Vacation time

We had a little weather last night....

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Last night had promised to be a quiet evening, but nature had other plans.  These were some of the strangest, lowest clouds I ever saw.  They moved so quickly, I thought we were in for a tornado for sure.  I could see them swirling, right above our house, which was terrifying.  It all ended pretty quickly, no longer than 30 minutes. We didn't even have any damages, thank God.  My husband's grandmother didn't fare as well.  We aren't sure if it was a tornado or just the sheer force winds that the forecasters are so fond of forecasting, but her screened in porch lost a huge glass window, and there are trees down and the barns and silos are all banged up and knocked around. Thankfully she wasnt home for it, she was at my nephew's baseball game.  I managed to pull all the newly planted flowers onto the porch, lest they meet their end via hail.   And if all this excitement wasnt enough, this is the forecast for the entire week!  Storms through Thursday at least.

A-gardening we go

Good Monday to you!  Im safely ensconced in a motrin induced haze, so I can say its good.  What a busy weekend!  After a 31 Party/bachelorette party on Friday, a marathon shopping day on Saturday (12 hours!), I managed to get my garden planted on Sunday!  This is my third year in planting my garden.  My grandmother is an incredible gardener.  She can make anything grow anywhere.  I never had any interest in growing plants until a few years ago, when we bought our new house.  I thought I could grow something probably, how hard could it be?  Well, its frequently damn hard!  But, I enjoy it more than I ever realized I could.  And it helps me be close to my grandmother.  Every year that I work in it, I get to enjoy that time with her.  Especially, since I know its fleeting, she's nearing 90 years old!  You wouldn't know it though, she gets out there with the shovel and works hard as anyone.

Yesterday was a marathon.  We worked all day.  We started early, digging up the dirt with shovels to break it up.  That took an age.  Then I used my brand new tiller!!  Its beautiful.  I was so happy to get it (thanks Grandma!) and it did a great job.  It also shook me to death!  I never realized how hard of a job this was! My 89 year old grandfather still does this!  I truly have amazing grandparents.  After some driving around searching for fertilizer for a spell, I managed to get some spare soil, a nice pepper plant, a new gas can for my tiller's required oil/gas mix, and a new hoe (broke mine busting clods, if you can believe it).  I ran out to my folks to pick up some fertilizer, as apparently no one in my small town carries it.   Came home from all my running and planted as quickly as I could.  I was losing daylight at this point and  it was turning colder.  The weather really worked against us too, as we had several thunderstorms move through as we worked.  While we were sidelined for rain, we mixed all the old dirt from the planters from last year with some new, fertilized fancy dirt and planted a flat of flowers, cleaned up the planter, drilled new drainage holes.  I felt so efficient!  But at the end of the day, we planted 3 rows of Silver Queen corn, 1 row of Early Girl tomatoes, half a row red onions, half a row yellow onions, a lettuce bed, a small row of carrots, a row of potatoes and a row of pumpkins!  I have a pepper plant in a pot on the porch (rabbits ate them last year, Im raising them up this year!) and I need to make a bed somewhere for squash.  I really ran late this year, what with all the incessant rain.  We had 10 inches of rain last month!  But everyone is a little behind in getting their gardens in.  And a week isn't too hateful.

I'll post some pictures of my progress soon.  Im wildly proud of getting all this done in a weekend, I am feeling compelled to show it all off.  Hope everyone else is getting their gardening done, if they can find sometime between rain storms!

Happy Growing!

a small insurance rant...

I understand that insurance is a necessary evil.  We pay people hundreds of dollars a year to help us pay bills in case we encounter the unexpected.  We don't use it very often.  Its a comfortable back up plan.  That said, it makes me so frustrated whenever I have to deal with insurance.  Its NEVER easy.  Not once.  I've never gotten off the phone with my insurance agent and thought, "wow, how simple was that?"  No one ever has.  And I had a wonderful agent.  He was thoughtful and consistent, but he can't help it, insurance by its very nature is difficult.  And because we recently bought a new car, our insurance went up 25%.  That didn't work for me.  I understand it would be more expensive to replace the car, etc. but it didn't justify that large of an increase.  So I started shopping.  And found a new insurance agency that saves me a few hundred dollars a year.  Hurray!  I was so happy, I paid in full up front.  But still, my insurance woes continue.  We received a large check as reimbursement for our previous payments.  Nothing itemized, of course.  That would be too easy.  I can't tell if this is for car, house, both?   This wouldn't be a problem, but I have to put money back into our escrow account, which pays our insurance and taxes.  And they aren't getting any more than they are due.  I can't afford it.  My point, that I am slowly meandering towards, is that I must call the old insurance agent again today.  And I know, there is nothing they love more than dealing with former customers.  Its going to be a long day....

my own personal ginger....

pre-sneeze.

What brings you here today?

Hello.  My name is Lori and I am a reporter's wife.  For those in the know, that means I see my husband not often at all.  Which sucks, frankly.  But such is our lot and we roll with it.  I spend a lot of time alone with my son, which is great, but I frequently crave adult conversation.  Even one sided conversation, which is what brings me here.  There are  all sorts of titles that I frequently slap on myself.  Im a big reader.  Im a great dancer.  Im a terrible budgeter.  Im a gardener (a simply awful one, but I keep trying).  Those are just the names I like to give myself.  I frequently have to take on names I'd rather not.  Plumber.  Nurse.  Housemaid.  Banker.  But the one title I miss the most is conversationalist.  I fear that 4 years with a baby have reduced me to a jabbering tool.  So please bear with me.  Read along, correct me where necessary.  I'll share what's happening at my joint with you and you can take it from there.  Thanks and here's to some good chats....