A New Blog

I am going to shamelessly sing the praises of my sis's new blog about her art work. She is so talented. http://somuchtomakesolittletime-puffstitch.blogspot.com/

Don't know why the address didn't turn blue - the name of her blog is: Oh For the Love of Doll Making.... and I will find out the rest later but you can find the site on my blog.

She sells her stuff on ebay - not that I am advertizing for ebay - just if any one wanted to find her stuff and look at it.

Love Bug Pic

Here is a pretty good picture of those pesty little love bugs. I didn't know if I should rate this X or not.

For the motorcycle riders out there people still ride down here I guess you can tell if they are happy or not by the bugs in their teeth.

Love Bugs

Plecia Nearctica (Diptera: Bibionidae) - Plecia necarctica Hard is the love bug that motorists frequently encounter as a serious nuisance when traveling in southern states. The insects are smashed against windshields obscuring the vision of motorists. Cars may overheat when radiators become clogged and the smashed insects damage car paint if the body fluids are not removed soon after contact. Though these bugs neither bite nor sting, at certain times of the year their sheer numbers transform these innocuous insects into airborne hordes seemingly determined to devil anyone fool enough to take to the road. Suicidal pairs of love bugs have been known to cause overheating of motors when large numbers of them are drawn into the cooling systems of liquid cooled engines.

Every May and September these sex-crazed critters become an annoyance bordering on intolerable as the air teems with mating pairs. These overly amorous critters are native to Central America; the best guess as to how they came to these United States places them as undiscovered stowaways who arrived by ship in Galveston or New Orleans around 1920. They migrated into Florida in 1947 from Louisianan, looked around, liked what they saw, and decided to stay. Their natural capacity for reproduction took care of the rest. The larval stage live in rotting vegetation most of the year.

I pulled this info from google and I know any one who wanted to know about the love bugs has waaaay toooo much info now. Right here where I live they aren't too bad but south and north of us they are really bad. This seems to be a really bad year for them. The adults don't eat or anything - just have sex lay eggs and die. For some reason they are attracted to white and to gasoline smell - any way that is what I heard - I know the whites is true because when I used to hang my white sheets out on the line during love bug season they would be all over them.

Small Post

Not much this morning. Up late - slept late. Have a new email friend who sends me these really funny forwards - I can capture some of the pictures from them to pass on but can't figure out how to get the whole thing without all the forwards. Going to keep trying.
Hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day Weekend. It was quiet around here. We didn't get out on the road till Monday afternoon and by then the traffic had cleared out. We tried to track Steph and the kids down but couldn't find them. I still don't have a picture of Grandpa and the new baby. He was afraid to try and hold her with his bad arm but I think we can put her in his lap and with Mom right there she would be safe.

Maybe Save on Gas Prices?

  

Yummy!

  

Anyone Want to Try?

 

Real Sign

For those of you who thought the 17 1/2 mph sign was a joke here is another sign same place. It was taken at Cove Harbour where there are ruining a good little retreat that used to be Bahia Beach with building tall condos in every space they can.

Waiting and waiting and waiting

This is how bored I was waiting for the doctor the other day. I resorted to taking pictures of the little room they stuck me in to wait some more for the doctor.
Bone displays. They are kind of neat to play with. Checked out all the cabinets - nothing interesting.

One good thing - Steve called his doctor and insisted on seeing him earlier then the 20th of June. Steve sees him Tuesday. I told him I would go with him. His arm is just not doing right and the sharp pains he gets feels like something is sticking him in there. I know it is going to take a long time to heal but some progress should have been made by now. We will see what the doctor has to say on Tuesday.

MPH

You must not drive 17 mph nor 18 mph but 17 1/2 mph. I wonder how they came up with this speed limit?

Passion Flower Story

From Google: These exotic climbing plants were a religious symbol for early Christians. They saw a resemblance in the parts of the flower to the story of Christ's suffering: in the petals the twelve apostles of the Crucifixion; in the five antlers the five wounds; in the three stigmas the nails; and in the purple rays of the corolla, the crown of thorns. Native to the rain forests of Brazil and Peru, their large fruits are a common food in the tropics. Their large and showy flowers last just a day and close forever at night.

Library Display

If you can enlarge the picture the display case is full of original figures and magazines from the '70s. It is amazing how this series has hung on all these years.

Yoda, really

For all the Star Wars fans out there here is a picture of my daughter's life size Yoda. He usually lives in her office but while they were remodeling she loaned him to the public library and put together a display from her friend's and library people. Needless to say all ages from children to adults were impressed. My daughter makes great displays, I just wish she had sent a picture of more of the display.

Passion Flower

This picture came from the web - one I have is darker red. Didn't know there were so many different kinds.

Flower Treat

When we moved to the place we live now the house on the corner had this vine growing all along the fence and on it were these lovely flowers. I kept wanting to go ask them what they were but never did.

