Good Morning DeVeria,

I can’t wait for Spring, this winter has been long enough! Time for Spring Cleaning here.

You are not alone DeVeria.

I grew up in Kentucky and my favorite time of year has always been Spring. Especially those few weeks from late April to early June after most of the violent storms have passed and everything has budded out and the grass and trees are all that deep green of fresh growth.

I’m pretty sure that’s one of the reasons I loved being in Hawai’i so much, as it was like that most of the year round.

G’morning! I need to be spring cleaning. I have started getting my assistant to clean up all my files this week. Next, I need to go to the closets!

You know, I have never been to Hawaii, but would love to plan a trip there. I hear that it is soooo beautiful over there.

Spring is something I encourage, here, plant little patches of bulbs in the yard so that they pop up in places all over the yard. They’re just beginning to bloom now. It was a longer winter than usual in N.TX. though, and my garden just got some seeds put in it this week, along with onion sprouts. Last year I already had lettuce by March.

Really, what else do you plant? I don’t have a green thumb at all. But, I want to try again when I move into my own house.

It truly is incredibly beautiful. The temperature ranges in Summer are usually low ’70s to upper ’80s. Winter ranges are usually low ’60s to upper ’70s/low ’80s.

So the flowers are there all year round, offering the wonderful scent into the air year round. Everything is green and vibrant and wonderful.

It took me almost six months to get over just the wonder of walking around thinking “I’m really here in Hawai’i, with palm trees and orchids and bougainvilleas and everything.”

I haven’t live blogged my panera b-fast in ages!

been here about an hour, playing chess off their free internet access and not doing as good as usual

had myself my sausage egg and cheese, no bread (carb free has lowered my colesterol and blood pressure, lowered tri-glicerides and I am a healthy middle aged man)

gorgous day today, took my new rag top out for a spin, will crank up the heater and drive drive drive

switched from coffee to green tea and panera bread has a bottomless cup of some pretty good green tea here, they also have some kind of spicey orange thingy cafein free tea that is REALLY good

mitt won’t say obama’s mandate is unconstitutional but I’ll say it, on the other hand the roberts court won’t so what’s the dif?

virginia attorney general tells colleges they MUST discriminate against gay

and over all it’s not getting any better with the dems, probably getting worse since they became corporate tools faster then even I predicted (and I did predict it)

I plant too much, since it’s jsut for me; for veggies, chard and mustard greens are next, and my bulbs are daffodils, hyacinth, narcissi, tulips and anemones. Since I tend to travel in summer, most of the rest is wasted effort.

Grass is still completely dead and brown in Austin, though some hardy weeds are poking up. Still not much clover though so I’m not too optimistic about Spring springing soon. :

Wow…I’m going to have to plan a vacation there. I would love it for that reason alone.

GOOD MORNING FIREDOGS!!!

Spring is something I encourage

what a great saying, I have never heard it before but I AM stealing it

Wow, you certainly are having a good start to your Saturday. I’m going to have to try doing the post outside of the house one day. I’m just not a morning person…

Personally, I’ll be glad for the end of winter because I’ll be able to get respite from having to explain the difference between “weather” and “climate” to people who seemed to be determined to supply their own definitions to words and regard science as an opinion. I’ve long reached the end of my patience with people and have come close to reaching the end of my temper with them.

It’s not Hawaii, but in a little (apparently) warm patch near my front steps, 3″ of daffodil leaves are up! There is still melting dirty snow everywhere, but areas of muddy brownish lawn are showing through.

The IT division at my university “spring cleaned” the top leadership yesterday…3 gone completely, a 4th (who was my boss) transferred to another area with a pay cut. The organization was broken, and apparently this is how they plan to fix it. Probably the best way, but not the most pleasant.

I wish I could. I haven’t worked in a garden since my grandparents had one and I just loved the fresh veggies.

