Spring planting

Today Mike helped me finish putting together a raised bed garden. I had started it but couldn't screw the connectors in, so Mike took care of that. And he dumped out about 10 bags of Miracle Gro soil for me, too! I have to rake it and start planting in the next few days.

The bed is only 4 inches deep, and you need 12 inches for tomatoes, so Mike used a post digger (for fence posts) and dug another 8 or so inches into the ground at one end. We used bamboo sticks to mark off where I'll plant 3 tomato plants next month.

Then I helped him put about 30 gladiolus bulbs into the ground, in various places around the property. Plus 2 begonias! I hope they all come up. They should be very pretty.

Easter

So, we all had a wonderful time on Easter. We went to John and Noreen's house. I gave John Joseph a little basket with some toys in it, including a pair of 'real' binoculars. 

Katherine and Michael had given John Joseph a toy cotton candy machine, and they tried it out yesterday. It didn't make very much in the way of cotton candy, but they all had a lot of fun with it.

That's Nick with the beard, Michael, and John Joseph. Noreen said either Michael or Katherine could take the kid home and deal with the sugar high he was going to have, LOL!

Coloring Eggs

Katherine and I colored about 3 dozen eggs last night. It's always a lot of fun and I'm glad we're keeping up the tradition!

Katherine always makes the prettiest eggs. She doesn't just color them plain!

Easter's On Its Way

Easter isn't the big deal around here that it was when the kids were little. We used to have so much fun doing egg hunts in the back yard. We'd invite neighbor kids and everyone would have a great time. Maybe I will do this someday with grandchildren, I hope!

Here we are in 1991, celebrating Nicky's very first Easter! He's about 10 months old. The boys look so handsome in their outfits, and isn't Katherine a pretty 7-year-old in a dress made by me? Long gone are the days we would dress up for a holiday! 

I'm not doing Easter baskets this year, but Katherine will be coming over this evening to color eggs with me. That's one tradition I don't plan to give up as long as I can do it!

Today is Good Friday. Thanks to Jesus for what He did for us. I'm not a practicer, but out of respect I am trying not to eat meat today. 

Deer

Mike and I took a drive to Hecksher Park this evening to see if any deer were out. I was lucky enough to catch a shot of this one, grazing just 20 or so feet from our car. We saw about 2 dozen deer but most were in the distance.
It's hard to get a picture of a 'moving' subject, but after numerous tries I did get this one.

And this one, not quite as cute but still interesting to me:

I love going for drives with Mike. We can't do as many as when he had a company car, but that just makes it nicer for us. After the drive through the park, we headed home and stopped at a Family Dollar store. I picked up a few things, including some gladiolus bulbs to plant. I hope they come up for us. Earlier today, I helped Mike put down some mulch, trying to avoid covering up the plants that are coming up. I have leaves for tulips all over the place and am hoping there will be flowers in a month or so. 

Lasagna

Michael and Katherine came by last night for lasagna dinner. I've been wanting to make it for a while so I asked when they were free, and they both said "Wednesday." I always like it when my older two come by for a visit!
Katherine has been catching up with "Breaking Bad," so they watched some of it during dinner. Michael has already finished it and Mike and I are on Season 4. Nicky was the one who 'introduced' it to us and I'm glad he did. It's a masterpiece.
The lasagna came out pretty good, and in fact I had enough ingredients to make two trays. The second one went into the freezer. It isn't big enough for all 6 of us, but fine for just Mike, the two younger kids and myself for a future weeknight.

Side note: it felt weird to not invite Erick, since lasagna is his hands-down favorite dish I make. But he and Katherine have broken off (although they are still on speaking terms) and I'm not sure there's much hope for that future. But, you never know...

Crazy Snow

On Monday, March 31st, we woke up to about 3 inches of snow on the ground and it was still falling. Nobody predicted this and I felt bad for anyone stuck driving. It was that kind of wet, heavy snow that makes you miserable to be in it. (Happily for myself, I wasn't.)

Took this shot of a beautiful cardinal perched on our barbecue:

What made the day even crazier was that the temperature was in the 50s by evening!

Today, April 2nd, I took Shadow to the vet. He got his nails clipped and a lepto virus shot. The shot hurt him and I felt bad, but you do what you gotta do. I bought him an egg mcmuffin for a treat on the way home.

Later, Mike and I went to Taco Bell and then to the new Loew's they built over in Commack. It's a beautiful, big store. I treated myself to 2 (4x4) raised bed garden kits and can't wait to get those set up. I hope it means that this year, I"ll finally have some luck for growing things!

My life

My life is not very exciting, which is exactly how I like it. We live comfortably, but below our means. We have virtually no debt. Mike has been retired and doing consulting work for about 8 months now, and I swear he has more work now than he did when he was employed with a company! He has 30 years experience under his belt so he is sought after for his expertise.

The kids are doing fine, although half of them probably wish they were doing something else besides the jobs they have. Damned Affordable Care Act meant their hours got cut. Katherine did not get her promotion, but is going out of state for a few days to learn about a new computer system. Then she gets to come back and teach everyone else. That means a bit of time away from annoying customers.

I still have Rocky the Ferret, who seems to be some kind of vampire. I have no idea how old he is, just that he's OLD. So are the cats, who are half senile at this point. Shadow is middle-aged and still thinks he's part rottweiler. The other part is a cuddly bunny but don't tell him that.

I call him Moon Man, don't ask why. He just looks like a Moon Man.