Agricultural Report

Reporting from Serendipity--here's your agricultural report: the pecan tree is loaded down with nuts and some are starting to fall. Even I know, however, that they're not ready yet. Guess I'll start gathering boxes, tins, whatever. Look for your package in the mail this fall.

I'm determined to have flowers around this house. All of the bushes are overgrown with the exception of my roses. They are struggling. Can't get a toehold. The location is right but something in the soil is eating them alive. Those that are surviving give a bloom every now and then but they look mighty feeble. I lucked up on two oleander bushes which I had in D.C., and they will bloom much better next year. If it thrived in D.C., there is no reason why it won't live down here. I finally got to see the "bare naked ladies" I'd been told about. They are a type of lily and beautiful. I was given some but they didn't come up. Maybe next year. I've located a source on the internet and will buy some to plant this fall. Also located some "ditch lilies," aka tiger lily in the DC area, and planted those. The caladiums are humongous. They evidently love the space along the newspaper fence. The hostas did pretty good there, too, but there is a spot where there's just too much shade and the plants are puny. Everyone's cannas are up and in full bloom. Mine are just letting the world know that they exist. What's up with that? The tomato plant gave up a few more tomatoes for my eating pleasure. And one of the "new" azaleas died. Dead. Gave up the ghost. Honeysuckle has overtaken the azalea out back. You can't even tell that there's a bush underneath. Same with the huge bush engulfing the rose bush. Guess I'll spend my weekend trimming because they are out of control.

Each time I take the ride to Brownsville and back, I see something I hadn't noticed before. Several people own a horse or two, but all of a sudden, I'm seeing herds of cows in fields where they weren't before. You can tell which ones are being raised for profit and then there is the pen which has about three or four of the dirtiest, puniest cows you've ever seen. And someone has a few Shetland ponies. I don't have a clue as to what is growing in the fields but it is everywhere. I'm continually amazed by the expanse of land. I passed a home somewhere on my travels which looked as though it were on park land. It was an "estate", could have easily been pictured on a postcard or painting. There wasn't another home around and the area around the house was huge, treed, and well-manicured.

And then there are the birds. Saw some water bird, probably a crane, posed on one leg in a pond on my way in one morning. Lots of ponds, some with no fishing, no trespassing signs posted. Watched a bird of prey swoop in and land with a thump; just kind of dropped out of the sky after a very graceful descent. I was going too fast to figure out whether it was an eagle or a hawk. Let's just say it was huge and big. Saw a beautiful black bird with orange spots on its wings. Have absolutely no clue what it was. And then there's the hummingbird who visits the Rose of Sharon bush out front.

Veering from the agricultural report, here's what's going on with Alpha Male. "He's not a people person." Give me a break. The man's been there less than a month. Definitely not a "touchy-feeley" person, that I'll agree on, but then neither am I. Decisive. I like that.

The Lord is good! All the time. So congrats to brother and friend, Midgie, on their new rides, courtesy of the "Clunker" program. Enjoy. And a moment of prayer for soror and cousin, Joanne, on the death of her mother. Joanne and I met in college, partied, and learned after a few years that her mother and mine were related. It's a small world, after all. Never got to put the links together on that side of the family from Cheraw, SC. Please put that family history together and pass it on!

I'll be back to you. Be Blessed.