The Pink Lady Came Home!

Our Pink Lady Apple Tree arrived today. I was so excited! We were already working out in the garden when UPS showed up. Dropped everything and got that puppy planted, immediately. I ordered this tree from Nature Hills. First time I’ve ever ordered a live tree through the Internet. And I have to say – I was absolutely impressed when I got the box opened. The care that their growers give to producing their stock is wonderful! Somebody knew just exactly how to prune for a great start to what is bound to become a beautifully shaped specimen! Although it will be three years before the tree is ready for producing fruit, this tree arrived with flower buds! Naturally, we’ll have to pinch all the fruit off before it matures. Otherwise, the health of the growing tree will be strained. We weren’t expecting it to arrive until tomorrow. I had already figured that I’d end up having to plant it by myself. But I got lucky. Hubby was home. And we managed to have another beautiful day that we spent trying to – kill ourselves out on the property. Timing worked out just perfectly. We’d only been home for a few minutes before UPS arrived. Our day began with a run to Home Depot after breakfast. We were going for one bale of pine straw – needed for growing potatoes out in the garden. Did we come home with just one bale of pine straw? Ha! Yeah – right! Okay – so we brought home TWO bales of pine straw. And a whole bunch of other stuff – of course. Go figure!

Out of their Pots and Into their New Home!

Oh, my gosh. I am exhausted. I think Dwayne and I are gonna end up fighting over who gets to use the jet tub, first. After a few days of absolutely insane weather – which included snow all day long, yesterday – we were met with great weather for getting out and doing some digging around the place. We tilled the garden one more time. And now all the rows are ready for all the seed and plants! Afterward, we headed over to the side of the barn that we’re able to view from the back porch. Dwayne tilled out a spot all the way down the side of the barn. The back is flat, of course. And then the front is curved like a kidney. Ever since we moved to Maryville, I’ve had potted plants – big ones. Couldn’t plant a tree. We were renting. Well – we got several of those puppies (more like overgrown dogs now) plopped into their new home! Looks like we’ll have to wait until his next round of days off before getting the landscape fabric laid out and mulch spread over the top. But I think it’s going to look really pretty! We planted three conifers; two Providence Lavender bushes; one blue Rose of Sharon and a Black Knight Butterfly bush. I’ll be planting some annuals in between them after we get the fabric and mulch down. We get one more day without rain tomorrow. So, we’re doing some seed planting in the veggie garden before the rain arrives on Friday. We also have onion sets and potatoes. We’re growing Texas Sweet Onions. And we’re growing Red New Potatoes, as well as Yukon Gold. Spring has been fairly strange this year, so far. I always buy extra packs of spinach, so, we’re gonna try planting a couple rows and see if we get lucky for now. Otherwise, we’ll be planting more for the fall garden. Fortunately, we didn’t get enough of the freeze here to do any damage to all the new growth. The Dogwoods and Azaleas are just fine. Our two new Georgia Belle Peach trees are doing wonderful. And all the wild rose around the property fence lines looks like it’s going full-steam ahead with a gorgeous show and scent this year! There are three snags I hit in my plans for planting. The ornamental Patio Peach bushes are too large for the bed we set up on the side of the barn. And I forgot to leave a spot for a Night-Blooming Jasmine plant. I HAVE to have one of those! Had one when I was living in Manteca, California and the whole neighborhood loved it! The garbage man even caught me one morning while getting in my car to go to work. “Can you tell me what that is that we’re smelling? Man, it smells so good and we can smell it all the way down the street!” Kinda funny when you consider he was some guy collecting the garbage, huh!

New Kid on The Block!

In the middle of all the chaos and struggling all the way to conceding to Mother Nature – we had a wonderful ray of sunshine arrive in our neighborhood this week! I had been waiting for about a week, knowing this was about to happen. Mama was miserable and the milk was just ready to burst! I stood out on the porch Thursday morning - around 6:30am – when I looked out toward our neighbor’s pasture and saw something that just didn’t feel right. She was lying down by the hay ring and never had done so before. But then – I saw a little white spot move that was too far from her body for it to be her. I ran for my digital camera and Zucker’s radio collar. Ohhhh, that baby is just absolutely gorgeous! And her mama seems to be really gentle – very indulgent – but not as selfish or aggressive as the other mare that foaled a month, or so, ago. These are the moments that help one get through a stubborn winter that’s making every attempt to fight its way through spring. Thank God for such miracles in life!

Oh noooo, DirecTV... You Really Messed Up!

I have reached the point where I am so fed up with pure meanness and frustration from not being able to get things taken care of on time. The weather continues to torment us and keep us from being able to get outside and get our garden planted. We get torrential rains that are lasting a day or two - and then one day of gorgeous weather. It hits the tin roof so hard that we can’t even hear television. And the ground is so sopped that ya’ can’t get out there and dig in all the mud when you do get a good day! I am on the warpath with DirecTV. They set up a totally separate account with HughesNet Internet Service in our name with our personal information and banking information - without our knowledge or consent. Somebody’s head is going to the guillotine after I get finished! We’ve never received one piece of correspondence from HughesNet. We’ve never received a statement from them, either. Had it not been for reviewing bank statements – we would be totally screwed by now, because they’ve been yanking a big chunk of money out of our account. And I’m just not sure how that end of the nightmare’s gonna go. I guess that will depend on HughesNet. We ended up making a trip to one of the offices for Charter in the Knoxville area. This time, by the time we finished up there – we had everybody’s attention and they all felt terrible. Sure enough – the guys were out here this morning to take a look at the situation. And before 3pm – we were set up for having our bundle package with Charter scheduled for restoration and relocation this next Monday. All I know is this. A registered letter is going to DirecTV, Inc. and HughesNet. We’re going to the bank and having a block set to keep either of them from pulling anymore money out of our account. And when those two accounts are shut down – NOBODY better even think about trying to charge us for dumping them early. God help them if they do. Our next move will be scheduling an appointment with our attorney. And I’ve got all the evidence needed. They messed with the wrong people – not realizing we did not have a land phone. All our phone calls were made on cell phones in November. And there’s not one single call to HughesNet on the bill! Who called HughesNet?