Please Don't Freeze!!!

Enough already!!! Please.... no more cold weather! I have planted (we have planted... thanks, Vera) way too many flowers for another cold spell to show it's little blue face. By the way, Vera is my aunt from Tulsa and she came up on Friday (as cold as it was) to help me plant a ton of flowers. My Uncle Wayne (better known as Uncle Weinie) was going to come up also but he got sick at the last minute and couldn't make it. Not sure which golf course he doctors at but one of them was calling his name.... and you guessed it, the golf course won!

This picture was one I had posted on a previous post and I just wanted to be sure everyone had seen it and knew what was going on with the front of this building. My husband had started a new flowerbed with timber we had removed from a friends portico.
Less than two weeks later the flower bed is almost done and a new section of fence has magically appeared to hide the propane tank , the electric meter, and all the stuff that doesn't need to be seen. Pretty handy guy isn't he?
I am enjoying spending some time in my gardens with my camera and this is such an unusual specimen that I thought I should just share it! For all you gardeners, you know this as an Allium bloom. This is my first time at planting it in my beds. When it's leaves first came up in my bed amidst the daffodils I thought the birds had carried in a corn seed. I was ready to get the shovel and dig it up..... and then, lo and behold up came this round pointy thing.
As you can see it is coming along rather nicely! Mother Nature is truly amazing, huh? Oh and just in case you are wondering the Kildeer parents are taking good care of the eggs. We had to build a cover over them during one of the recent storms just in case of hail but it didn't happen. I don't know how in the world all those other little birdies survive without someone to help them out.This is the mother-to-be and she is looking as fit as a fiddle. I have to give credit to her mate as he is spending a lot of time helping out around the nest. It has been a chore keeping the dog from discovering the treasures these to birds are sitting on.

I worked on Saturday at the greenhouse and had a good time but I probably brought home more than I made that day. Ha! Oh well, we are having a Garden Tour and we do need lots of nice Stuff in our Garden.

Today I decided I needed a day off and so I decided to go to the Tulsa Zoo. I had wanted to do this for some time and this seemed a good time as any. Took a bit to find someone who wanted to go but I finally ran across some takers.

Cute bunch of monkeys, huh? We headed out of town, hit McDonalds, and eventually found the zoo. I had to call someone to give me directions as it had been so long since I had been there.
Sorry for the poor picture quality but I haven't master ttg photography. Through the glass, that is. Maybe someday I will get that figured out. This little guy was just to cute to pass up.
I couldn't tell if this polar bear was really digging having his photo taken or not. You can be the judge of that!

I am not sure if he is howling, objecting, gargling, or just what is going on here. Maybe his girlfriend was just around the corner, who knows?

It sure doesn't take much to entertain kids, even though they all seem to have every toy known to man. Just send them outside with an old water pump....
or a nice lion water fountain and they will play forever.
You could even send them out to play in the yard with the turtles....
Or maybe send them to the pond to play with the turtles.....
or maybe on second thought.... not the pond!
I probably had more fun today than the kids did! I am sure glad I decided to just 'take the day off'. I talked to my grandma on the way to the zoo and she wasn't to sure that escorting three kids to the zoo was her idea of a 'day off'. Ha!
Bet this is a little more what grandma had in mind.... a nice little catnap. Speaking of which... bedtime is here, so until next time. Whenever that is?

Birds Eye View

This weekend was kinda for the birds! Literally..... you can really tell Spring is here. This is our new momma-to-be at the White house. What a proud momma she is too. Just ask her, or better yet try to get close to her eggs!

The first day we found the eggs there were three but one more has been deposited in the nest in the last two days. It is amazing how much like gravel the eggs seem to look. And why in the world do these birds think a road is a good place to make a nest? Or precisely 4 inches from the road like this momma bird has built. She is very protective of her nest whenever anyone comes close.

These little guys are really good at faking all kinds of injuries in hopes of leading you away from their nests. Mother Nature is truly amazing, huh?

They try all kind of antics to get you to just 'get away' from their nests. Those antics include a lot of crippling around and a lot of squealing or screaming or whatever kind of noise a kildeer might make.

And then there are the humming birds. Our first one showed up last week on Wednesday.... or that is when I think it was. I hope he left to tell all of his friends about the good food at the White house.

This is not recent a picture but must one of many from last years birds. I sure hope those guys remember where they dined at every day last year.

We are also enjoying visits from bluebirds. Not sure if we have any birds nesting yet as the sparrows won't seem to leave them alone.

They sure have been looking into it though. For now... enough about the birds. I am falling asleep at my computer so it is time for bed. Until nest time... I mean next time :)

Keepin' Our Fingers Crossed!!!

This is how our flowerbeds are looking right now! I hope they still look this way in the morning. I would sure hate for them to look this way! The weather men have been calling for a freeze for tonight but I hope dearly that they are going to be wrong 'again'. Things are greening up nicely in my beds and I have been digging and dividing a lot. I have not planted much just yet... hopefully next weekend I can get started! Brad would probably like to have the flowers gone that are sitting around, on the dryer,on the windowsills, on chairs in the dining room, on tables at the windows in the bedroom, in the back of my car...... etc.

As you might guess, I am not by nature a shopper. Not clothes, not shoes, not purses, but look out when spring comes..... my Jimmy stops automatically at all greenhouses. For my pocketbooks' sake I am trying to get a lot of perennials established in my flowerbeds. I will still have to buy some annuals because they provide longer periods of color. This is one of our many friends hiding amid the perennials that are popping up in the gardens. Ha! Brandy will be after me when she sees all the things hanging out in the garden. Hopefully things will be growing fuller and fuller so she won't see quite as many 'things' when she gets home.

Boy, I sure do love Spring! These are just a few of the reasons!

