The laugh lines or crows feet and the twinkle in our eyes expresses our genuine happiness and warm, positive feelings. A hug and even a smiling mouth are not the only way to convey love. People can see from your eyes that you care.
I noticed while shopping, that even with a face mask, a smile could be seen in people's eyes, so I tried to make a point of smiling at others, especially stockers and clerks.
Saturday 5/2 - I was up reading in the middle of the night, from 1:30 to 5am, after going to bed at 8:30. I did have an hour nap about sun-up, but still felt very groggy all morning. I hate the headache, fatigue, lack of motivation, and grumpy feeling I get from a short night of sleep. I did not have smiling eyes, even when I smiled.
You can't see the smile, but you know it is behind the mask because of Courtney's smiling eyes. Her friend's wife made this for her.
Joe arriving home from a little joy ride on his scooter.
I could only muster enough energy to go out on the deck to read. Before long, laying on the lounge chair in the sun, I drifted off to sleep.
I woke in time for a late lunch and then went out to plant flowers. The before photo shows lots of leaves, sticks, and weeds that I first tackled getting rid of.
I also trimmed all the Red bud and Dogwood planted out front in this bed. Then I added more Dianthus to the ones that survived the winter.
I had Maggie out front with me during the three hours I worked, since Joe was off golfing. She was to guard the garage against chipmunk robbers who steal corn.
After we and the pets had dinner, Joe and I drove separately to the barn to get another load of cast off rocks from the pile next to the garden plots.
Patty and Shirley were enjoying a picnic dinner out on the lawn.
I rode Amiga around the gardens and field across the road and also out front in the yard by the barn.
Patty took a few pictures of Amiga and I.
Amiga was being quite willful, running through the bit and wanting to get back to the barn. So I worked at calming her down and getting her to listen. She would cooperate for a minute, and then completely disregard any cues I was giving her. I don't recall her ever being this difficult, and am not sure why the change in attitude and disposition. I guess I just need to work harder, well smarter, with her.
It was dark by the time I got home. I took a quick shower and had TV time with Joe.
Sunday 5/3 - Stevie and Monita hanging out in the cat tent.
I shut down my computer early and went out to dump the rocks we had gathered the night before. I put them along the creek's edge to help with the eroding, which has gotten worse.
Shorty after dumping one bucket, I noticed these toads where I had just finished putting rocks. Love is in the air, so much so, they did not seem to be worried about me.
When I came back up to the house, I noticed that the chipmunks had gotten back into the corn. This is the 4th time I have had to clean up the mess and duct tape the bag.
We had our group chat earlier than usual.
Mom is not pictured with Jean because she was on the phone with Dave. Joe was at a golf course while I was here at home, so we are pictured separately. We enjoyed catching up with each other and sharing some laughs.
The afternoon was spent riding. Cheryl went with Amiga and I, as far the hill on the Holly Trail. Amiga started acting crazy once Velvet (Cheryl's horse) turned and left. I had to walk her down the first hill because she was jumping up and down while I was trying to get her to slowly walk down the hill. I did ride her up the steeper hill on the other side.
I took this photo when stopped a little ways up the hill to give Amiga a rest.
When we came from Hathaway on to Marmaduke, I discover that Marmaduke was closed.
We went around the barricades and down the road. At the dip right before where Malvern hits Marmaduke I saw the problem.
The road was halfway washed out.
Returning back to the barn, I walked Amiga back down the whole big hill on Holly Trail because she was again rushing some, knowing we were heading home. When we got to the barn, she enter at a walk, which I considered a great ending to a good ride.
I hurried to get home by 6:00, shortly before a storm was due to hit. Joe was in the Cookeville area, where he had spent the day golfing, kayaking, and was camping for the night.
Joe spent an hour in the SUV while it rained, then added an umbrella to his sleeping arrangement. We didn't get much rain here, but it got very windy. Part of Fairfield Glade lost power. Our lights flickered twice but that was it. Courtney reported being without power from 4pm-6am. I had a quiet evening at home once the storm passed.
Monday 5/4 - On this day in history, 50 years ago, Fairfield Glade was 'born' when the charter for the FGCC was drawn up by the board of directors, and filed.
