Another shady day

I try to stay out of the sun. But I love to get out and work. So I spent a little time today under another of my favorite trees on our place. This is an old hackberry. A large tree, with hugh limbs. Though it's rather large, it's not very sturdy. They splinter and break easily in wet or windy conditions. Our large tasks today were cutting down a couple of other hackberry trees that had broken and become a problem. But this is one of my favorite trees on the place.

Not a very good picture of the tree, but you can see the enormity of the branches. It doesn't have the thick leaf coverage to provide the deep shade that the oak has. Notice the hole on the trunk to the left. I wonder whose home that is?

This is my son's dog, Oakley. Another nice feature of this tree is the pond beneath it's branches. Oakley is preparing to go for a swim.

Here's Waylon. One of my son's three dogs. I missed the picture of all three of them together. So you have to see individual pictures of the dogs. See how large the shade is? Waylon, watching his mother swim.

And there's dog number three, Trigger. He's a sweet heart. He seems to be a watcher, he's usually sitting and watching. I'll not have a photo of the tree from outside the shade. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of the tree's profile.

And here is what we do under our favorite trees, we bury our dogs. This is Aussie's grave. We loved Aussie for fifteen years. He is the reason my son has three Australian shepards. He loved that dog! Aussie died Nov. 17, 2007. Ah, to live like Aussie. What a life. He made every step across that valley that I ever made during his 15 years here. He never barked unless it was absolutley necessary. If he did bark, you knew it was important. He was quiet, respectful, patient and loving. He rests under the shade of this beautiful tree.

Afternoon under the shade tree

Here sits Dixie under the very large, very perfect oak tree, that we refer to as Jesse's tree. You can see the large area of shade ending in the very bright sunlight. It was a hot day. I decided to work on cutting the thorns out from under the tree this afternoon, and Dixie or Dickety Doo, made every step right behind me.

I tried the black and white version. Not sure which I like better. Maybe the color photo. So we call it Jesse's tree after my son, whom we lost ten years ago this coming August. He loved this tree, and would often come sit under the tree. I have pictures of him in front of this tree.
As I was cutting the thorn bushes down under Jesse's tree, I heard a Waylon Jennings song come on the radio. It was not turned up nearly loud enough. So as I walked to the truck, I stepped over a rusty pipe wrench. Probably one of my son's tools. What a gift for me. To find something of his under his favorite tree.

And then before I left, this most beautiful butterly appeared.

Just checking in

I began this blog in December. I participated in BlogHer's Nablopomo for three months. I have missed the month of April. Am undecided about May. I enjoyed and benefited from the daily discipline. But had to make some decisions about my daily activities. I just wanted to come back and post some pictures from this month.

YOU KNOW YOU KNOW

So someone was telling me a story the other day. This is how it went.

Sunday night, after a long week, preparing to go back to work, after getting two children into bed and the  ready for the next week of school.

She, let's call her Val, received a call from her neighbor, ahhh....Lisa.

 Lisa says, "Val, I've started my period, and I don't have any feminine hygiene products, will you please walk over and bring me some?"

Val gathers up the needed items, and tells her husband and children she walking over to the neighbors house for a minute.

When she arrives, Lisa greets her and begins telling her, "Girl, let me tell you about my boyfriend. We've been seeing each other for awhile, and we spend every Sunday night together. But he was acting really strange this morning. He got a phone call from his ex-wife and tried to hide it from me."

Val interjects with "Didn't you suspect he was still seeing his ex-wife when you started dating him"?

Then Lisa says, "Yes, but he quit seeing her. I started keeping his one year old some and we were spending every Sunday night together. Then he was just acting really strange this morning, when he got that phone call, and now he won't answer my texts."

After a brief pause, Lisa continues, "when I drove by his house tonight at 9 PM, his car is gone. Where could he be? He has a one year old, where could he be at 9 o"clock?"

Lisa stares intently at Val.

Val continues to remain silent, in a good listening stance.

Then abruptly Lisa begins pointing her finger at Val, and adamantly insisting, "YOU KNOW YOU KNOW! You know you know he's cheating on me!"

Val met Lisa's insistent demands with, "No, I don't know where he is." Lisa continued with her rant of "YOU KNOW YOU KNOW".

Consequently, this was our phrase of the week and we used it appropriately every chance we got.

YOU KNOW YOU KNOW!

What I'd do

What would you do on a day that has perfect weather?

On a day of perfect weather, I'd like to spend the day at home.
And never go anywhere.
I'd drink coffee on the porch and smell the breeze.
I'd run around the house as long as I could in the pj's.

Then I'd like a late breakfast, bacon, eggs and cat head bisquits.
With a little pear preserves on the side.
A tall, cold glass of milk to wash it all down.
These are things I'd do on a day of perfect weather.

Most of the rest of the day, I'd dink around, wherever I could.
Mowing some grass, pulling a few weeds.
Sweeping the porch and watering some plants.
Go down to the pond, and cast around, see if there are any hungry fish.

The day of perfect weather would end on the porch also.
Rocking and watching the sun go down, sipping on some sweet tea.
Reviewing the events of the day, and planning for tomorrow.
Hey, what's for dinner? Who me? Cook?

Today

Describe your idea of perfect weather.
I'd like to say that any day the weather is perfect, because every day is a gift. The weather must be perfect for every day. Now, it might not be perfect for our desires and plans.

The type weather I prefer is about 75 degree temperatures, or a little warmer, but not too hot. Spring weather is great. Every thing grows, and is either vibrant green or producing blooms and flowers.
Check out these beautiful bachelor buttons.

They looked like a carpet of pink! Now this is nice weather that promotes blooms like this, and it's still nice enough that you can get outside and enjoy nature!

Would you rather have it be very cold or very hot outside?
It is easier for me to get outside and be active when it is hot. I love the outdoors and all the activities that go along with the outdoors. When it's warm outside, we stay outside until late in the evening, and then once we get inside the house and get cleaned up and fix something to eat, then it's almost time to go to bed. Warm weather will make it difficult for me to get to the computer to blog.
I'll post pictures later of our garden project that we worked on today.