Burning Grass! I think that there is a little pyromaniac in all of us. Just think how pretty and green everything is going to look in a few weeks.

Gorgeous flowers! I just can't get enough of 'lookin at flowers'. They do it for me!

And then there is the Birds! I can't wait for the hummingbirds to come! I know there was a 'sighting' last week. Cold little guy, I guess.

These are actually Hummers from last year but I know that the same ones will surely return to the White house this year. It was quite a sight last year to be able to see the number of birds we had feeding at our feeders. I have also seen Bluebirds out the living room window. I sure hope they are building in the houses. The sparrows have been causing a little bit of a problem in the bluebird house and also in the Martin house. We are just now trying to attract Martins and not being too successful at it as of yet. Between the sparrows and the starlings building in the Martin house we haven't exactly enticed an abundance of Martins. As a matter of fact we have seen zero Martins so far.

That's enough about what I like about spring. Here's what Brad has gotten done in the last couple of weeks. Last weekend we got a skid steer for the day and boy did Brad ever stay 'hooked up'! He built more on the retaining wall behind the house....

hauled Mushroom compost to all of my flower beds...... (and then spread it by hand...yeah!) This was a job I was sure I was going to get to do but when I got home from work Monday it was done. Now all I have to do with it is stir it into the beds. He hauled dirt to the new bed he built a couple of weeks ago and hauled off a lot of junk! Thanks again for letting us bring it home, Mike. What I wouldn't do to own a skid steer. Ha! There might be a few things I wouldn't do.

That was all last weekend. This weekend we went to some friends and took down their old cedar patio cover or portico or whatever you might want to call it. I thought surely I needed the old wood for something??????????? Not sure what Brad thought?????????? But, here is what I got.

Some old wood!!!!!!!!!!!!

But this is the new project so be sure and attend the Garden Tour on May 31st and June 1st so you can check it out when finished.

You guessed it! Another flower bed!

Rocks, Frogs and Fetishes

I definitely have all three. I have a lot of rocks, I am collecting quite a few frogs, and I have a fetish for both of them. The frogs that get to make their home at the White House have to be pretty special though. As for that matter, so do the rocks. My husband and I have spent quite a bit of time searching for rocks. Not only in our state are we finding rocks (certainly not Osage County though) but we have also brought quite a few nice rocks home from Kansas as you might have seen in my last post. The last load we brought from Kansas was a total of four rocks on one trailer and we had a nice surprise from one of those rocks. Check this out! Buffalo....Bison.....Ta Tanka!
It is hard to believe what you can find in a rock! The minute we picked this one up with the winch truck I saw the buffalo. It was especially eerie when I used the water hose on it and where the hair is a different texture on a real bison so also is this rock a different texture. As you can see the color is darker and the rock has a real rough feel to it. You will just have to check it out at the Garden Tour in May! Unless you just want to drive by and you can see it from the road.

This is one of my numerous and fun frogs resting among the plants in my flower beds. Looks like he might have eaten one too many flies. Maybe a trip to Weight Watchers might be on the


agenda soon! I sure hope I am not getting too much 'stuff' in my flower beds because my daughter, Brandy, who for now I will refer to as my 'stuff police' would sure not approve. Brandy was just home for a short visit last weekend and she helped me to see that there were a couple of things that needed to be moved out of sight and maybe some other things that might need a different color of paint. Kids can sure open your eyes, huh?


We have a wonderful neighbor who is helping us with the heavy part of our rock collecting and what a help he has been! This is Earl in the big Ford tractor and he is great! Thanks Earl! We couldn't do it without you.
Not sure if Oatmeal cookies are enough payment for all his help but I will sure try to get plenty of those to him.


Sometimes it is a little tricky get these big rocks moved around and put where we want them but between my husband and Earl and the big Ford it can be done! Brad always figures out a way to do whatever I seem to need done. He might not always like tackling the project that I come up with but he doesn't complain much. He is just as excited about this Garden Tour thing as I am. Of course.... check back on June the 2nd and see if we are still speaking or not. Ha! It will surely be time for a vacation about then. Hello Albuquerque....

The flower beds are starting to show some promise. Little green things are popping up all over. I have been dividing perennials as fast as I can and if you are reading this and think you might have starts of anything I need don't hesitate to call me. (hint, hint) I am shredding a lot of leaves and stirring them into my beds and I just got a 'big' load of mushroom compost for Miami and hope to get a skid loader shortly to haul that stuff around and put in my beds. Skid loaders are also very handy to go find rocks with too!!
The daffodils have been spectacular this spring and they have made my view out my living room window wonderful. Too bad they can't hang around until the end of May. Hopefully there will be some stuff in bloom for the 'tour' but it is at a funny time. It is too late for spring bloomers but a bit too early for most of the annuals I plant and also for most of my perennials. I hope everyone like to look at ROCKS! They stay in bloom at my house all year round.

I sure hope the hummers decide to come and dine with us this year. They will make a special addition to our place. Last year we were blessed with probably 30 or 40 at a time and it was a blast! Since I now have a new camera, I can't wait for them to return for photo sessions.
Last year I took a lot of pics and got some decent ones so I hope I can improve on that this year.
So far, I have been good and not bought hardly any flowers to put in my flower beds. I am not a shopper any other time of year but just let spring come and look out greenhouses! Of course... it is too chancy (not sure if that is a word) to put stuff out yet. And... that doesn't include the 2 new trees I bought or maybe I forgot to mention a few new shrubs I bought. But.... they are not flowers so they don't count. Look out April 15th. I also am scheduled to go to the Sand Springs Herb Festival in a couple of weeks but I don't plan to carry any money with me. Ha! That is such a good show! Not just herbs but a lot of other things also.
Enough for now. I have homework to do. It is a good thing it is raining outside or Business Math wouldn't win today.