What a morning

To avoid this being a pictureless post again and since it is a gorgeous spring day, I took a couple shots of my flowering shrubbery.  The lilac is not native to Alabama but DJ babied it along by treating the soil.  That is probably not going to happen on my watch.  Smells heavenly!

Friday we had rain from daybreak till about 11 or so, about 1 1/4 inches.  Too wet to have Oscar stay outside and not bring mud back in.  He is doing better about using his dog house that is mostly because the overgrown weeds near the kitchen tip-out that he crawls under are keeping that from happening.

Anyway,  I stayed home from guild today so I could sew on my promised items.   Naturally that has not happened yet. Somehow Robert managed to get the rest of my acre mowed though the mower is not cutting evenly and I have high and low spots, noticeably so.  AND because we are having such a wet spring the fire ants are having a field day out there digging.  Huge mounds, one pictured below with its off shoots,  near the base of two crepe myrtle trees/bushes.  Tons of them all over the yard.

Robert said I had better treat them but yesterday afternoon it looked like more rain.  Today was supposed to be clear and dry.  I would do it today.  I blew through the two partial 7 lb bags of spectrazide that I had on hand.  I went to Lowe's to get more.  4-3.5 lb bags.  I wanted the larger ones but they didn't have them in stock.   Blew through those 14 lbs in no time and I still had most of the spare lot to do.  Off to Walmart Garden Center---they had the 7 lb bags.  Got 4 more, used two and now I'm prepared for more ant warfare.  I figure about 50 lbs to treat the whole yard.

Then I managed to lock my keys in the trunk.   The lady had bagged up the bags.  I took them out and since I had scissors, cut two of them open, resealed them , slammed the trunk closed and took the cart to the corral.  Now what? Should have put them in my purse like I always do as I am always afraid I MIGHT do this.   I had gone off without my cell phone and I don't have my neighbors phone numbers committed to memory--who does?  No DJ to come bail me out.  The spare keys are on the kitchen table but I would have to get home somehow.  Walmart is about 3.5 miles away.  I could walk but I am not built up to that distance yet and part of it is quite hilly. I know I am not up to that!  My girlfriends are off to quilt guild, the ones that I COULD call,  recall their numbers or was granted the use of a phone.

A young man pulled up near me and wearing a store uniform.  By that time I am in tears.  Automotive might be able to help and that's where he works but as far as he knows I might have to call the locksmith.  I walked with him into the store and tell his boss my sad story.  He located the locksmith's number and dialed it up for me on their portable phone.  The lady tells me to calm down, it will be fine and she'll be there shortly.  She wants cash, not a check, so I scurry over to my bank's nearby ATM.   I was through melting down by the time she arrived and triggered the trunk opener so I could retrieve my keys, giving me a hug once the job was done.  I thanked her and apologized for being so unglued when I spoke to her on the phone.  I need to go back and thank Troy and his boss Stacy at Walmart Automotive too.

I came home, without incident, and finished out the ant mound job getting a real satisfaction out of jabbing them and stabbing the old broom handle Robert had sharpened for me into the ground.  Oh, I hate those ants!  Amazingly, I only got one on my hand and it didn't bite me.  Thing is, if your neighbors don't treat them you will never get rid of them.  They have made such a mess of the yard.  Walking Oscar is also challenging between the mud and the mounds.  He just makes a bee-line for the grassy strips along the lane and doesn't care where he is stepping!

I've since showered, started a load of towels and yard clothes and fixed lunch without burning it.

So Oscar is outside but do I dare try to sew?  The way the morning started you have to wonder if it is advisable.    Sewing is supposed to be fun but we all know we have days where you un-sew more than sew.  Better to walk away when that happens.  Guess I'll see what happens---right after I walk my dog.  Anything else goes wrong today and I'm crawling into bed and not getting up till it is morning.

OH, I forgot to say that Herb and Phyllis came by yesterday afternoon.  They called when they were about an hour away to see if I was home as they had been down to Florida and were driving back to Illinois.  I was chatting with Miss Kathryn while out walking Oscar when Jane pulled up before they got here.  Jane had been trying to call me but was having phone troubles so she said it was just easier to run by my house from where she was at the time.  All the sudden I had all kinds of company!  First thing, Herb asked me to turn on the Golf Channel since it is Masters weekend.  I don't get that but was able to pull it up live on my chromebook (on ESPN dot com) and then cast it to the TV from chromebook.  They stayed for a hour or two and hoped to be up past the worst of the hills past Chattanooga to overnight.

Okay I'm off----fingers crossed that nothing else stupid happens today.