A Fine Mess

My flower beds, up along the house, are the first things I planted when we moved here a quarter of a century ago.  But, over the years, they've suffered from neglect, as we made an ever larger vegetable garden.  I really don't know what to do about them now.  They're full of weeds, poison ivy, tree seedlings, etc.

Yes, it's a mess... but a pretty one... 

My grape hyacinths look so colorful with the dandelions!

Correction

The story I reported on a couple days ago is starting to change from what the news had originally reported.  I hate when that happens, but it usually does at a murder scene when there's no one left to witness what happened.  Just want to clear this up on my blog.

The 23-year-old murdered woman was the killer's ex-sister-in-law. He was in a custody dispute with his ex-wife (her sister) over their 6-year-old daughter.

In an early TV interview with a family spokesman, even before the killer was caught, it was stated that she'd recently found out she was pregnant again.  And the police thought the massacre was either drug-related (yes, the guy was a druggie, no surprise there) or over a custody dispute. So everyone was assuming the worst of the poor girl, that she had been carrying his child.

Now they're assuming that he killed his ex-wife's sister and her family because if he couldn't have his baby, she wasn't going to have hers either.

It is also speculated that when he saw that the 6-year-old girl (his niece by marriage) was still alive, he may have started to realize the awful thing he had done and was perhaps thinking of his own 6-year-old daughter when he handed the little girl over to a neighbor to call 911 before he fled the scene.

The child's condition has been upgraded to fair.  What a horrible, tragic thing this child will carry with her the rest of her life.  It just breaks my heart!

Too Close to Home

A terrible thing happened this morning in the neighborhood. There's a small town south of here, and at 4:30 this morning a deranged 43-year old man, bipolar & off his meds for a year, burst into an apartment and massacred a family: grandmother (66), her grand-daughter(23) and her 29 year old live-in boyfriend, their 5 year old son and 1 year old baby. Their 6 yr old daughter is in critical condition.

For some reason he handed the little girl to a neighbor before he took off in his car. He was eventually caught by police on a road just 5 miles south of us. There was a shoot-out, he was taken into custody and died of his gunshot wounds at around 10:30 this morning.

Motive is not official, but some in the village said that the granddaughter was pregnant with his baby and they were going through some kind of legal thing about that, which might have set him off.

At least there won't be a trial for this slimeball loser. I'm just stunned! What is this world coming to???

Went Visiting

Today, we actually DID something for a change, besides sitting around here moping in the rain. We went down to Rich's parents for lunch and card-playing. They've been trying to teach me to play euchre for over a year now, and I'm finally catching on. Grandma and I beat Grandpa and Rich 2 games to 1. I was smokin'!

I think Rich will return to work tomorrow. It's still too wet to plant corn, but there's machinery they can work on in the shed. This is just a terrible spring. Last spring was so mild and dry that they got everything planted early. It's been nothing but cold and wet and windy all throughout April --- plus that huge snow we got from Winter Storm Virgil. There are floods everywhere. All the creeks and rivers have been out of their banks, and some haven't even crested yet.

IT'S ALWAYS SOMETHING, ISN'T IT?

You Know What They Say About Books?

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT BOOKS...

They don't grow on trees.
A book a day keeps the doctor away.
Throw a handful over your left shoulder for good luck.
A book in the hand is worth two on the shelf.
A rolling book gathers no moss.
Books bound in leather stack together.
Don't count your books before they're written.

Scent-sational Idea!

With all this modern technology we enjoy in the 21st century, wouldn't it be great if you could buy a TV that has Smellavision.  Wouldn't you just love to smell Paula Deen's tantalizing sticky buns? LOL. Or inhale the aroma of Rachel Ray's stewp (or is it stoup?) as it bubbles on the stove.

Of course, the TV remote must have a button for shutting off the Smellavision feature when Andrew Zimmern does a foodie excursion to some 3rd-world-country fish market. Or in case a wet, muddy, stinky dog comes on a commercial begging for Beggin Strips.

My husband watches a lot of cooking shows. I wish there was a delivery slot for ordering samples of the food they cook. I'm telling you, Smellavision and SampleVision could be the next new technology crazes! I'd buy stock in it.

Day Three

This is Day Three of My Damn Cold!  Don't get too close, I may still be contagious!

It all started when Rich got home from his annual fishing trip to Mississippi in the middle of March. When he got back, he came down with a real doozy of a cold. After 7 days, and getting no better, he went to the doctor, who gave him an antibiotic for his sinus infection and some cough medicine (the REAL kind that actually helps). Ten days later, he's wondering if he's completely well. Still not up to par. Hopefully he won't have to go on a second round of antibiotics.