I noticed half of this tree had snapped off in my neighbors yard when walking Maggie at 6am. When we went for a second walk at 8:30, I took these two photos.
Joe returned from his camping trip close to 11:00. I was still computerizing, but took a break to start a load of laundry.
Joe and all his camping stuff was stinky and several things were soaking wet. So he 'aired' out and dried off along with blankets, tarp, and sleeping bag.
I joined Joe a little later and finished reading my mystery novel while catching some rays.
I met Polly and Jan at the barn to do a little easy riding. Polly's horse Rio had been lame and Jan had been sick, so we didn't want to go far or fast.
We worked awhile, out on the front lawn, and then decided to go for a short ride on the trail.
Jan and Rio held up great. Polly was so glad that Rio was not acting at all lame. You could see the happiness on Jan and Polly's faces, including the smiling eyes.
Amiga had to be reminded several times to slow down, but I didn't feel like I had a run away horse like I had on Saturday.
Monita sitting on the lounge chair pads that were set on the porch because of coming rain, while I had dinner out there.
I was falling asleep at 7:30, so Joe and I watched the two hour finale of season five of Blue Bloods. We know that Danny Regan's wife Linda dies because she is not in the current episodes, but we don't know when or how it happens. She got shot in this last episode, so we figured she would die. But by the end of the two hours, she appeared to be recovering just fine.
My first walk, before tea, lasted for 45 minutes because it was predicted to rain the next 18 hours. I had plans to take it easy all day and to get some things done inside. Well, about 10:30, the gutter guys said they were on their way here. It wasn't raining yet, but looked like the skies could open up at any minute. I quickly changed and went outside to take down my bird feeders which would be in the way. I also wanted to point out the trouble spots.
While I waited for them to arrive, I started picking up sticks and trimming some bushes.
See, I am not the only one who uses the top of the ladder as a step.
First the old gutters and gutter guards had to be removed. And right away a snafu was discovered. The roofers had nailed shingles over the old guards rather than under them, because that would have required removing the gutter guards. I was told this happens all the time.
So the project was going to take longer than expected. But eventually they got the old gutters down. In the mean time, I checked the drain pipes using a hose to be sure they were working well, and they were. I also continued to trim bushes and haul the branches into the woods across the creek.
As it turned out, the gutters were full of crud. I guess the gutter guards are not foolproof. There were bits of old shingles, roofing nails, lots of shingle sand (what ever it is called) and rotten leaf debris. I filled a two gallon bucket cleaning this gunk up.
You can't see the Mallard pair in this first photo, but when I zoomed in, you can now see the ducks napping by the creek, again unbothered by me.
The first new gutter to go up was cut too short, so they had to ditch it and cut a new piece. I was feeling kind of bad for the workers, but glad they were going to do the job right. My Dad used to say 'measure twice - cut once.'
I took a lunch break while the gutter guys continued to work. The ducks were up from their nap and feeding on pond scum (video) when I went back outside. We never got any rain, but it got very windy and dark at one point.
A later load of branches down back revealed the ducks taking another nap. I just love them.
Finally new (larger) gutters, new and improved gutter guards, and bigger down spouts all installed. They blend in and look even nicer than what we had.I washed all the windows and hung all the bird feeders I had cleaned and re-filled, and after a day of yard work, was exhausted. Joe had ordered carry out hamburgers from Legends. I was so thankful to be able to eat right away and not have to cook and clean up dishes.
I had gotten a second wind and felt the need to walk off the large meal, so took Maggie for a 90 minute walk. Some of the time was spent chatting with two different friends I bumped into along the way. This photo is an attempt at showing the moon partly blocked by the clouds.
This is a rare yellow peonie, which I transplanted ⅓ of from the bush on our farm in Illinois.
A call from the asphalt guys had me change my plans from shopping in town, to doing more work in the yard. The forecast of rain had changed to off, and then back to on again, but did not seem as likely as the 6am forecast had predicted. The sky was very dark though. (These flower photos were taken the day before.)
