Getting ready for retirement

We test drove this little beauty Saturday, and plan to buy in May. Thinking about places to go is so absorbing that it is hard to see what's right in front of our noses - lovely spring weather, and azaleas starting to bloom.

The Deck in July

July 20th, to be precise. What a difference! Bob and I eat breakfast out here whenever possible, and Bethany and I make frequent trips outside to look at the flowers.

This is one of the first pictures taken with our new camera. The old one collapsed of old age, and the new one has about a million features, so there's a learning curve.

 The Deck in Spring

This weekend we spent a good deal of time buying plants, transplanting plants, re-potting plants, watering plants, and generally being enslaved by them in one way or another. The violas had wintered over on the deck in great shape. The giant pot of pink cranesbill geraniums hid out indoors until yesterday. The hanging pot of million bells is situated as near the humming bird feeder as possible, to lure them in.

We keep a rock in the birdbath to give bugs who fall in a way to climb out and fly away, rather than leaving sad little drowned corpses.

 Bethany and the orange slice she put out to attract orioles - so far, a couple of wasps and a stink bug.

Last year petunias did wonderfully - I'm hoping they do as well this year. I've chosen white, shades of pink, and purple. Also bought a big pot of lobelia and split it several ways.

Long Underwear and Electric Blankets

We're keeping the thermostat VERY low this winter, and using space heaters when and where we need warmth. Hopefully it will keep the horrible electric bill within bounds.

If you are sitting in one room, space heaters work fine. If you are zipping around the house doing things, no. That's when long underwear really comes in handy. It makes me feel rather like a pioneer woman.

Preheating the bed doesn't make me feel like a pioneer woman at all - it's downright luxurious to hop into a warm, snuggly bed in a cold room with moonlight making a pattern on the floor.

New Years Black-eyed Peas

Eating black-eyed peas on New Years Day is supposed to bring you luck, according to an old southern custom. The peas, a half an onion, chicken broth, and some left-over Christmas goose are simmering in the crock pot. We'll have it with garlic bread and salad for dinner - and we'll see about the luck part. Dessert will be blueberry oatmeal crisp.

I have been wrapping up a Christmas craft project that didn't quite make it under the wire, and my sewing machine is situated so that I look out into trees. It's spitting snow, and chickadees and nuthatches hop by occasionally. Some coffee would go well about now.

Happy new year to all.

Saddleback Caterpillar - Look but Don't Touch

Look at this cutie pie - like a little brown dog wearing a sweater knitted by someone whose team colors are lime green and brown.

We found one in the trail this morning, and moved it off to one side. Back home, I found that it is venomous, and not uncommon in the eastern US.

Venomous caterpillars don't inject their poison like wasps, they just have little spines that carry it and break off in the skin of those who bother them.

Since venomous insects often boast garish colors to warn away predators, the football sweater should have tipped us off.

Serenity from eBay

Things - they can stick to you like burrs. Gradually the accumulation starts weighing you down. Books, hobby supplies, knickknacks, and just STUFF. It's not that it's bad, it's just not used

• in the last five years
• in the last ten years
• ever, and it is still in the box
  

eBay and Amazon to the rescue. You can see whether your item has value in the marketplace. You can determine whether you could replace it if you decide you need it in the future (usually the answer is yes). And you can photograph, post, and part with it with surprisingly little trouble. For money.

Result: leaner house, fatter bank account.

I am going through the things that don't add value to our lives now, and they are heading out to new owners. Since we are readers, many of them are books. Sometimes I come across one with a note on the flyleaf like, 'Love on your birthday! 1978.' I smile, and add it to the keepers.