All winter (from Christmas onward) I was scared to death I'd get that awful flu that wasn't covered in the flu shots this year (which, BTW, I don't believe in, refuse to get, and am instinctively afraid of) or that equally horrendous stomach virus that was going round. So I stayed home ALL winter!  Rich did my shopping for me. (Remember, I suffer from fibromyalgia, so I'm in horrible pain all over my body more times than not.) I stayed away from crowds and gave up my expectation that I deserve to eat a meal in a restaurant at least once a week.

And then my husband goes and brings a cold home to me. The incubation time for a cold is from 2-5 days. After all this time (17 days), I was hopefully optimistic that I wouldn't catch his cold. But I guess there are enough of his cold germs still around to take me down.

Gee, CC!  What a fascinating topic to blog --- now GET WELL!  You don't have time for this!

Roadhouse Review

Decor at my own End-Of-The-Roadhouse

*ROADHOUSE: Not to be confused with "Roodhouse," an old railroad town in central Illinois.  My computer gadget dictionary says a roadhouse is "a tavern, inn, or club on a country road. This "roadhouse" is on a busy commercial thoroughfare in a big city. No, you can't sleep there (so it's not a genuine tavern or inn), and you can't play poker or golf there, (so it's definitely not a club). But there's a bar and good food --- everybody I know thinks it's a pretty hot-dam place to eat.

 My friends from Texas will probably groan about this one: a dining review for a franchise steakhouse.  But until we get sick of it (not likely to happen, since we dine out so seldomly in our poverty-stricken retirement), it's a hard place for us to pass up if we're in Springfield at the right time of day with hungry bellies tugging at us.

THE TEXAS ROADHOUSE REVIEW

The Texas Roadhouse Steakhouse is a hoot! It's definitely not a quiet dining experience, so be forewarned. Personally, I have a low tolerance for noise of any kind (probably from my early years of working audio/quality control at Capitol Records), so I just mostly ignore the hooplah and keep on eating.

If you come in celebrating a birthday, five or ten of the servers will escort you and your party to your table with staccato hand-clapping loud as gun-fire. Then they will loudly announce your big day to the entire restaurant, ending with a resounding Texas YEE-HAW! that nearly brings down the critter heads hanging on the walls.

We've also been there when the whole wait-staff line dances, when a certain song comes on. Their hand-clapping makes the palms of my own hands sting!

Needless to say, this place is popular with families and fun-seekers alike. But you'd better get there when it opens, at 4 p.m., or you're likely to find yourself waiting for a table. The service (despite many side-tracking performances) is fast and friendly. And the food is not only good, but also abundant for the price.

I always get the Chicken Fried Sirloin with mashed potatoes and gravy and a side Caesar salad. The salad is ample, and it comes with delicious bread rolls (all ya can eat, pard-ner!), so by the time I get to the main course, I'm stuffed and end up taking half or more home with me. The next day, when I chop the leftovers up for lunch, it fills an entire dinner plate.

Seriously, you don't go away from Texas Roadhouse hungry OR empty-handed.

Yes, I KNOW CFSteak is BAD! Oh, the gravy! Oh, the crunchy, fried-chickeny coating! Oh, the bliss! I don't eat like this at all, most of the time --- so a little comfort food in a high-energy setting, once in a while...when I really need it, work wonders!

 

Spring Fever

Stained Glass Tulip by My Sister Debbie

It's spring fever.  
That is what 
the name 
of it is.  
And when you've got it, you want - 
oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just 
fairly makes 
your heart ache, 
you want it so!  

~Mark Twain

Another Scene from W.S. Virgil

My van looks like it's carrying a white canoe!

The snow melted quickly from Winter Storm Virgil. I had to be constantly finding new, clean, snowy places around the yard for my dog to play in, because everywhere it was turning really muddy. A wind came up and knocked all of the beautiful snow puffs out of the trees, and dangerous chunks of heavy snow slid off the roof. 

A REALLY Great Snow!

We had two significant snowfalls here in Central Midwest Heartland this past winter. One I don't remember the name of (yes, winter storms do have names now), or when it was, but it was a bitch! 

We got about a foot of snow, and then it drizzled rain all night. So the next morning, there was a hefty slab of wicked ice on top of deep snow. Every day I had to go out and break up an area for my dog to play his insane game with his ball. He loves the snow --- it's like doggie coke or something to him. But it was hard on him to walk through the fresh snow because he still has his dew claws. Ouch! The nasty, hard, sharp, deep snow lasted a week or more. It felt like it lasted all winter.

Then came the early spring surprise of March 24th:

Winter Storm Virgil 

You had to love Virgil!

Winter Storm Virgil nearly buried my Jeep!

 Soft, fluffy snow covered every branch of every tree with a foot of snow. The woods looked impenetrable. It was like we were trapped in a dome of snow --- one of those doo-dads you shake to watch glitter snow down on a Thomas Kincade village. The lane down the hill was a continuous white tunnel, from the branches of trees bent over almost double with the weight of the snow.