Waiting for daffodils to bloom – it’s been a cold winter! Getting the ground ready to plant potatoes and onions this weekend. Sugar snap peas in a week or so. Also bringing the cabbage plants out of the garden shed to “harden them off” before planting. Robins just arrived en masse last week.

So much better than the depressing scene of Obama abandoning every constituency and the Tea Baggers frothing over at the mouth. God only knows how I got on their email list but it is amazing the incoherent drivel they publish (and believe).

I got a laugh out of congress this week, with the wingnuts claiming the people are dying to kill off hcr – and truth to tell, dying is the reality of the situation. You’re making me hungry for breakfast now, tho.

get thee to a coffereee!!!! (this is the actual saying from shakespear, they printed it wrong in the play)

once you start you’ll look forward to it, you develope new friends who are regulars wherever you have your coffee and you’ll want to see them every week, everyone will ask you what you are working on and you’ll take them for a swim in our lake

great stuff

you’ll then bring some bagels home for sunday and it will become a thing

Does it ever get “green” there?

me too!

I’ll be glad for the end of winter because I don’t like winter!

Of course! Very much so. You haven’t been watching too many westerns have you DeVeria? ;-)

LMAO! Yep, that too.

Good morning DeVeria and Firedogs! Yesterday I found our first crocus in bloom, a bright yellow one, and it (almost) made the long winter a bad memory. Here in piedmont NC we always have several periods of 60-ish weather in the winter, but not this time.

I’ve spread 60 bales of pine needles and 20 bags of mulch and have more to do today. I’m also planting some northern sea oats, extending a dry creek bed, and if my back holds out laying a new flagstone walkway. It’s supposed to be in the high 50s today which is perfect for yard work!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Hey Perris, I love Panera’s Greek salad and their new Mediterranean salmon salad. I was looking online for a knock-off recipe for the Greek salad dressing and supposedly they sell it in their bakery-cafes, but when I asked here I got blank looks. Just out of curiosity, would you ask yours while you are there if they sell it? Perhaps they quit and their website is out of date, or maybe it’s up to the franchisee and these don’t. Just wondering if I should keep looking.

Thanks, have at it, I do feel like I’m doing something to contribute to spring when I plant things.

Speaking only for myself, I do my little bit for creating desert when I plant things so I don’t even try anymore. My talents lie elsewhere.

Ouch! Cutbacks are never pleasant.

Maybe you would like container gardening, and your neighbor in Austin, WarOnWarOff, has an impressive spread of that.

I haven’t had a cabbage fresh out of the garden in over 25 years!

the manager says they tried selling their dressing but the fda made them stop because they didn’t have the labeling they needed with all the food facts you see on food jars

but if you develope a relationship with the manager they will usually do something for you

It sounds good…lets see if I can set my alarm for a little earlier!

onwards I go

might be able to see you guys later, if not enjoy the weekend

I guess so…another place Ive never visited.

Yes, they do. You spoke up for me yesterday and that’s a talent I appreciated.
You, too Ms. Molly. Thanks.
I’ve got pink jasmine blooming on my front porch, and there a small vase of them on my desk. Achoo.

My sister in law used to engage in that, before she went to med school. Now she has no time.

G’morning. You really have your work cut out for you today, don’t you. It is supposed to be beautiful here all weekend as well, so I’m going to work for a while and later this afternoon go scouting about.

before I go, if I might, they gave us a republic, one of the most informative blogs I’ve seen, second only to firedoglake, needs some casheroo to stay even, if you can give, give them a read, if you think you’ll make it a daily stop and you can them a help, they could use it
see all later

No, they’re not. The university leaders have been unhappy with our division for awhile. The CIO got the door in January, and we have an interim who seems willing to shake things up, starting with a change in leadership at the top. New folks transferred in on an interim basis to hold the fort until they hire a new CIO. I could retire tomorrow, but I’m not really ready so I will just wait to see what shakes out. Others are much less sanguine because they need their jobs.

