Leah
The past year has been challenging in every way. All aspects of my life have revolved around taking care of others in my family. Times for things that I enjoy are few and far between to say the least!
But on a brighter note…I have really enjoyed my flower gardens this spring. I’ve added a couple of new beds and enlarged a few of my existing beds.
After neglecting them the past couple of years I have completely cleaned out my largest gardens of variegated primrose and Lirope and am vigilant about getting rid of these two plants from my landscape. They are both beautiful…but very invasive.
JR …Mr. OCD…has managed to plant onions, 50 tomato plants and 30 pepper plants. I have planted okra, swiss chard, leaf and romaine lettuce and several herbs in the garden and in containers. He is not able to work in the garden much this year so I have been watering and taking care of the vegetables.
JR had a third aortic aneurysm repair in November and will have surgery soon to repair a leaky mitral valve.
My mom is still with us but her dementia is progressing at a steady rate. She insists that she is leaving to go to live in Comanche as she doesn’t understand or realize her limitations. All of this leads to many confrontations and lots of unhappiness in her mind. For me it is a very stressful situation at times.
Brisket is growing like a weed and we are having so much fun! She is able to stay out of her kennel for longer periods of time and loves to go in the backyard with our older dogs. They barely tolerate her playfulness and usually just bark and growl at her. She is finally losing those sharp baby teeth although she still loves to “play bite”. She has taken to jumping from the sofa to the sofa table like a mountain goat. I’m sure her behavior and my training capability would be a challenge to the Dog Whisperer!
Jenna brought out two baby squirrels that were brought in to the vet clinic after being hit by cars. She has fed and raised them at the clinic and released them out here a few weeks ago. After being hand-raised they really require a little upkeep as they don’t know how to forage for food. Although the little stinkers have found my bird feeders they are so fun to watch run through the trees and play. It is nice to know they will have a much better habitat out here rather than dodging traffic in Denton.
For many years I have wanted chickens. JR thinks I’m crazy and has insisted that I can’t have them. But I am working on it and hopefully by next year it will be a reality. Shelby has already named them and we have made our selections from the McMurray Hatchery catalog. Kent has volunteered to help me build my free-range chicken garden, coop, and run. I have many plants, trees, vines, and shrubs started to plant in the chicken garden.
I’m not mentioning my plans for honey bees and goats…yet!
Leah
Last Sunday I met some of my family at Dallas Arboretum during the annual “Dallas Blooms” event. It was a fun outing for all of us and a bit challenging with 3 little girls running around everywhere!
Of the 500,000 blooming tulips, hyacinths, and daffodils amid the 6000 blooming azaleas we were actually able to corral those children and only escaped with one incident or two!
Sarah plucked a few leaves off of one plant.
The rocks in some of the flower beds were irresistible to all three of the little “darlings”.
Jason and Amanda were able to convince them to put the rocks back by threatening them with the fact they could go to jail. We don’t “mince” any words with those kids…you have to get serious fast with these three to make them listen!
We got there early ahead of most of the crowd and were able to get through the gardens in record time before the big crowds hit for the day.
Jason and Michele gave me a ticket to attend the Neil Sperry Landscaping Workshop along with Michele at the end of January. One segment of the day was a presentation by Jimmy Tucker, the director of the Trial Garden at the Arboretum. Michele and I were anxious to see the Trial Garden and some of his suggestions for planting.
The kids had fun running along the paths and of course were enchanted by all the water features. They were most insistent to play in the water and it took the attention of all of us to keep them out!
Jason was a little tired as he had worked until 5:30 that morning and got home in Prosper just in time to pack up the family for the trip to Dallas without so much of a wink of sleep.
All in all it was an interesting day and the Arboretum is beautiful this time of year. But most of all it survived the wrath of the girls with just a minor plucking of a leaf or two and a few rocks out of place!
I highly recommend a visit there if you ever have a chance…
Leah