While my daughter was down here for Mother's Day we had to check out the Lowe's Garden Department - they have a very large one with just about everything you would need. Back to my story - we were looking at the flowers and there it was the red flower that was growing on the neighbors fence. Turns out it was a red passion vine and once I saw it close up regonized it. They had the purple ones also. Well never did find out how much that plant cost - sort of lost the receipt. Bigger pot more potting soil and a trellis later I am hoping that I get those same beautiful flowers.

Does any one out there know the ledgend of the passion vine? I used to know it but over the years the memory has faded. It has something to do with how many petals or stamins or something like that.

My Hibiscus

One lone bloom but at times I thought I would never see even that. Several times I had given the plant up for dead but it would put out a few leaves and I recently repotted it into a larger pot with the miracle Grow Potting soil with fertilizer already in it. It would be a shame to lose it now because all the ones in front of my mother's house have been cut down by an over zealous son-in-law. He said he didn't want any bushes there that some one could hide behind. And they were so lovely and being next to the ditch didn't need much care except trimming - not killing. Every time any of us went to Mom's when they were blooming we had to pick some. He just ruined my mother's plants. I am going to keep this one going. Who knows she may want a piece back to plant some where else in her yard.

Baby is Home

Marisa came home Monday. She and mom are doing well. Steph is going to have to come over tomorrow because I still have her clean clothes. I do believe the other girls had doctor's appointments and the baby also.

I had a doctor's appointment today - I was just sort of messing around and about to to ten I realized I had a 10:45 appointment in Brandon. Shower - half dry my hair - dash to the truck - make it to Brandon to the doctor's office in plenty of time for my 10:45 appointment - I saw the doctor at 12:36 for all of five minutes. Begged him for something to take when my knees really hurt - told him I didn't care if it was on my Medicare or not - bright spot in the day - my medicine was covered.

Steve's therapy isn't going very well. For some reason the muscle just won't start building up. His arm will now move around but not alone. He has been following through with the exercises but even the therapist knows something is not right. I keep telling him to call the worker's comp man and see if they can send him to a different doctor - though this one is suppose to be the best. I guess we will just have to wait and see what life throws at us.

Baby Marisa

Mom got to come home but baby had to stay in the hospital for a few days. She had a fever and they didn't like how low her sugar was.
Mom and Dad got to stay at the hospital the first night. They hope they will be bringing baby home today.
I am washing Steph's clothes - she was on her way to wash when she started hurting so bad. She is doing fine. This time she has more antibiotic to take and something to help with the pain.
Couldn't sleep so I thought I would catch up on the blogs I have missed reading. My daughter sent me a few pictures of me and her when she was down here - I think I will delete mine - it is a close up and boy can you see every wrinkle and sagging bit of skin. I always thought I would grow old gracefully but the only way I guess I am going to do that is not look in a mirror and don't let anyone take a close up of me.

Thanks Everyone

Thanks to all my blogger friends for following Steph's journey to having the baby. Thanks to all for your kind comments. So far everything is going fine. They are going to let Steph go home Saturday - they want to make sure she is alright.

I got to hold the baby for quiet a while. She is just such a darling little baby. She has her mother's long fingers and her father's dark hair and it looks like her eyes may be blue - babies eye colors change.

I spelled her name wrong it is Marrisa with an a instead of an e.

Now all I have to do is recover myself from watching the kids. But I enjoyed it.

Baby

Proud Dad and brother with baby.
First sister kiss.

A New Baby

Proud new mama. At 7:13 AM May 18 Merissa Kay popped out of Mom. The doctors had given Steph a epidermal and she couldn't feel anything but she was throwing up. When the doctor checked her the baby was crowing - he went to get the rest of the staff and when they got back Steph was throwing up again and the baby just popped out. Doctor said it was the easiest birth he had had and left the team to take care of Steph and the baby.
Merissa was 7 pounds and 20 inches long. Mom is going to call her super girl because she just flew out and landed on the bed between Mom's legs. When Steph had stopped by on Wednesday she was complaining about the pain in her back - she thought it was her kidneys again but it was labor pains.
Everyone is happy.

Moocher and Kids

 
Moocher decided to join the kids on the floor while they were sleeping. Mom is back in the hospital and it looks like this time there may be a baby by tomrrow. 

Flowers

This is the lovely flower arrangement my daughter brought down from Georgia for me. After revieing in the A/C over night I moved it out side last night and it seems to be picking right up from the long hot drive in the truck of the car.