And the HCR thing hits close to home. One very bright and talented young woman who wouldn’t have a problem finding another good job if she doesn’t like how it turns out is hamstrung by a husband who had leukemia and a bone marrow (stem cell) transplant and is doing well, but it’s a “pre-existing condition” in anyone’s book, so how would they find insurance if she goes elsewhere (he works at the university too)?

Sorry, I’m rambling…

Dont feel bad…me too

And I saw that you said hi to me yesterday, too, and i had already taken a powder. blessyou.

Have a good one!

OOOH that is a good idea. If they’d sell me a little container I would be delighted. Thanks for checking!!

Well, you should. Austin is neither conservative, nor deserty, though the natural state of things is a lot of scrub. Very rocky place, not much soil conducive to gardening except down southeast of town. But the music venues….heaven on Earth.

That is sad. Yes, that pre-existing condition is going to hurt them. Thats a lot to deal with.

Still under snow here in the west end of the Poconos. The sun has been stronger the last few days so perhaps something will come up soon. I love the many green colors of spring. First the very tips of the trees start with a hint of red buds – followed by light green. I think that is my favorite time of year. The wild turkeys come through most every day and are fun to watch. There are usually about 20 but the group has been getting larger. I live in the woods.

Did I really? Well I do like and respect you and I will speak against rudeness and stupidity when I encounter it. It hasn’t won me a lot of allies whether in the cyber world or the corporeal one but it’s who I am.

And I love music…hmmmm, gotta put it on the list!

Well those were pretty nasty remarks, Demi. We have a couple of commenters who stray across the civility line sometimes. I quit reading Greg Sargent’s Plumline blog because every comment thread degenerates into name calling between commenters and it simply gets tiresome.

I forgot my manners. Good Saturday Morning, friends.
I’ve heard that about the music scene. Very cool.

20 wild turkeys…together…at one time! See, I don’t know if I would be awestruck or just scared.

I’ve experienced the same thing. Wouldn’t you think that standing up for proper behavior would win you friends? Peoples be strange sometimes.

that must be a sign. Start building an ark, why don’t you?

Well, he’s alive a year after he was diagnosed and the transplant was successful and he’s been able to return to work, but still battles the after-effects: chronic graft vs. host disease, neuropathy in his feet from the radiation, and lately a fever they can’t find a reason for. And they’re in their early 30s and stuck in place because of insurance.

I once saw 101 Wild Turkeys together…in a bottle. Never again….

The ugliness seems designed for the purpose of getting rid of otherwise worthwhile commenters, which makes me stubborn enough to stay around. Tho am not familiar with that blog.

My place is all fenced so it is safe although they do go the other way if I go out to watch them and make noise or the dogs come out and bark at them. They are a hoot to watch if they fly but they mostly walk or run on the ground. They are quite big birds.

I go back to what Rowling said through a character in one of her books, “Sometimes people find it harder to forgive people for being right than to forgive them for being wrong”. I think sometimes when rudeness or arrogance or stupidity is called out, people who see those things in themselves react viscerally. They almost always react defensively, as if I’m calling out the person, rather than the dogma, belief or manners of that person.

I am either stubborn or tenacious. Don’t know which, and there have been times here at the Lake when there was a lot of Stuff to wade through. I just hold my nose and keep going.
PS, I’m typing in the dark here. My 22 year old son is staying with us right now. On the couch, with a friend and I don’t want to turn on a lamp and wake them up.

I have to agree and also say you are a smart cookie. :)

I stopped hanging around eschaton for that reason. there is a clique of people there and if one member doesn’t like you, they will band together to drive you away if they can. I would have stayed through stubborness but in the end, I hang around at blogs for education and enjoyment, not to raise my blood pressure.

early 30′s? geez, that’s younger than me…

Why thank you! I of course feel the same way about you.

Greg writes good posts, and occasionally responds to a comment in a thread, but there’s a small group of regulars who comment (seems like fewer than a dozen) and they just call each other snarky names. I sometimes read his posts and then just skip the comments altogether, unlike FDL where I learn a LOT from the commenters.

Here’s his blog.

