The View from Here

Small Steps

We're making progress! Gary mowed and I did some cleaning and planting today. I hung a couple of paintings. Added two more solar lights to the path. Moved some boxes that were in our way. (Didn't unpack them, just moved them to a new location! LOL) Here is our new little corner where we plan to enjoy one of the views.

Wild Hogs and Cowboys

I had a real surprise Thursday morning! A pack of  dark animals came out of the woods and approached the road ahead of me. As I got closer I realized it was a wild sow and four babies. That was a first! In my four years of driving to Hugo I’ve seen goats, horses, cows, chickens, guineas, raccoons, armadillos, opossums, coyotes, dogs, cats, deer, rabbits, mice, snakes, and now hogs, in the middle of the road. All I need is a bear to top off my road hazard experience!

I took Friday off to take care of some personal business. I’m really in favor of the three-day weekend! Just think how much more we could accomplish if we only worked four days at our “jobs”. And I’m convinced that employers would benefit because everyone would have a doctor/dentist/personal business day.

Last night we went to the “Southeastern Stampede” hosted by Southeastern Oklahoma State University and the Choctaw Nation. It’s part of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association finals. This was our second year to attend and I really enjoyed it. I’m not a big rodeo fan, but I’m much more likely to attend an event where the participants are college students. I enjoy college sports more than professional sports. They’re still kids after all, and they need the support of family and friends. ‘Course no one could convince me that anyone I’m fond of should get up on the back of a bull!! Glad I didn’t’ even know any of those guys who got slung around and nearly stomped on. Crazy way to earn a trophy!

I kept thinking during the rodeo that it was odd to sit there watching cowboys and cowgirls just one week after attending the opera. I wondered how many other people would have attended both events. I guess Gary and I are a little different. I also found myself thinking about how different our life is now as compared to our years in the city. I sometimes miss a few amenities, but I certainly wouldn’t trade our peace and quiet for them. We have all the services and entertainment we need within an hour’s drive, and that suits me just fine. 

We’re off to town this morning for a meeting of the Beautification and Preservation meeting. Tomorrow afternoon we will clean, weed, and plant flowers downtown. 

I’ll leave you with a quote from my little desk calendar: “Forget about what you can’t do and do what you can.”

Starting Over

I've been looking at garden magazines and catalogs. Time to start planning something for this vast green expanse. I don't want to do too much this year, but I do want a splash of color here and there and some shade for the cats. I thought you might like to share my random thoughts about starting over with a new garden. Perhaps the process will help you even if you have an older, established garden and you just want to make a few changes.

1. The soil is the beginning. I'm changing from rocky-sandy, to mostly clay. Can't tell if the whole hill is clay, but I'll start taking samples. Clay will require some amending and some patience, but less water. That's a good thing. I have a definite slope problem on one side of the house. Have to think about how to handle it.

2. I look at the entrance and consider the "first impression", but since I'm the gardener I'm much more interested in the view I create from inside the house. What do I want to see when I'm washing dishes? What do I want to look at just outside my bedroom window? How will we watch the birds?

3. I consider traffic patterns and routine tasks. I already have a compost bin set up. Gary is feeding the birds at several locations. Where will I keep equipment? Where will I plant a few vegetables? Where will I need paths? It was great to pull up to the patio and unload things when we moved. I don't want to block that access for future deliveries or moving.

4. What colors do I want to use? This is a sunny open area right now so I'll probably stay with warm orange and yellow and red colors and a few whites. Later when we have shade I'll add some blues and purples and more white. I also like to use a variety of greens. Varigated plants are great for contrast!

5. I'll start with my favorite flowers- marigolds, snapdragons, zinnias, daisies, cleomes, poppies, daylilies, irises. All of them are easy to grow and I'm familiar with their habits. I'd be reluctant to start a new garden with too many unfamiliar plants. Better to give myself some time to learn about the weather, wind, and soil conditions up here before I try something new.

So...those are a few things I'm considering. Time to start sketching out some ideas on paper. Then a little digging. Then a trip to the nursery. Let the fun begin!

Withdrawl

Where to start? We finally got moved and we are still in the middle of unpacking, cleaning, painting, unpacking. I had forgotten how challenging it can be to move. So many little routines and procedures that you take for granted suddenly have to change because of differences in light switches, cabinets, closets, etc. You start putting things away only to find out that when you actually do something- like cook dinner- the new location of a vital piece of equipment doesn't make sense. So you start moving things around again. I'll probably be settled in about six months!

The worst thing about moving has been living without the internet. We had so many problems getting connected. Now, hopefully, all of that is behind us and we can get back to blogging and emailing! I'm such a communication junkie. Pitiful. And being blocked out of nearly everything at school didn't help. So close and yet so far away... But enough whining. I'm back!

We're loving our new place! So peaceful and such a magnificent view. We've been working in the yard and I'm trying to decide what sort of mood to create. It's a blank canvas, so anything is possible. However, I'll have to factor in the strong winds and bright sunlight for a while. Need a little wind break here and there and at least one good shade tree.

We have a bunny in the yard. He (she?) hops around nearly every day. He was beside my car this morning. Yesterday he was near the bird feeder just watching the cardinals. I've been feeding him lettuce and carrots. I'll probably be sorry when I start planting a garden, but he's cute.

Four more weeks until school is out. I've probably mentioned it before, but I've resigned and will try to find a job closer to home. I just can't keep driving fifty+ miles each way. Too many hazards and gas is so, so expensive.

My middle child (she'll love that!) will be visiting in June with her two children. Can't wait to see them!! I hope the difference in the weather doesn't bother them too much. It's so much hotter here than in Vermont.

I have most of my office painted. Just finishing the trim. Next will be the dining room. Everything is in shades of green (olive, sage) or cream. Just seemed to go with what I had and what was here. I had a lot of blue in my old kitchen so when we paint it this summer we'll probably find a way to incorporate the green and blue.

Oh, went to the college Opera Festival Saturday night. It was great!! One of my kindergarten students loves opera so her mother and grandmother brought her. Our friend in the program took her up on stage. She was so thrilled! She was singing in class today.

Well, I actually have other things to do, like laundry and dishes. I hope you missed me half as much as I missed you! More later...

Finally!

I can't believe it has been so long since I've posted. We finally got moved into the new house on Easter at 6:30pm. Talk about exhausted! And it has been an ordeal of problems both big and small. We didn't have a phone until Tuesday of this week. Still don't have the internet connected. We were supposed to have a satellite dish installed last week, but didn't have the right connection on our computer. So I'm posting this at the library. We should be connected by next week at the latest. I'm still checking my email at school, but blogging is blocked. Hope you will bear with me for a short time.

One of the things that has fascinated me about moving is that we are living our daily lives and functioning quite well while surrounded by mountains of boxes. Okay...if we are managing our daily lives WHAT is in all those boxes? And why do we have it? My son says I just have way too much stuff. Maybe he said that because I unpacked over forty coffee cups. Maybe he said it because we still own records and cassette tapes. I don't know, but I suspect he is right. We do have too much stuff. Maybe as I unpack I will make a "donations" pile and take some of my stuff where it will benefit someone else.

School is almost over. Just a few weeks of activities and testing. The testing drives me crazy, but must be done. The children are already excited about summer vacation plans and sports. They are drifting away mentally and it is difficult to get them to concentrate. I remember doing exactly the same thing and I'm sure you do, too.

I hope you will be patient as we get back into a more orderly routine. Later...