Memorial Day

An acquaintance asked where are the festivities this year for Memorial Day. I was happy when another person told them there is no " celebrations" , but there are memorial services and wreath layings.

It's not about picnics, partying or celebrating the official start of summer.
It's a day to remember complete strangers   that gave their life defending this great country, so that we may enjoy the freedoms when have today.

veggies have sprouted..and other stuff

 As you can see the bees have been busy pollinating our garden, we now have baby zucchinis, yellow squash and tomatoes. Our corn is about knee high now, and Friday ND planted his giant pumpkins. We got them in two months earlier then last years, so we just end up with some nice sized ones. .
 

Tropical storm Bonnie, has brought us some much needed rainfall, not overly heavy stuff, but a nice slow light rain that we have needed in this area.

In other news, our boys Baseball Team won the County Championship 6-5. It was a very thrilling game, and came down to an unassisted double play by our first baseman in the bottom of the last inning...  
 ND and NW both had a stellar season. ND recorded no strikeouts in the regular and we hoped that would have given him an All Star team birth..but that was not the case, as little league politics would go, they went with some other kids who were less then talented. Thus, I had the dubious task of drying the tears, and giving hugs and comfort. NW being the best catcher in the league was picked...but, brotherly love kicked in, and seeing how they chose kids who had a bad season over his brother who had an excellent season...he pretty much told the coaches to go pack sand.    We let the decision be up to him, no matter what he did we would have supported him.
Senior and I decided along time ago to empower our children to make their own decisions. we laid the facts out for him, and let him sleep on it. I was very proud when he called the coach himself the next day and broke the news.  Needless to say, coaches weren't happy.

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.....

-JUGM

good snakes alive!!!!!

Well first it was "Senior and Jugms Moving Service" Now it has progressed into "Senior and Jugms Snake relocation service"...

Male and female snakes (even if they are the good non poisonous ones) is not the thing you want to see when you go outside to uncover the outdoor water faucet so that you can water your garden...But alas---there they were. Entwined doing what snakes do...ick!

 This is the female we got her loose and  Senior relocated her to the woods without much resistance. Where I hope she stays. we figured she is nearly 4 feet in length as we found a 3 foot snake skin near by.

This one is the male, he slithered away and got a little testy, then he rapidly climbed back up the faucet housing that my father in law built and has been in hiding deep down inside the insulation. We guessed he is nearly 5-6 feet in length, and has obviously been well fed.  

 We did do our research and they are either  "Black Racers" or "Rat Snakes" ,  a nonvenomous colubrus constrictor snake. But don't let the constrictor part scare you, they actually are not a true constrictor..or so I read.  They like to eat smaller snakes, frogs, lizards.. and are big, black and beautiful.
And yes...just like I thought this is their mating season.

I picked up moth balls to throw inside the faucet housing and we hope today to coax him out of his nest and get him relocated. So far, neither he or the female have discovered the chicken coop, as I understand they love chicken eggs.  Both are  welcomed to stay around the estate keeping nature in balance, but , they need to do their balancing act in the surrounding woods..not in the faucet insulation....
So tonight is operation "relocation"  lol    will let you all know how it goes with Mr. Slither here....

-JUGM

Leibster Thingy.....

So my fellow "Charlies Angel : KYMBER has nominated my little humble blog of for a leibster blogger thingy award...   I graciously accept this honor. And thank you to the committee and all my fans who voted for me.. 

I am supposed to answer these 10 questions about myself, so here goes :

1. what is your favorite thing to do when you have 2 free hours all to yourself?
     Catch up on my shows ex.."Outlander, Criminal minds, Quantico.. or anything that is  too adult for the kids to see or I like to sit and read...

2. who is your favorite author and why?
    Its a toss up right now, between Diana Gabaldon and Phillipa Gregory...My current read is "The Other Bolyen Girl"  by Gregory, only because I am so enamored with that time in history. And I have a portrait of Queen Anne on my dinning room wall that was passed down to me by my mother in law. so, i am a fan of the Tudors. ND hates this picture because he says her eyes follow him around the room and watches him while he eats...lol

  
  3. when it snows do you make snow angels or snowmen? (c'm PP - we all know that you do!)
    While our buddy PP might have the thrill of snowmen, we don't that often, but are gifted with ice storms...

4, do you ever walk through the mud and/or grass in bare feet?
    sometimes, but the soil and mud here are so rocky that its hard to...

5,   do you love where you live?
    Of course I do, while I am away from my Florida family and miss the beach,  I wouldn't trade     living in the hill country of the Carolina's for anything. 

6. what is the most exciting thing that you ever grew and were thoroughly pleased with yourself by?
    Our first attempt last summer at growing corn, this year I have attempted sweet potatoes

7.  what is your favorite house cleaning tip?
     We are supposed to clean house?????    Bahahahahaha!!!    I knew that, I like to use distilled vinegar.  The fumes aren't toxic to the kids when they scrub their toilet

8.  what is your favorite alcoholic drink?
      I have three..  " Angry Orchard", a decent margarita, and coconut rum with V8 Tropical splash....gosh people are gonna think I am a lush..  Don't say it Preppy!  

9. do you love swimming?
    Yes, not so much in the ocean though. But, a nice cool lake or swimming pool is always a delight. 