I occasionally get a commenter who seems determined to critique without actually giving a cause for the criticism, like the one here yesterday calling progressives antisemitic and sexist. That one finally, when pressed,admitted that the accusation was based on another comment from another thread which was totally unlike what he claimed it was. No reason for the nastiness that any of us could see.

Wow! You’re doing a wonderful job. If I tried to type in the dark, it would resemble Ray Charles solving a Rubik’s Cube!

I have a group of friends at eschaton that are worth having conversations with, along with a few others who just don’t seem to have a lot to say that interests me. I find that the afternoon attracts the really worthless ones, so usually get off early.

Yeah it was quite an ordeal. We had a bone marrow donor drive here, although a perfect match was found before we did. “Perfect” is a little bit misleading, since there are major factors they compare for a match but a lot of other factors in bone marrow and I assume an identical twin would have a match of all factors, but usually they look at the major ones. He probably will battle the after-effects for years. I would imagine the insurance costs (medical bills) are in the millions for something like this.

I think some people just come to comment threads to get affirmation for their prejudices and it acts as a balm for their own hostility. Either that or it’s a simple matter of getting one’s jollies. It gets old though. When my computer died, I wasn’t in a big hurry to replace it and probably would still be without one if it wasn’t so necessary to my job hunt. Anonymity makes people even less inhibited than alcohol I think.

thanks, I’ve seen him quoted before, will check on him sometimes.

It’s probably not nice of me to talk about other people, but we do have some real characters here. I think it’s particularly funny when a commenter questions, Why am I the only person who cares about such and such. And, also the commenters who accuse others of not carrying about an issue just because they’re not yelling, screaming and kicking their feet. Know what I mean?

There are some great people at eschaton! Yep, don’t get me wrong. I admire Chicago Dyke and I personally really like smoke. There are others of course but there comes a point when between the facsimile trolls and the cliquish group that it becomes more trouble than it’s worth.

Well, pups, the sun is shining (for the fourth straight day!!!) and I need to get a shower and get moving on Saturday errands.

Be well, everyone! BBL.

Oh yeah…The “your obviously not serious because you refuse to hyperventilate about it” genre. I’ll turn 50 in a couple of months. That’s a game for the young.

If I need to see a key, I pull down my lap top screen and use the light from that. But, it’s starting to get light out now anyway. Thanks for the complement, tho.

Laters Molly! Have a great Saturday. I won’t be around next Saturday myself. I’m going to Beth’s eighth annual fiftieth birthday party and it lasts all week.

Good Morning DeVeria and Firedogs -

been missing this thread for weeks – so very happy to see (((y’all))) in real time

saw the first returning Swift of spring on Wednesday – our bluebonnets are just around the corner !

I’m sure. My father had a double transplant about five years ago and is getting ready to have another kidney transplant and the hospital bills have been astronomical.

Yes, totally…I don’t ever yell, scream or kick my feet…but, that doesn’t mean I don’t care.

Funny, ChiDyke got me posting at correntewire, which she started. Then I had to stop there, because I just disagreed with too many of the postings and didn’t like to spend my time arguing.

demi, agreed, we have a good group here that doesn’t seem to be out of sorts with each other.

See yaz, Moll.

Enjoy your day!

G’morning! It won’t be long…

I’m going to get going too. It’s going to rain today I think so it’s a good day to pull out all the camping gear and go through it and get it ready for the spring. Sayoonara koinu!

(Singing) We belong to a mut u al, admiration society, my puppers and me.

Unfortunately, she fits the description of “you must not be serious because you refuse to hyperventilate” sometimes. I still like her but she’s best in small doses.

Hiya, sweets. Would you like to smell my pink jasmine? They’re more fragrant than the white ones, but have a very short blooming time.

Watch that mild mannered stuff, it’ll make you mellow.

Bye bye. You camp too? We’ve got reservations at the beach for Easter.

Small doses are a specialty of mine! Which yes, means I am about to go get breakfast, thanks for all the good tho’ts and conversation.