When the asphalt crew arrived, I spoke with Tyler, the crew chief, about a few of my concerns and the plan was altered a tad.
In came the heavy equipment and the additional width was dug as they prepped the area. Basically, all the sod along the drive was flipped over, except in spots where they hit some big roots. Then the ground (grass and dirt) were torn up quite a bit.
It started raining while the crew was working, which turned the dirt to mud. Next the crushed gravel was brought in and packed down. And soon they were gone.
While it rained, I came in and worked on this little project. I used to have a blanket covering the bench pad and the woven bins under it because the cats had been clawing at the rope. With the new material I covered the pad with, the bins were left exposed (looks much nicer). Well, the cats had started clawing at and even chewing on the weaving again.
So I decided to cut up a box to put in front of the bins. Monita nearly got her face sliced, sticking it into my business while I was working.
There is a definite attraction between cats and cardboard boxes. And they certainly love checking out anything new to their surroundings.
This does not look near as nice, but will protect the woven bins. I wish I didn't have to 'hide' them because I love how they look, but won't if they get all ripped up.
We didn't get enough rain to really test the gutters, but it made working with the sod messy.
Notice my deer friends were not too worried about me working near by.
I was only able to get about ⅓ of the dirt and sod off the lawn before running out of time and energy. I had also been distracted by Joe who was looking into cleaning out the gutters out front.
We couldn't find any easy way to clean out the old gutters. There was no budging the old guards to get into the gutters.
So we decided to get an estimate for new gutter guards on the old gutters and to get them cleaned out in the process. I was told our old guards are an 'ancient' model and that these new ones will work much better.
Here is the rhododendron starting to bloom.
Longer daylight, and scrambling to get outside work done, I went back out after dinner and worked till 7pm.
Survivor was two hours long, which entertained us the remainder of the evening.
Thursday 5/7 - I was headed to the barn by 6:15 in the morning, skipping my second cup of tea and additional breakfast. The temperature had dropped to 35° and a mist was rising above Lake Glastowbury.
A Pileated woodpecker can be seen on the tree beyond the window where Maggie was napping.
I was meeting the farrier at 7am, so went to get Zorro (video). Once finished with their regular trim and shoes on front for Amiga, I helped clean a few stalls. Then Judy helped me worm both the horses.
When I got home from the barn, I had my second breakfast and cup of tea and then took a nap.
By noon, I was finally back outside working on dirt and sod clean-up. It went better now that the mud had dried out a fair amount. This first photo shows the first chunk of sod in place. I had moved several here the day before. The second photo shows it all done. I did decide to rework some of the rock around the pipe, seen in the third photo.
This last photo shows the new sod placement by day's end, once I had put down grass seed, covered with grass clippings, and watered it.
Out front I had finished getting all the dirt and sod up off the lawn. I had piled excess dirt on the bare spot (where the mulch had killed our grass this winter). I placed on the dirt pile, the extra sod I had not had time to put in back.
The sun was setting by the time I got this all done. I was already feeling sore, and was too tired to do anything but sit at my computer a few minutes. So, it was early to bed with a pain/sleep aid.
A later view out my sun room windows, showing how clean they are and how green the woodland is getting.
The rain wasn't due until 10:00ish, so after a 40 minute nap, I left the comfort of my sun room and went out to finish putting sod on the back side of my rock drainage ditch. The ground here has washed away during heavy rains so I was hoping to contain it by covering with grass.
I had gotten half of this done over the past two days, and finished moving the rest of the sod here just as the rain started to sprinkle down.
After I got dried off and cleaned up, I headed to town for a big (three hour) shopping trip. Then the rest of the afternoon was spent unpacking groceries and household items, re-stocking cabinets, canisters, and containers, and finishing laundry while neatening up around the house.
I got this pot of chili cooking, adding a Skyline flavor packet (and six cups of water) to onion, beef, beans, tomato paste, and diced tomatoes. It was to simmer for 90 minutes.
I covered or brought in all my flowers since it was to freeze overnight. Joe and I watched the movie 'Racing In The Rain' after a rather tasty dinner. It was sad, but life is that way sometimes. We just need to find our smiles again, even when they are covered by a mask.
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