10.   if someone got you a mermaid tail, would you wear it? in private and in public?
      in private yea, but in public only if I looked like one of these, this was a friends daughter with a couple of mermaids that was hooked in a net, I am sure her mom was thrilled when daddy brought them home.  

 

 okay, so I did my deed and answered Kymbers questions...  I have no idea who to nominate because we all pretty much follow the same blogs etc, etc, etc,,   But, thank you Gurlie!!!!!!  


-JUGUM 
 

front porch....

If the world had a front porch like we did back then
We'd still have our problems but we'd all be friends
Treatin' your neighbor like he's your next of kin
Wouldn't be gone with the wind
If the world had a front porch like we did back then

-Tracy Lawrence

Okay, its safe to say that I am not a big fan of country music, but I always liked Tracy Lawrence, and I always liked this song. "If the world had a front porch" I guess because some of my most memorable times growing up was summers over in Easley, SC with my grandparents. I am sure most of you can concur that life revolved around the front porch.  

Supper would be finished, dishes washed and put away, it was time to retire to the  porch.  No kidding-every neighbor seemed to drop by and we kids played in the front yard chasing lightening bugs or eating a cold piece of watermelon. There was no TV, the comings and goings of the ole mill hill were our nightly entertainment.
Friends would catch us up on all the local gossip, and My Grandmother ( God rest her soul) would sit in her porch swing with her two pekingese puppies next to her. She was a great debater, and would keep you up past midnight arguing the issues. She went to her grave believing that man never walked on the moon and it was all one big puppet show.  In one evening we would have all the worlds problems solved and then enjoy a dish of ice cream..

My Grandfather would sit in a rocker that was once my great grandmothers, and laugh at my Grandmother, and all her theories on things. He would get us kids together and scare the crap out of us telling stories of local "haints" as he called them. He taught us the way of the hill people, and all the superstitions.

So, when we got the house done, with our lovely porch...Senior surprised me one day with rockers. It was so reminiscent of those simpler times when I was a kid, much like back then we turn the TV off, and retire to the porch, take a breath and enjoy life.....

-JUGM

a visit to see mom

While on spring break, we rode south to visit my parents in Florida. I don't usually talk to much about my mom, but once in a while, I think I need to for therapy.
Last week we got the diagnosis we all have known in the back of our heads, but dreaded to officially hear: advanced stage of Alzheimer's. Seeing it on paper, and hearing it from her doctor...rocked my dads world.
Because my mom has always been fearful of legal dealings, such as POAs, and Medical Surrogates. So, with my sister and I by Dads side we met last week with an attorney. We are petitioning the court for moms guardianship, this way he  can legally place her in a home, that will meet her needs and get her the help she consistently denies. She has only gone to the doctor twice in the past year, and we had to lie to get her to those appointments. So, it will be fight, as the mere mention of a doctors appointment or someone coming to the house arouses her aggression.
Something new is her constant sleeping, and in a daze of sorts. Last week she just sat there, disengaged, and staring past us into emptiness.


 I never thought I would see my mom like this, I mean what kid would?  When we had the boys, she was over the moon about them, they were her world, now she had nothing to do with them, and was wanting them to leave.

It hurts like hell and I hate how this horrible disease robs the patient of their life. All we do is pray for mom that God will intervene and relieve her of this mental torment and call her home.
( is that bad to ask for? )


JUGM

a quiet sunday

What is it about the solitude of country living? No hussle and bussle of the big cities, or crowded apartments and subdivisions. No hearing everything your neighbors talk about or having cars parked along the street and blocking your driveway...No I don't miss that at all.
 Another benefit is shooting whenever you want to, we have been working on our little range, made some additions and improvements and its all coming along nicely...I am thankful that we no longer have to find a public range to shoot at and can come and go as much as we want on ours...
 This being the last day of our spring break the boys were up early, with BB guns in hand, wanting to get some target practice in. As long as they don't put an eye out they can shoot BBs whenever they like. But, when it comes to their .22s or something of mom and dads...we need to be there with them.
 I made a cup of coffee and sat on the porch watching, and thinking about how carefree they are. Wishing desperately that they did not know of some of the things that are corrupting our world, or the meaning of words that I would have never thought of as a child.

I look at them being so free and smile, but inside I am sad that soon Senior and I will have to turn them loose in this big old world, and I hope we are preparing them well for that day.( sniff sniff..mom gets weepy eyed)

Another good thing about country living and having property?...is getting to have a monster garden. Ours is 99% planted. Only thing left is the okra for Senior and boys. ( ick...i know!...lol )
Jack was being naughty in the house, and so we collectively decided to let him have the great outdoors where I think he is much happier. Today he was helping us out in the garden . He likes coming down there to purr and nuzzle us with his nose. When we pull the hose out, he cracks us up trying to attack it thinking its a big black snake.
Having an out door cat has been an adventure, we look forward to his daily presents he leaves on the porch. Mostly its moles. But Friday he managed a bird. And No, we were not happy because it was a robin.

The day is growing short,  I have noticed several of my favorite bloggers have done posts, so I am off of mine to go check theirs out and say a quick hello. Then its on to answer the demands of the household....you know that dinner thing!  lol

-JUGM