's 74 F and the humidity is 86% .... that makes it hard to breath, any task takes twice as long to complete. I'm up and going. First stop is the coffee pot. - Judy
Monday - 07/03/06 7:00 PM
The temperature outside is 90F. It's not dropping fast enough to suit our work schedule. The Bullies have to be walked but not only are they temperature sensitive, so am I. 87F is the highest temperature I can deal with in this regard. At this rate the temp isn't going to be that low until it's too dark to see where I'm walking.
There isn't much good news for today, I've been working outside in the shade but had to stop every 45 minutes to an hour to cool down. We may get rain the next three days, which would surely be a blessing because the flowers, fruit trees, dogwoods and other small trees are beginning to wilt in the high heat of the day, which will cause leaves to turn yellow and drop. Most of my time outside was 'emergency' watering. I had two water hose going at a slow pace on the major areas of concern and I had a commercial hose with a sprayhead watering the plants that were in dire straights. I surely hope Mother Nature gives everything a big drink and soon.
Enjoy your 4th of July Celebration tomorrow. - Judy
Sunday - 07/02/06 6:00 PM
It's been hotter than a pepper sprout here with high humidity. We worked doing morning
chores outside until I thought I was going to pass out. I got way over-heated but I never
know it until I'm there so I try to take care, usually Bob tells me when my face becomes RED!!We have not had a good rain in several days to all the plants are suffering... I've been watering 3 times a day for the last 3 days. It's not so bad early morning or evening, but mid-day is horrible. I told Bob I was about ready to spray "round up" on everything and be done with it. I can't stand to see the plants suffer but I don't want to kill myself trying to prevent it.
I about got over-heated taking the Bullies out to potty. Miss B and Kate both insisted upon going out at Noon. Kate wanted to go visit the Donkey in the pasture next door and Miss B wanted to drink water and walk around, meanwhile I'm getting too dang hot for words.
The next thing, I find water running out the front of the window a/c unit and down the wall, I surely hope the sheetrock is not ruined. After much tadoo, I convinced Bob to take it out of the window. It's too heavy for
us to be lifting so we got a folding table and slid it up under it, then built up the height until it was even,
opened the window, then we both were able to move the table away from the window. I used Press 'n Seal around
the fan motor to prevent water from entering it and then hosed it down really good. Meanwhile Bob located the
stopped up condensation drain and unplugged it by inserting a straw and blowing it free of debris. Next we tackled the job of hanging two antique mirrors.... my pride and joys. We disagreed on how to do it then finally he agreed with my way of thinking, but used the tape measure over and over to make sure it was exactly centered, etc. I told him if someone came to my house and complained it was 1/4 of an inch off I didn't give a care for them or the 1/4 inch. I could have thrown a dart at the place for him to put the screw and it would have suited me just fine. ... actually I have a pretty good eye for aligning things and that is as close as I'm going to bother.
I've never had Elephant Ears to survive the winter before and these guys looked kinda
rotten so I didn't expect them to do much, if anything this summer. I'm must remove some of
them since they have taken over the flower bed but I have too much to do and it's too hot.
These are the Giant EE's sold by Wal-Mart and grow to a height of about 6 feet. We've taken a couple of hours out to eat supper (cold meatloaf sandwiches and melon) and rest, now we're about to finish up the evening chores which will take a couple of hours.... walk and feed the Bullies, change out their beds, crank up the washing machine, load the dryer to run in the middle of the night, get the clothes in off the clothes line, water and feed the birds, feed the strays that came to stay and try to teach the cats to say "tuna". (lol lol)
Have a good night and enjoy your weekend holiday. - Judy
Saturday - 07/01/06 3:30 PM
We were both up and working hard by 5 AM, we hedged a little here and a little there so we would be ready to leave by 7 AM. The outing was nice but not as expected. My favorite nursery looked abandoned, they definitely were not in operation this spring from the look of things. The owners are very likable people and I kept wondering what had happened to the once thriving business and if a tragedy had struck the family. Yard sales normally line the road on the way to the Flea Market but there were few and those appeared to be mostly used clothes or children's items.
Next stop was an extremely large salvage grocery store where I once bought 60 cans of tuna for 10 cents each because they didn't have a label. The cats and a couple of the bullies almost got tired of eating it. We opened the door and went in to an almost empty building. At one end there were two cars with their hoods up, evidently in the process of having work done on them. It was at this point that I asked Bob, how long has it been since we've been to Ripley, MS.
On down the road we noticed the 'new' fancy Mexican restaurant appeared to be permanently closed, we had agreed at their grand opening that they had probably over-built for the size of the community and they would be hard pressed to make enough money to pay the overhead. We also notice new businesses, new city/county buildings and work in process restoring a couple of old buildings downtown. In all we came away with a positive feeling about the community.
Oh yes, we did find a tiny salvage store where we bought 15 or so cans of mackerel for $.25 each. I couldn't teach the cats to say 'tuna' so I know they'll never be able to say 'mackerel' although they do have their way of making their wants known.
I hope you are having a wonderful holiday and truly appreciate the meaning of the 4th of July. May God continue to Bless America. - Judy
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Judy's Journal - May, 2006
Judy's Journal - April, 2006
Judy's Journal - March 15-31, 2006
Judy's Journal - March 1-15, 2006
Judy's Journal - February, 2006
Judy's Journal - January, 2006
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