Little One

The little one had eye surgery yesterday. I watched her sister while they were gone. Jasmine insisted on keeping the hospital gown - one nurse woundn't let her but another nurse got her a new one and said to just keep it. Jasmine was very lively for just having surgery - her only complaint was that she thought she was going to throw up.
The hospital put her band on her leg and she wanted her mother to cut it off. When she did Jasmine brought it to me and said she wanted me to keep it. I showed her some of my bands that I have saved - she loved the pink one and had to show her mom.
Well I guess it will be a while longer for Steph. She keeps having small labor pains but nothing comes of them. The baby is doing fine. They took 3D sonograms of the baby - you can actually see the baby - it is amazing what they can do today.

Burn

I am going to have to slow down on the blogging for a while - my finger can take just so much typing and I just am not the hunt and peck sort of person. So if I visit and don't leave a comment I haven't forgotten you.

Mother's Day Weekend

This is my daughter with her grandmother.
My daughter brought her a lovely potted plant. She also brought me one and when I find the picture I will post it. We did a lot of picture taking this weekend.
This is a self portrait that we took of ourselves just before we got in the pool at the motel. It was nice we were the only ones there. We got in the hot tub for a while then I jumped back in the cold pool - my that was refreshing. My daughter is an incher - she inched her way into the pool.

Mother's Day Weekend

Here is my daughter just after she arrived from Georgia.
My daughter, her Aunt Suzie and me - a really bad picture of me. My daughter said we should streach our necks and tilt our heads and the picture would come out better - I think we look slightly manic.
Since I have a third degree burn on my finger my daughter was kind enough to do the dishes up for me. We had snow crab legs and I sent the rest home with her - she had a cooler with ice.

Mother's Day

I may not be posting much this weekend I am getting a very special Mother's Day present - my daughter is coming down from Georgia. We are going to spend the weekend together. I am so excited I know I will have a hard time sleeping tonight.
May all of you have a very nice Mother's Day.

Pets

Now I know who this is in the picture - it is me. These were our pet goats. We would take them for walks on leashes and let them eat along the road. In the back ground you can just make out a part of a jeepney.
Hey, I can remember who is in this picture also. That is my sis standing, me kneeling, my brother giving the kid it's bottle, my daughter and one of the worker's children. I think the mother goat didn't have enough milk - or we just fed them bottles for fun. Simple pleasures back then. In the back are the dog kennels that never got used much except by the goats.

Gerber Daisy

I found a beautiful Gerber daisy at Lowe's. I don't seem to have the knack for finding unusual ones like my daughter but I am happy with this one.
The card in the pot said that this was an annual. I thought Gerber daises were perennial - well I guess I will have to pull a garden book out and look it up. It may well be an annual here in Florida but perennial in other places of the country.

Philippine House

This is where we lived in the Philippines. We lived upstairs and the restaurant was down stairs. The bakery was in the back. The large windows we are sitting in had large shutters that slide closed at night or when it was raining. We were on the main road - two narrow lanes to Manila. Across the street from us was a church that had been there for five hundred years. The Spaniards built it - wait a minuet I may have that backwards - I know the Spain ruled the Philippines for five hundred years - that is why a lot of Spanish influence. The church is old though.

Philippine Black Sand

My sister found this picture of the black volcanic sand beach that was were we lived. In the picture is our cook, one of the maids, my brother and I think that is my sister with her back to the camera. I am not sure if that is me in the picture or not - way too many years ago. Everyone swam in shorts - bathing suits were expensive and considered immodest - but being Americans no one was surprised when we wore one. I had one when I moved there but when it gave out just went to shorts also. Gee seems I am right back in the same position - you couldn't get me into a bathing suit for nothing. My daughter wears spandex shorts and a sports bra - that I may try.

Night Sounds

A chorus of frogs greeted me as I looked out the door tonight. I think it was raining some more and that is what woke me up. Hope it keeps raining not only for the frogs but to keep the brush fires down. Picture came from Google.

Rain From Porch 

Wet Ground 
Blogger wasn't corporative this morning so the pictures were posted but nothing else. What a wonderful sound it was to hear the rain wake me up early in the morning. We desperately needed the rain.
There was a very serious brush fire a few miles from us. We could see the smoke and see the helicopters flying around. Thank goodness no one's house was burned down but I understand that they told over a thousand people leave their houses. In another part of the state they weren't so lucky.

Ouch

I have been trying to catch up on the posts I missed while I was away but I have to stop. I burned my finger earlier cooking and it is difficult to type with a bandaid on it. Thanks to always keeping a bottle of Aloe with pain killer in it in the frige I don't think it is going to make a blister.
My sister just emailed me that the plant is a pitcher plant - and it eats flies and bugs and things. Don't know if I would want one of those around or not - too much like 'Little Shop of Horrors'.

Side Trip

On the way to the family reunion we took a side trip to see an old friend of Steve's. He owns a hardware store now. Ray was really surprised to see Steve and they caught up on what was happening and talked about old times.
This strange plant was hanging in the hardware store I never did get a chance to ask what it was. Any one out there have any idea as to what it is? Never saw anything like it before.