Taste Like Chicken Welcome May Weekend 5/1-2

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It’s May Day, time to celebrate flowers and spring.

We got down to 36° last night. 🤣🤣🤣

Karen, thanks for the start especially as this is early travel day. Good luck with the trees. Enjoy the gathering and have a safe trip.

Becky, good luck with the new plant. The eye is about the same. Thanks for asking. I am happy to hear the 17k steps did not leave you sore. How are the back and back of legs doing? 

Linda, congrats on last car payment. We just had a new development of condos and apartments just 5 miles north of us near the I-70 entrance ramp. Most of the people that have moved there are from Columbus as it is a 45 minute commute straight east on 70 and our rent is cheaper. If the trend continues they will drive the locals out of the market, because we get paid less in our market. We already have issues with the air force base personnel and aviation companies coming from more expensive areas and outbidding locals.

Kathy, we had a little bit of winter again last night but it is sunny and 64° right now. We discovered a young bunny living under our shed. Elmer Fudd is not happy. The bunny will join the chipmunk, squirrels and possum in eating the garden vegetables. Elmer thinks we are getting more wild things because we and the neighbors in either side are chem free. I think it’s because the farm land and woods are being developed.

Liz, how are things?

moonriver, Denise, still putting in the OT?

We did not go to YS today. Iggy wanted to go to the fish store for smelts and smoked salmon. He talked me into going to Bed, Bath and Beyond. I haven’t been to a retail store in over a year. Their window treatments department has shrunk. No pinch pleat drapes or glass door curtain panels. Looks like we will be going to JC Penny or online. I like to feel drapery fabric so shopping online won’t make me happy.

I hooe you all have a great Saturday. Happy May Day.

Chele, oh no on the rascally rabbit! I agree with you on the development bringing out the critters. We're certainly seeing that around here. Have you ever seen Chunk the Groundhog? The guy gave up and gave him his own separate garden.

Linda, the trees are small enough that I was able to put them in trash bags and stand them up behind the seats, which left room for everything else in the trunk. Worked out well. We have people from NY and PA who sell their expensive homes and buy cheaper ones in Asheville and East TN, so I know what you mean about how it drives up the housing prices. And houses are selling so quickly around here right now that nothing stays on the market more than a few days. Some people are coming in their RVs looking for a house to buy and they stay here they can get one locked down. It's crazy. At least once a week we get a slick postcard from a realtor who has buyers for our house. No thanks! Congrats on getting the car paid off. It's a great feeling, as long as the car doesn't know it's paid off and starts making up the difference in repair bills. I hate you are already expecting triple digits. Congrats on the loss.

Going to be interesting to see how things go between the cruiselines and the resistance to approve vaccine passports, Kathy, which will probably be required for boat admission. It does sound like you may have gotten all the spring you're going to get. Sorry. There is a reason Chunk is chunky😊. That video made me cringe. We have a groundhog at the MG demonstration garden, so we put chicken wire around the veggies and put a mesh row cover over the bed to keep him out. He doesn't seem to bother the flowers or herbs, which is good since that's what's in most of the beds.

Becky, are the backs of legs sore high (hamstring) or low (calves)? Is it high or low back pain? When was the last time you changed your shoes? When multiple body parts hurt like that, shoes are the first thing to consider. Odd how close you were to getting rain that Bastrop got that much yesterday. Was David Yeomans correct, or is he eating crow today?

YIKES! on 36°, Chele. I hope none of those May flowers got frost damage. What about the possibility of putting wire around the top of the garden beds or putting a hoop of chicken wire over them? Another option would be to put flowers they don't like on the outside of the beds and move the veggies toward the center? I had really good luck last year planting a marigold with each tomato plant. Another option may be Fend Off! repellent sticks. They smell like really strong garlic, which the little critters hate. I have used that with success and I think Amazon carries it. This year I am also adding cosmos. You're probably right about their getting displaced by development. It's good that you have chem free neighbors. It's been a while since you went to the fish store. I guess it probably wasn't too crowded on a Saturday this far past Easter. I've been really disappointed with a lot of departments at BB&B. I heard they aren't doing well, which explains why I get so many email coupons from them on a weekly basis. I would also find it difficult to buy window treatments online without being able to touch. Today is also International Herb Day, so a perfect time for the herb festival to be going on.

I had absolutely beautiful weather for my trip today. Not a cloud in the sky. My 2 friends who came in from eastern NC slept late, so there were just 2 of us at the herb festival, which was fine because it would have been difficult to negotiate a wheelchair in that environment (one friend badly broke her ankle in November and is still recuperating, buy she's a trooper). The venue was a different one than in the past and it was too cramped. We got what we needed and left. I told Dale if they don't move it back to the other venue next year, I'm not going. Everyone did have masks, but we were shoulder to shoulder in booths and aisles and it wasn't a good environment. I picked up Dale's Nanking cherry trees and got rosemary, French tarragon, epazote, and African blue basil that I will need to watch carefully because it was already blooming (way too early). I also bought a bottle of Carolina bitters (a local product) and got a bottle of really healthy fire cider from one of my herb class friends who now has her own business. It's so cool to watch how she has bloomed from a senior in college to a mature business owner. I met my 2 other friends for what turned out to be breakfast because we were at the restaurant before the menu changed and I ended up having to get a pancake because it was the only safe thing on the menu for me. It was so huge I brought half of it home for Dale. It was good, but it's been years since I had one. I got home about 2:30 (left around 6) and I'm really tired. Dale has to get up at 3:45 to do his triathlon and I think Arya and I will stay in bed until right before he leaves. We'll do the usual Sunday load of workout clothes, but not planning much more.

Becky, I hate that your balance is getting thrown off by the hip problem. I know you have to be so careful to maintain balance. You got a lot of rain yesterday. Are you still dealing with flooding today? I hope a lot of it soaks in to replenish the aquifers.

The new cafe sounds wonderful, Linda. I love kolaches, and especially love anything that has Bavarian creme. Do they have other things on the menu or is it just kolaches? I don't blame you and your allergies for staying inside today.

Kathy, several of my GFs did another Zoom this afternoon and one had been in GA this week and said as she was coming home, she came across a wooded area and there were ibises in the trees as far as the eye could see. She said there were hundreds of them. She tried to take a photo with her phone but they didn't show up to be able to tell what they were and didn't have her good camera with her. I would have loved to have seen that.

Dale got up at 3:45 to go to his race. Arya insisted we get up before 5, so it's been a long day. I changed the bed and did 3 loads of laundry, cooked oats, eggs, rice, and corn on the cob (not all at the same time) in the IP. We are expecting 1-2" of rain from Becky's storm to start after dark and continue into Wednesday. At least I won't have to water plants.