349 words

 

 

May 5, 2026

 

So, I’m watching “800 Words” on Prime (Acorn) and really enjoying the series.   It’s about a recently widowed man and his two teenage children who move from Sydney, Australia to a little town in Weld, New Zealand. I suppose it would be like moving from Los Angeles to a small town in Northern California~the cultural shock would be about the same.   Oh, and he buys the wrong house!   He thought he was buying a house that he visited with his parents during summers when he was growing up, but instead is unloaded with a real fixer upper.   No power, one bathroom, no furniture…Then the septic tank explodes!   It’s a fun and introspective series and I’m inspired to get back to writing from just watching it.

 

He writes a daily, maybe bi-weekly column for a newspaper in Sydney, but his escapades hit the local newspaper and one show focuses on gossip and how it gets started and it gets out of hand.   That’s something for us ALL to think about in these times.

 

Speaking of these times, I watched the press conference at the Pentagon this morning, which is now carefully managed by the Department of Defense (or whatever it is called these days).   What a room full of sycophants.   Really, they call themselves journalists?   Although I did notice that even a couple of them got under Hegseth’s skin.

 

My husband worked as an intern during college for the Riverside Press Enterprise and was the first intern to actually get paid for his writing.   I kept ALL of his articles and I found them recently in a box out in the garage.   I need to bring that box inside and let him browse it.   I’m sure it would bring back fond memories for him.   He doesn’t seem to have many of those these days.

 

And, so, life goes on.   We are both getting older, stiffer, and we have less patience to put up with bullshit and nonsense. That’s understandable.   We just don’t have the time for that stuff.   We’re too busy taking naps!

 

Anything on your mind?

 

349 words

/cd

Tomato seeds and pepper seeds PLANTED

 I got a half of a packet of yellow cherry tomato seeds planted a couple of days ago and a half a packet of peppers too.  I planted them in the little seed starting trays with some good potting soil and carefully watered them.   Good thing I covered them with a pillowcase because that night it got down to 40 degrees here in the desert southwest!   We have one more day of sunshine and then an atmospheric river is coming out way Wednesday night and all day Thursday.   I do have some California poppies sprouting out front and I'm hoping this nice rain will get them going further.

I'm so glad that I got my garden up and going this year.   I have a feeling we will ALL be bartering for things we need soon.   I remember my grandfather's garden.   He owned 2 lots and half of the 2nd one was for his garden.   He grew green onions, tomatoes, rhubarb, beets,cabbages,  turnips, radishes, corn, and even had an avocado tree.   He had another plot up at my parents' yard and there was a fig free, boysenberries, and a small garden with crops. I remember my parents giving me a bucket and sending me out to pick boysenberries.   I certainly wasn't a fan of figs, however!

I'll try to get some photos today of my garden to share with everyone.

(((BIG HUG))) to everyone and... STAY STRONG!

Still surviving!

 We are still alive and well (mostly)...We both are noticing that we just don't have the energy we used to have and we do get tired easily most days, but we're still plugging along.   I have a nice garden going out back and I'm using plastic bins for my vegetables.   It's just easier that way and I don't have to battle the damn Bermuda grass!

Sugar snap peas...

early tomatoes

Additionally, I now have 13 plastic tubs FULL of vegetables~~celery, cabbage (3 types), broccoli, cauliflower, mint, lettuce (various types), and Swiss chard.   I absolutely LOVE going out to the garden and picking fresh, organic vegetables!   Next year I'm going to DOUBLE my growing space.   I already have one 8x4 foot raised bed that the son-in-law put together and I have another one that he needs to get ready.   I'll use the second one for summer vegetables, so it can wait a while.   

I've attached my YouTube tour of the vegetable garden here:

garden update January 2025

I also planted sunflower seeds out by the mailbox and here are some photos of them.   The bees LOVE THEM!

Sunflower out front.   Unfortunately the wind has now knocked over about 2/3 of them and the rest are leaning into the street.

Bees LOVE the sunflowers!!!!!

...until next time...

Still here...August 2024

 Still here...alive & kicking!  (most of the time)...

I'm still adjusting to the death of Gigondas.   I know she was old, but I miss her.   She would softly nicker when I drove up to the ranch and I think she actually kinda/sorta looked forward to my visits.  She ended up with Cushings and one night she quietly passed in her sleep. I REALLY do miss her.

Last summer was brutal here in the desert, but this one actually hasn't been that bad.   We haven't had that many days of temps 120 or higher and we have about 3 more days of heat and then a drastic cool down!  We've already had some cooler mornings and I've been able to go out front and do yard work.  My tomatoes from last spring are all done & gone and I have 4 new totes to fill and plant this fall.   YAY!

I'm still pckking up the 2 grandkids here on early release days and we get together quite often.  Haven't seen the ones back East now for 4 years...sigh...It's not like Papa and I can just get up, leave our house and dog and inside cat and go visit them.   Nope...so we talk by Skype when we can.

Otherwise, life is just going on, as usual.   I still feed the birds and we have a momma cat and her 4 kittens out in the garage AND 2 more showed up.   We have NO idea where THEY came from, but she took them in.   They all play together and are quite entertaining.

Cheers!

Cheryl Ann

Nice view looking west from Toro Peak...afternoon monsoon

 Still here!   Alive and kicking (barely, some days)!!!!!

We are enjoying the grandkids.   Life happens at a slower pace for both of us (hubby and I) nowadays.   We are active with our daughter's 2 kids and our son and his family of 4 kids has moved across the country for a new job, so we don't see them often.   We still have Bodie, our lab rescue, and our cat, Abby (now 14 years old!) and we've been adopted by 3 feral cats who now live in our garage AND a momma cat and her 3 kittens!   We do leave food and goat's milk out for them and we cook them eggs for breakfast.  They seem to have taken over our side patio.   Fortunately our dog ignores them!

I don't get up to see the herd as much as I would like to.   Honestly, some days I'm too tired to even drive to the store and hubby doesn't drive anywhere anymore, ever since he has a "fender bender" last September.   So I do ALL the errands.   And, that wears me out.

So, just plugging along here, one day at a time.

Some recent pictures attached.   Daisies are from a few years ago.   Sunflowers are this year's.   I do have quite a few sunflowers, hollyhocks, cosmos, marigolds, and Black Eyed Susans still in the front yard, so I'm enjoying them.

Gigondas has crossed the Rainbow Bridge

 Gigondas is no longer with us.   I felt it this morning when I saw beautiful, pink clouds streaking across our sky.   I knew she was gone.   She has not been well all Fall and she didn't lose her fur from last Spring.   It was in clumps all over.   She had a nasal discharge which the vet gave her pills for, but her old body just didn't last and she died last night.  She was my oldest horse.   She always nickered for me when she saw my car drive into the ranch.   I miss her already.   We also lost our 17 year old cat this week, so it has been a shitty week.