Mindless meanderings.

I did a bit of Spring cleaning today, but not as much as I'd have liked. I took the curtains down above our bed and vacuumed off what had to have been a 1/4" of dust. I'm still coughing from it. I don't know why I never think of wearing a mask until after I've inhaled a cup or more of dust. Maybe next time.

After I got the curtains washed, I sewed a piece of fabric that I'd had to cover the wood above the window air conditioner. I've just draped it over the curtain rod for years, but it's never laid right. So today I put a couple of casings in the ends, so I could hang them on the curtain rods, and it would look like a curtain that belonged rather than a random piece of fabric with frayed edges. It looks nice, and it covers the piece of wood we have atop the air conditioner to seal off the window. One more small thing checked off my very long list of things to do.

I also used some of that yellow expanding foam and filled in all the areas that air, dust, or bugs (including the yellow jackets!) could get through. It doesn't look very pretty, but it did already seem to make a bit of a difference in how cool the house stayed. I'm not sure why I was afraid of doing it in the past, but I'm glad I it's done. It's nice to know creepy crawlies aren't going to creep and crawl through the window above my head when I'm sleeping. And another thing of my list.

I'm feeling very thankful today that Hopper is feeling better. Her appetite is almost back to normal, and she didn't put herself to bed early this afternoon like she has been. I'm so relieved. In my opinion, one of the worst feelings in the world is when your child is sick, and you can do nothing but sit back and watch. I always feel so worthless as a parent when I can't do something to help them.

My little garden plants are loving the sun. They're getting roughly 16 hours of sun each day now that the tree is gone. They only got 5 to 6 hours of direct sunlight when the tree shaded them so in the afternoon. I hope it means that they'll flourish as much as I'm thinking they will. I did noticed that I lost a couple of plants the other day. I think it had to do with the 70mph winds we had. It's also why I planted something like 22 peppers, 20 tomatoes and 8 strawberry plants. It doesn't bother me as much when I lose one or two when I have this many planted. I'm hoping for a good harvest. Which reminds me...I saw a few red strawberries today. I'll have to pick them tomorrow, if the birds haven't gotten to them already.

I noticed apples on our apple tree today, too. I'm hoping we can get some decent apples this year. Some years they do great and others there's just nothing there, or we lose them to the birds and squirrels. Someone told my husband that, if we feed the squirrels nuts they'll stay out of the fruit, because they like the nuts more. I'm not sure how much truth there is to it, but I'd be willing to give it a shot. Especially, if we get anything on the peach tree this year. The squirrels and birds like our peaches even more than they like our apples.

I think I'm just going to shut up now. I'm just rambling, and nobody really wants to listen to that. ;o)