UFFDA - my back is killing me. Ole and I have been busy changing the "face" of our backyard. We tore out a very large flowerbed and replaced it with over 200 pavers and built a firepit. I guess I proved to myself that I can still work like an old plow horse - even if the temperatures have been in the 90s over the last two days. And those of you who live in other parts of the world don't understand what a temperature of 90 means in Minnesota - because the humidity is at 90% at the same time!! And that makes it VERY HOT!
Below is what that area looked like last year. Quite a transformation, don't cha' think? And a lot less work this fall and next spring.
And we have 13 new little family members that actually managed to hatch!! This is one very busy mama duck. We have ducks on the river every year, but no mama has managed to get her eggs to hatch for years because of the instability of the river level. Every time it rains the river rises several feet and floods the nest out. This year the river level has remained high throughout the spring so she must have built her nest on a high spot and lucked out because the river went down instead of up.
They're so busy peeping and pecking for bugs and worms every morning and evening. And Mama is ever on guard watching and protecting. I'm going to throw some grain out in that area to keep them coming back.
Well, we're having another "rain event" today. That's what the local weatherman has started to call them - "rain events." We don't just get a nice shower now and then - we get deluged for days at a time. It's getting really old and very depressing.
I got an email from someone named Rhea this morning - asking whether or not there are still any hoboes around (reference yesterday's entry.) Well, Rhea, I currently live just a half-mile from where I grew up next to Bum's Jungle and haven't seen any hoboes back in that area for years. A few years back there was a hobo convention that took place on the east side of the state, and that summer we had a ton of Folks on Foot that were making their way to the convention. Minnesota is noted as being a really easy welfare state, especially the county that I live in. So at that time, all the hoboes would hop off the trains in the city, go to the welfare office and collect $360 and then hop back on the freights and head for the convention. At that time you didn't even have to establish residency in Minnesota - they would just give you money. If I remember correctly there were several thousand hoboes that attended that convention - so I guess the answer is "yes" - there are still hoboes around. But at this point it's a very rare occasion that I see one riding the rails. My buddy, Art, used to ride the rails and has an interesting story posted on his blog. I'm sure he's got more to tell, he's just got to pull them out of his memory banks.
By the way, Rhea, I don't recognize your name - what's your blogger name?
I'm really disappointed in you folks - I guess my blog isn't as well-read as I had thought - or are you just trying to keep me from getting a big head (snicker). Only a few people have signed my Notify List that's WAAAYY down on the bottom of the page. If you would like to continue to read Lena's Latest Gossip and be notified when I update, please sign up so I don't have to cry and feel really bad. (sniff, sniff, pulls tissue from box.)
10 comments:
yea, i went there one time to the hobo convention!!! and i did get my $360 too!! all ya had to do was make believe you could not read, and act retarded. and they gave us $180 in food stamps too at the time!! there was a a guy at the convention that bought our food stamps 50 cents on the dollar, that means i got an additional $90!i dont think the good state of mimi-soda is as liberal today with the welfare money and food stamps as it was back then!!
What an awesome transformation in your yard! Lot's of hard work for sure. It looks so inviting! But what happened to all of your beautious flowers??
Your yard is GORGEOUS! Mine looks like... I don't know what. Something quite unattractive. Heh.
I'm here! I'm picking you up on the RSS feed (although I think I'm on your groups list, too.)
You ARE loved, just loved via Google Reader.
Uffda, there's actually water in our ditch don't ya know?
We have been dry since we moved here in 02, and now will it ever stop? I can't complain though.. yes I can. :)
Cute picture of the ducks. Wood ducks? Aren't those Red eyes awesome?
Anyways, your backyard sure looks like a pro did it Lena!! I bet that you are sore! We put in 2 trees and for a change they are getting water logged. They thrived in the back yard so we transplanted to the front.
don't give up with your blog! I love your stories.
MY garden is about the size of a POSTAGE STAMP in comparison to yours! I like the fireppit idea, but I would have wanted to keep the old garden as well. Was it not possible to do BOTH???
The yard was very pretty last year but this year is beautiful!
I love the duck family. What kind of ducks are they?
RSS feeds are part of a news reader page, like Google Reader that I use and several other people have started using. For example, I signed in at Google Reader and had it look for your blog and added it to my list. Now, when you update, your blog name turns bold on my Google Reader page so I know you've updated. In addition to blogs, I've added dozens of sites (news, gossip, Harry Potter), and their names turn bold when there's something new on them. As for copying over the archives, the only way to do it is to go into edit/delete at dland, open an entry, copy it, go to blogger, start a new entry, and paste it in. But before you post it, click "post options" at the bottom of the screeen and it will let you change the date and time of the "new" post to whatever you want (the date of the original dland post.) I've only done a few, but it sounds pretty time consuming to do the whole thing. (Although I'll probably do it anyway.)
You know I Heart you! And that rain you've been keeping all to yourself? Could you please send a bunch of it down here? We've had hardly any and I can't keep watering my flowers all the dang time! Uff dah!
Post a Comment