Chillin' with Patsy: Just More Enjoyment Doing Whatever We Want on a Beautiful Day

Wednesday, July 5^th has arrived and it is another gorgeous sunny day. The sky is blue, there are no clouds in sight and there is a breeze from the south. Pretty nice. I was up shortly after 7 and went directly out for a country road walk. It only takes about 35 minutes to do 2 miles and with another push on a nice day, I could make it to #4 highway. There are a couple of steep hills I’d have to build up for if I went that far.

Me, Myself and I walked this morning

It was peaceful at 7:30 with only 3 vehicles passing me including the little green volkswagon from next door. She putters on the gravel but she knows where her gas pedal is on pavement. Not excessive by any means, just motoring along. I didn’t offer the walk to Clemson this morning, he was curled up in the chair and Bill was home. Next time.

The pretty country road

When I returned, I made my tea and read blog posts from yesterday. I apologize to my American friends, I neglected to wish you all a Happy 4^th of July. I hope it was a great holiday for you!

If a big tree falls in the woods and no one is around.........does it make a sound?

this morning I walked past the turbine entrance

Sitting inside with the sun shining in from the east I can’t get over how dirty our windows are. Inside and out. We have an influx of house flies over the last 2 weeks especially, so some trailings are left on the glass when we take their life.

So, I got the Windex out and cleaned what I could reach. So much better! The outside windows can wait until we get the ladders down. I had some jobs to do outside so had a bowl of cereal with banana for energy.

Across the road, the farmer has temporarily removed his cows to cut the field

Bill was outside after his coffee and reading to finish the job of weed trimming around the perimeter fences and down the lane. I soon went out with gloves and clippers to trim the bush at the corral as I mentioned yesterday, I think. It was quite overgrown but I didn’t want it trimmed down to nothing. I just clipped the longer, taller branches and it looks much better.

Before

After

Then I took my wagon down the lane to clean up more of the larger saplings of trees and shrubs. If we don’t keep an eye on these things, they will extend over the driveway enough to hamper our exit with the Suite. This is one stipulation with staying here at The Ridge. We need to be able to trim trees etc. if there is a risk to our unit.

Two trips with a loaded wagon

My wagon is under there

It took two loads, overflowing loads down and up the lane to dump the brush I cut and I still didn’t get all the way down to the gate. Another day, I’ll take another look at it. I ran out of energy. I rested for a bit and sat in the shade with Bill and Clemmy after he’d finished his trimming.

Relaxing in the shade of the awning

A chugalug or two or three of my water and I was back at it. I then popped the battery in my mower to cut the upper grass, again. It still is mainly the tall dandelion heads that I’m cutting but they are a nuisance and look yeucchy. Aah so much better and I’m done for the day.

Bill had a sandwich before having their afternoon siesta and I warmed up a bowl of my homemade soup. It isn’t really a soup day but I had taken some out of the freezer for just this reason. It is yummy and hit the spot.

As I’m sitting with my book and soup, I see yet another snapping turtle making his way up the grassy slope. My goodness. This is a different one for sure and has a real drive on to get somewhere. For some reason he wants to go into the corral and moved up 3 sections of the fence line until he found a high enough rail to crawl under. Don’t call him stupid! He didn’t stay in there long and he came back out through the same gap.

This big guy wants under the fence

But figured out he needed to move to another section

Right here, he is very pompous, proving that he is a smart cookie

I saw the mail lady drive by and it seemed she had slowed down at our box so I walked down to check. I am waiting for a couple of parcels but was disappointed with no flag, no mail. Oh well, that walk put me over the 5 miles today and it is only 1 o’clock.

Eventually, he found his way to the water
He moves pretty quick compared to the other Mr. Snapper

I took a drive into Durham to pick up wild bird seed and garbage tags but before doing that I refilled the bird/chipmunk feeder with peanuts. I’m hoping to attract more birds and that means feeding them, obviously. When I came back, I hung the niger bell down at the corral, filled the new finch feeder and another feeder and hung them accordingly.

Love seeing that first flower on any plant

My tiger lilies are no exception

Before long, Chippy was making himself at home to the sunflower seeds in the wild mix. My goodness, he is a little pig.

Caught in the act

My new finch feeder has not attracted attention yet
I'll have to find the perfect spot

The frisbee of peanuts had been emptied in about 2 hours so I decided to move this green hanging feeder to another spot. I'd like the birds to get something out of the seed I bought. I know they aren't starving with the fruits of the land plentiful this time of year.

Not sure who ate all the seeds but it is empty again

These blackbirds are going crazy for the seed now

Between turtles and chipmunks, I don’t know what we have more of!

I snapped this picture before Bill trimmed the weeds
It had a pretty flower

The rest of the afternoon was pretty much a chair hopping day, to borrow Bob’s (from Bob’s Eyes) statement. I did mix some MiracleGro and fed my recently planted rose bushes, the veggie garden and the hostas. After that I sat with my book. The Collectors is another one that grabbed me right of the bat within the first couple of chapters.

New blooms on the first plant I bought this spring

Clemson got another marrow bone today and enjoyed it a lot. This one was still half frozen and I think that was the ticket to keeping him at it for longer. As the warm day thawed the marrow, he poked and chewed it with his tongue for the good part of 2 hours.

Yum yum yum

Good to the last drop

Bill took advantage of the day and worked away in his cargo trailer after removing 3 of his planes outside. He’s been waiting for not only a quiet day but a good weather day as well. With the morning work out of the way we both were free to enjoy the afternoon.

Bill is in the trailer working so his planes have to sit outside

For supper, we barbecued the last pack of the mild Italian sausage we had in the freezer. If this is their mild, I’d hate to taste their hot or spicy. I think we picked this kind up at Foodland and won’t buy it again. When we want mild, that is what we expect. We are anxious to try the new farmer’s sausage we got at the Varney Meat Market.

The grass has really grown in the pond

Bill had his sausage in a bun and I had mine on my plate. I’d made up a salad for both of us to share. It was all good and filling. At 7:30 it is a balmy 27C outside and 29C in the Suite. No, we’re not ready for the a/c yet, I’ll just go outside until it is pleasant enough inside to return.