Oh yeah. I camp a couple of times a year and I’m going to bring a tent and cot to Beth’s since I’m not on party staff this year. And now really, Sorosoro shitsuree shimasu. Sayoonara koinu! (I’d better be leaving now. Goodbye pups!)

love pink jasmine – daughter cbl and I strolling the streets of Solvang where some sweet merchant lady gave her some. . . “‘mell it, ‘mell the pretty mommy!”

and how are you “dearie” ? think Ms Suzanne issued oldnslow a timeout over that one

See ya Margaret!

That’s the point…lol

“dearie”. Right! I didn’t see what your mister said. Yeah I guess it was modded. Sheesh. That guy just hates me, for some reason. Oh, well.

Breakfast does sound like a good idea, enjoy!

Have you been a good girl and taking time to eat a breakfast? I recall you were going to try to do that.

Spring . . . am personally on a major cleaning jag. it all started with finding something that would actually clean my nemesis; the fiberglass tub/shower enclosure. oldnslow now advises the cats not to sit in one place too long …”or she’ll spray ya with something!”

Beautiful snowdrop.

Yes, I do a bowl of cereal and a piece of fruit just about every morning. I have been very good about that so far this year.

I’m going to take one complete day and just go through my entire apt…the thing is finding the day.

thanks…i think so too

I’m very proud of you.

I must say I find the “Iranian Bombs” in Iraq ad showing at top this morning very offensive. It’s blood money, that revenue stream.

me too…just have to keep it up. I also ordered my vitamins…now, just to take them every day.

So healthy! What’s next? Swimming? *g*

Good for you…and Good Morning….and with a push from Perris, I think, I have mostly given up coffee. Waiting to see how to discuss that experience.

actually…close…water aerobics!

Good Morning, Bev. How’s the good reverend this beautiful spring morning?

G’morning. Thats good…Ive never been a coffee drinker.

You really are following up on your resolutions, aren’t you? By the time your godson’s running around, you’ll be fit for chasing.

you’re a chai tea lady, aren’t you?

never drank coffee or tea -I used to be a coke fiend, best habit I ever broke.

Movin’ very ol’& slow….Watching the lovely cat who woke me up more than once!!! How ’bout you?

do you mean by Mr. DeVeria? ;)

I hope so…i have to work on my mobility.

yep, love it…but I dont even drink that like I once did.

Oh, I’m chasing him now. He doesnt stand a chance!

We’re all fine. My 22 year old son is staying with us again. I call him the Runaway Bunny. He’s looking for a job, which is tough business these days, but I like him being here. He’s helping out with chores and stuff.

PS He eats a lot, but I don’t mind. big grin.

Enjoy…

Morning All !
Late wake up today ,thought I’d stop by and say hello .
That’s if anyone’s still around !

Speaking of spring ,we are having a beautiful spring like day today ,the snow is gone and the backyard thermometer reads a whopping 55 degrees !

G’morning! It is supposed to be nice here too all weekend. I plan to enjoy both days!

Mornin’, DeVeria, pups

With all this talk about coffee methinks I’ll hafta make a cup.

Lol

Now that spring is just around the corner how about a last look at fun in the snow with some puppers. Scroll down a little bit for the snowboarding dogs clip.

This is a larger screen version. http://vimeo.com/9168398

Can’t stay around to chat

DeVeria enjoy the spring like weather this weekend.
Hope you all have a great day

I’m off

I will…enjoy

Woof!

Interesting you said that about the buds–I was out walking yesterday afternoon, and just for a minute, I got a definite smell of spring in the air. You know, that combination of earth and plants and warmth and just a vague scent of something starting to grow and blossom.

I don’t live in the woods, in fact it’s very suburban, but there is a wildlife reservation near me and last year, I had a pair of wild turkeys spend a couple of days in my backyard. The male was really amusing, with his display of tail feathers for the female who seemed more interested in my spilled bird seed than in him. Amazing how fast such big birds can run.