Mother's Day

We took Clara out for lunch on Mother's Day and gave her a small gift to hang on her wall in her room. Clara has been living in an assisted living facility due to her Alzheimer's. She has been there since November 1 2008. Melanie sees her at least once a week, usually twice. The kids get to see her about every Sunday. Clara has a roommate named Betty. Every time we go, Clara "introduces" us to Betty. Betty smiles and says nice to meet you. I'm not sure if she is being polite or if she really is meeting us for the "first" time. We took Clara to Olive Garden because it is one of her favorite restaurants. We arrived early and had no problem being seated. She had what she always orders, the eggplant. Then turned to Melanie and asked if she had ever been to this Restaurant before. "Yes Mom you have", Melanie replied. We ordered dessert, I paid the bill and we took Clara back "home". The caregiver had baked a cake and we sat down for dessert. Clara was glad for the dessert because she did not get any at the restaurant. We kissed her good bye and headed back home. It was a quiet ride home. I have to keep reminding everyone to enjoy the memories we have and to enjoy the ones that we are making now while she still remembers us. One day she will be lost forever, but she will still be here. My mother was taken by cancer and all I have is memories. I'm not sure what is worse.

Spring Color and update

It was a beautiful weekend here in San Antonio. We had some much needed rain last week and now everything is green and in bloom. I mowed the lawn and trimmed some of my trees back. Looking around the yard I realized that I had several flowers in bloom. I took a few pictures of the color that is starting to show. It wont be too long before color is throughout all of the front beds. The Koi pond is looking good as well. The lotus has several shoots coming up and the water lilies are looking good as well. I can't wait for them to flower. I have had water lilies before but never had any blooms. If you look closely at the pond picture you can see the Koi by the water feature. I still have 2 Koi and about 8 gold fish. I still can't get them to come when I feed them. One day. I still have a vacancy in the Owl House. After all the work that I put into it,I will be disappointed if it stays vacant. I have read that it can take a while for the owls to find it. Then I was thinking, if I bait it with corn I can get a squirrel family to move in. This way when the owls find it, the pantry is full! Just a thought.

Skunk, Oh SH*T

Meet Larry. Larry is my digger. We placed rock after rock on the fence line and nothing worked. I finally ended up placing an electric fence around the back yard to keep him in. How much trouble can he get into? Then, last night I hear, " Honey ,what's that smell?.... Oh crap, someone scared up a skunk!" Mind you this is in the wee hours of the morning and I was dead asleep. "What smell....I don't smell anything....Go back to sleep." When I wake a few hours later, i smell a faint skunk odor, but nothing more than usual. We live next to a green belt and have all sorts of critters. The Larry stayed away from me in the morning so I really did not notice anything different. When I came home this evening, the skunk odor was still there. It really was just an odd odor for me but everyone else said skunk. I told everybody to walk around and sniff. No smell any where. Then I said smell the dogs. All four. Sniffed Maggie, no odor. Sniffed the goat, no odor. Sniffed the Princess, no odor. Sniffed Larry and just about puked! We found the cause of the horrific odor. How did Larry find the trouble? I walked the fence line and found a dig hole in the corner of the yard. Just about the size for a small rodent to get under the wire. My only guess is Larry went to the back to "do his business" and stumbled on the little fella as he was going back under the fence. I called the vet to see what to use to get the smell away and scheduler was very unhelpful. She would not connect me to the Vet, just gave me the number to the groomer. I called the groomer and they were no help as well. "Buy the red bottle with the red cap and the skunk on the bottle". Yea, right. I looked on the Internet and the tomato trick was said to be bogus. I found several sites that said baking soda, peroxide, and dish soap worked well. What did I have to loose...Instead of the peroxide I used vinegar. The only place he still has the smell is between his eyes. I hope he learned his lesson.

Meet the Goat

Meet Christy. Christy is our Terrier. She was my mother-in-laws dog until she could no longer take care of her. I had told her not to get her because I knew that any dog they got would eventually come my way. Unfortunately I was right. She ended up in our house not long after she was at the in-laws house. Just look at her! She is so cute and friendly. Always ready to give kisses and sit on your lap. But she has a dark side. She has a collection that she doesn't want anybody to know about. She kept it hidden for the longest time. The secret is out. She likes to go under the bed because the big dogs can't. She would take her chew bones and toys under the bed. I never gave it much thought, until I was dusting. That is when I knew she was "Special". I found her collection. She stayed at the door looking in the entire time I was cleaning. As you can see it was no simple matter to remove treasures. The mattress and box springs had to be removed and her treasures filled a small trash bag. After this mess was cleaned up, Christy kept going under the bed on one side and out the other. She would jump up on the bed and sit at the foot and just give her best puppy face. When she sits she crosses her legs and looks so prim and proper. What a ruse. I know the truth. She is part goat!

Plants and fish at last

I went to Iris's house this morning and got my fish. She also had some plants for the pond as well. I don't know the names of all of them but I have some white and yellow lilies. The white ring that is on the right side of the pond is a lotus. What you don't see is the fish that i added. I have 2 koi and about 10 small gold fish. The water is a little cloudy right now because of the plants. It will clear up soon and I will see if I can get some pictures of the fish. I was going to take down the electric fence but I can see where something has been digging around the pond in the soft dirt. It may just be a squirrel or it could be my friendly neighborhood raccoon. The fence is going to stay up for a while longer.

DIY floor project

After a rough end to the week I needed something to do to keep me occupied. I wanted to check out this flooring to see how it went down and to see if it will stand up to 2 kids and 4 dogs. I prepped the area on Saturday and then put the flooring down today. It was a real easy project and the flooring was inexpensive. If I don't like it I can replace it and not feel too bad about it. This flooring is a peel backing strips that look and feel like wood. The only concern that I have is where the floor base is not even. The flooring strips are 4 inches wide and may have a tendency to lift. If that is the case I will need to go with a laminate flooring for more than double the cost. I have the before and after pictures. The carpet is now 8 years old and in need of serious help. I will keep my eye on this flooring and make a decision to replace all of the flooring upstairs. That will be my summer project this year.

Spring cleaning

For the first time, I drained the small Koi pond and cleaned out all of the "stuff" on the bottom. While the water was out I took the opportunity to adjust the border and make it more stable. There was about five inches of material on the bottom but the water was always clear. I filled the pond up and will let it sit for a couple of weeks. I will be in Houston next weekend but the following weekend I will put some fish in it and hope that the raccoons will leave them alone. The place that I bought water plants from no longer stocks them. I will need to find a new place for plants. I will post pictures when it is all put together.