AC on in March !!!!

Well, now we've gone and done it. We turned the AC on in March!!! Got home to an inside temp in the mid-80s and simply couldn't get it any cooler with the fans. It was getting awfully sticky in here. The humidity was really kicking in today, too. Feels good now. Hopefully, we can turn it off in a day or two. I think Tuesday is supposed to be near "normal" (mid 50s).

I can tell it's Spring as we're judging the first BBQ of the season tomorrow. Looking forward to some good food and a chance to see the whole BBQ gang. Funny, we see those folks every couple weeks for 6 months straight and then not at all for the other 6 months. Only a few of us stay in touch via FB through the winter. One of those few let me know today they won't be there tomorrow but are encouraging us to expand our horizons and judge a chili contest with them in 2 weeks! Hmmm, need to check our calendar for that one. We've never done a chili contest.

We had a great visit with some friends today. We did get a Japanese Maple for a memorial gift for them. (She lost her Mom last month.) I was willing to go along with The Big Guy's choice of a saucer magnolia since we like ours so much, but the ones they had at the nursery just didn't look great.) The tree was a little bigger than we'd planned and was a little harder to fit in the van. The nursery guy ended up crawling into the vehicle to pull it in and get it situated then had trouble getting out. I teased him that we were going to hold him captive but he found a hole to squeeze through. Amazingly, The Big Guy didn't have a lot of trouble pulling it out, pot first, through the sliding door on the side! They were really pleased with it and were trying to decide just where to plant it when we left. (They do own automated digging equipment that will make that job easier for them.)

Got home in time to squeeze a quick nap in before our neighbor came over for the weekly card game. All-in-all, it was a good day.

Our neighbor did the lawn last night and today so I guess we need to get out there and work the flower beds and do some trimming now to make it "Lawn Beautiful" as The Big Guy likes to call it. Still too early here to really plant yet. Hard to believe it when you look around though. The forsythias are gorgeous this year - very full. The flowering cherries and plums are pretty much at their peak (we've got a tremendous number of both in the general area), the saucer magnolias and star magnolias have actually peaked and are going to leaf now, the red buds are blooming and the earliest azalea breed around these parts popped forth today. Daffodils are everywhere! I even saw a few beds of hyacinths in bloom today. We're a full month early on most of these.

Well, got to head off to bed so I'll be ready to judge in the morning.

Happy weekend, All!!

Ummm, Ummm, Good!!!

MARCHPHOTOADAY

I've joined the Marchphotoaday Challenge along with Mama Tink and some other bloggers. Basically, every participant posts a picture of a specific subject for each day of the month.

Today's subject is "delicious":

I'm a Chesapeake Bay gal -
Steamed crabs are a way of life here!

Crabs are a lifestyle here, not just a meal. Eating crabs is usually a social event, even if you do it every week or even more often. They're messy and you do need to use your hands. You set the table with newspaper, butcher paper,or even old grocery bags. You need a knife and a wooden mallet. (Although we've often made do without the mallet - a swift bop of the knife handle will usually work, too.) When you get them out, you generally refer to the restaurant as a "Crab House" and it usually is not formal. Folks tend to talk among the tables at such joints and the mood is usually a good one. Crabs are a "Happy Food!"

If you've never tried one, it should be on your bucket list.

Here's the list if you'd like to play along with the March Photo Challenge, too.

Ha! Ha! Ha!

MARCHPHOTOADAY

I've joined the Marchphotoaday Challenge along with Mama Tink and some other bloggers. Basically, every participant posts a picture of a specific subject for each day of the month.

Today's subject is "funny":

These folks were next to me on the Post Office
parking lot one day. They just struck me as so
personable and made me smile for the rest of the day!

Hope you found something to make you smile today!

Here's the list if you'd like to play along with the March Photo Challenge, too.

Not the corner!! Please don't make me go there!

MARCHPHOTOADAY

I've joined the Marchphotoaday Challenge along with Mama Tink and some other bloggers. Basically, every participant posts a picture of a specific subject for each day of the month.

Today's subject is "a corner of your home":

Oh, no! Please don't make me go there! Not THE corner!

I'm afraid, very afraid!

I bet a lot of people took pics of their cleanest, neatest or even cutest corner. Sure, everybody has those kind of corners. BUT - I bet they ALL have this kind of corner, too. The out-of-the-way spot where you stash things. All these things really belong elsewhere but they're much more convenient when stashed at the end of the hall. I mean, that vacuum is awfully heavy to drag up and down the steps to the basement several times a week. Oh, it does go downstairs when guests are coming but it hides in this corner most days. (Like most of us, it has gained weight over the last decade. I don't remember it being so heavy when we first got it.) The buckets are used weekly for fish tank maintenance and, yes, they do have a shelf of their own in the garage. (Like the vacuum, they go there when company is coming.)

Oh, that red sweatshirt ? That one doesn't live here. I'm hoping by hanging it in plain sight, it will be noticed and carried back home by one of those folks who can never remember to gather ALL their belongings when leaving. (You KNOW who you are!) I used to have a shelf for such items but, alas, it's gotten full because they all tend to leave more and more things here on a regular basis. The Big Guy says it's like they're dropping crumbs so they can find their way back home but I believe it's because they don't have a corner to stash things in like we do!

Everybody needs a corner like this in their home!

Here's the list if you'd like to play along, too.

Incognito

MARCHPHOTOADAY

I've joined the Marchphotoaday Challenge along with Mama Tink and some other bloggers. Basically, every participant posts a picture of a specific subject for each day of the month.

Today's subject is "sunglasses":

"Those danged papparazzi!"

Some days you just want to go out without being recognized. Every gal needs some big lenses to hide behind from time to time!

Here's the list if you'd like to play along with the March Photo Challenge, too.

Inquiring minds want to know ...

MARCHPHOTOADAY

I've joined the Marchphotoaday Challenge along with Mama Tink and some other bloggers. Basically, every participant posts a picture of a specific subject for each day of the month.

Today's subject is "car":

This car is sort of the "mascot" vehicle at a little auto repair/gas station
in Travelers Rest, SC. I always wonder what kind of tales it could tell!

Think about it. What kind of tales could YOUR car tell if it could talk? More embarrassing yet, what would your very first car have to say about you, your friends and your adventures? Hmmm, I'm sort of glad my original wheels were silenced long ago.

Here's the list if you'd like to play along with the March Photo Challenge, too.

See that cloud over there?

MARCHPHOTOADAY

I've joined the Marchphotoaday Challenge along with Mama Tink and some other bloggers. Basically, every participant posts a picture of a specific subject for each day of the month.

Today's subject is "clouds":

I'd love to have something really interesting to say about this shot.
I believe it was somewhere over Lancaster, PA in August. Can't say
why I took it though. Guess it was just pretty to me at the moment.
I tend to take a lot of pics of pretty skies and cloud formations.
It's just one of my quirks.

Did you ever stare into the sky and picture playing in the clouds? Or, is that just me? I think about just bouncing along like a trampoline but landing on those big piles of fluff. Just kind of flopping and rolling. In my mind, it looks like such fun!

"A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds,
and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides, and shrugs;
an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all - he's walking on them. "
~Leonard Louis Levinson

Go ahead. Think about it!

Here's the list if you'd like to play along with the March Photo Challenge, too.