The honeysuckle is in bloom….

For a few short weeks beginning mid-May the country air is filled with the  intoxicating smell of wild honeysuckle.

I’ve loved it since I was a child, sitting in the porch swing late evening, just breathing in the honeysuckle that grew profusely on our ditch bank.

And then when the boys were growing up, I remember sitting in the backyard with them, surrounded by wild honeysuckle, watching then play, and once again just breathing in the smell of it.

I’ve always been fortunate to live close to nature and the older I get, the more I enjoy the harmony of it.   It’s a wonderful thing, honeysuckle, and if you haven’t experienced it, you’re missing out on one of life’s simple pleasures.  Just go for a ride in the country some evening with your windows rolled down and breathe.  It’s a beautiful thing.  ~ jan

It's war....

I have this ongoing problem with the M&M's and fleas.  I think its because we live next to a horse pasture, but my friend, Trish, thinks that there must be a nest somewhere in the yard.  Whatever the reason, it's a royal pain in the patootie (literally for my poor little dogs) dealing with these fleas!

I use Frontline Plus, it works for two weeks and the fleas are back.  I've bombed the house repeatedly, sprinkled Borax on the carpet, and still we struggle.

I was p*ssing and moaning about this to Ang the other day, and she told me she's having great results with this flea med she uses on Chewie, her Westie.  So I called her vet, found out that it's a new product called Comfortis,  a beef flavored, chewable pill, no more putting that liquid on their backs and having to wait three days to bathe them, and it kills fleas within thirty minutes of administering it, and they stay off the dogs for the entire thirty days.

It sounded too good to be true, but I read a lot about this product online and people are thrilled with the way it works.  Of course you do have the few dissenters who say it killed their dog, but that's to be expected.  I read over and over about people who have the same problem that I have, Frontline Plus not working after a couple of weeks, but Comfortis actually works for the entire month.

So the girls are now flea free, we'll see how this works out, and I'll update you next month.

All I know is that I have two happy little fur kids, and for $30 a month for two pills, let's hope this works better than Frontline.  I also tried Advantix, but Mags was allergic to it.  She started scratching as soon as I put it on her at bedtime, and I had to bathe her in the middle of the night to get it off.  It's been an absolute nightmare, dealing with these fleas, let's hope this stuff works!!!!!

It's that time of year, and we were in the strawberry patch at 7:30 yesterday morning.  Okay, so hubby was in the strawberry patch, Maggie and I were sitting talking to the lady that owns the field, drinking coffee.

And no, this isn't the field, I got this picture off the web, our local strawberry patch is a bit run down, kinda weedy, too, but oh the berries are wonderful this year.  Hardly any core, full of flavor, they are amazing...

Mother always had a patch when I was a little girl, she would always be so excited, watching them turn red, picking the first of the season.  I never liked them that much as a child, didn't understand what all the hoopla was about, but now that I'm old mature of a certain age, I think they are wonderful.

I hulled them, put them in mother's stainless steel bowl, just like she did all those years ago, used the chopper to chop them and release the juice, sprinkled on the Splenda, made a shortcake with Heart Healthy Bisquick.

Wait a minute, what's wrong with this picture???  Splenda, Low Fat Bisquick???  This isn't the way I was raised.  We drowned them in sugar, made that wonderful pie crust out of lard and layered the berries between and topped it with real whipped cream.

Which is, no doubt, in part of the problem now.  And the reason I make them with Splenda and Low Fat Bisquick. :o(

But they were still wonderful, warm biscuit, berries, and a dollop of.... butter pecan ice cream.  Huh, butter pecan ice cream???  Yep, it's so much better than vanilla on warm anything, and not at all healthy, but sometimes a girl's just gotta live a little.

I was talking to Hooterville earlier, she loves her on a split biscuit, no doubt slathered with butter.  Oh, why can't the good things in life be healthy.  *sigh*  They never are.

But I did have some of them this morning on top of my oatmeal.  And thought of mother and that wonderful old stainless steel bowl that I write about so often.  Good memories, on this cool, cloudy Sunday in Heavensville...

Calamity Jane

I was driving down Vann Avenue, there was a new curb and a crook in the road  I was gawking at the park, hit the curb, bent a rim, ruined a tire.  Oh what a fun time that was!!!

Hubby just laughed and said he was glad I didn't get hurt.  Bless his little pea-pickin' heart, and thank gawd his testosterones have simmered down in his old age.  Twenty years ago he woulda pitched a hissy.

We do get smarter in our older age, well some of us do anyway.  Sometimes I think I'm pretty much dumb and dumber!  Duh...