God Has Called Dixie - Sugarbaker's to Decorate Heaven

Before I go anywhere - my heart reports with great sadness.  We have lost a Southern Belle that I just absolutely adored.  Out of the clear dark of the evening - Dixie Carter has passed away.  No other details are available - understandably.  I hope God is there to carry her family in His arms - with great comfort.

I just loved watching her and the other girls on “ Designing Women”.  She was very involved in community service around the state of Tennessee.  She will be dearly missed.  I know I will miss her.

Had the pups all rouzed and ready - tails ( okay - tail and stub ) wagging at the back door - yesterday morning - excited about going out to play in the gorgeous weather.

Carlie has enough trouble balancing her way down four steps.  I now call her ‘ Heifer with No Legs ‘ - but I don’t dare inform her of her lacking gracefulness.  Zucker can testify.  That tail of hers landed across the bridge of his nose the other day - and he whelped!  The pitiful “ Mama, what’d I do to her ? “ look at his face was priceless!

Anyway - we don’t allow her to take on the steps going down to the basement.  So it was Zucker and I making our usual “ Noooo…. YOU get outta MY way ! “ tromp downstairs - with plans to go around and open the back porch gate for “ Miss Aster “ when we got back there.  I needed to unpack the grape vines and carry them up to the back yard for planting.

Unfortunately - I got a little surprise when I opened the box.

The guys at Nature Hills packed the grape vines along with the Kwanzan Cherry tree - inside the same packing material.

The Kwanzan Cherry tree was - already - having to wait for planting until Hubby’s next round of days off.  Murphy’s Law lives here.  Naturally - the shipment arrived the day before He headed back to work - in the middle of all the thunderstorms and down pours.

I was irritated.  And then I heard Carlie barking.  Plan B - “ C’mon, Pups.  Let’s go for a walk around the hayfield ! “

My disappointment has been rectified by the Farmer’s Almanac Tweet that I found this morning.  “ April 11 - 13 are extra good for planting vine crops. “

Works for me!  We’ll be okay to wait until Hubby’s next days off!

These hiccups in our life of gardening are the very reason why I only buy my trees from Natures Hill - anymore.  The quality of their trees - along with the careful attention to packing - make for a lifesaver when you have to wait a few days before you can get them planted.

I even take notice of the way they handle the baling twine that they wrap around the root-ball packing.  They staple it into the folds of the box flaps before stapling the flaps closed - to keep the tree from sliding around in the box.

I’ll be kicking in a second post today.  Deb shared problems that she and DH have had with trying to plant fruit trees.  Hopefully - I’ll be able to give some help that will encourage both of them to not give up!

Rule # 1 - Goats and fruit trees do not go together!  They’ll eat that fruit tree before they eat grass!

I’m not worried.  I got lots of grass - for their feet.