Earthquakes & other Stuff!

Yesterday, we had a lovely earthquake. I didn't enjoy it. It was a little too sharp and loud for me. It also brought back memories of the '87 earthquake, that I really didn't like. I'm glad the earth has stopped rocking and rolling at this point.

It's been a busy week. The garden is in overdrive. I haven't blogged about it for awhile. Here's a picture of Monday's harvest. The zucchinis are coming out of our ears. We had a good batch of tomatoes. I got at least one tomato off of each plant. I even picked our little green pepper. It was starting to go red, so I knew it wasn't going to grow anymore. The torpedo there was "hiding!" The big dark green one was popping up through the trellis of the grape tomatoes. We took the tomatoes to a friend's house. Tried to pawn off the zucchini, but they still had some from last time! I guess we'll get to use the fun Kitchen Aid grater again! It will freeze and it will make great bread!

Monday night we had the Elders over for dinner. They live around the corner from us and they stop by often to fill their bike tires with air!
Elder Nielsen is from Washington, Elder Beck is from Utah, his parents recently moved to New Harmony. Elder Major is from Orem, UT and Elder Pennington from West Virginia. They enjoyed their first earthquake!!! This picture is from dinner the other night. Eddie made his world famous French Toast! They loved it! We enjoy having them in our home and the spirit they bring with them. We get very attached to them and then they get transfered! Boo Hoo!

Back to the Earthquake! Kinda made my Preparedness Poll a little more real huh? That's my challenge to all who read this blog. Do something this week for your emergency preparedness. Even if it's only buying an extra case of drinking water!! I'm excited to see if there will be a run on it this week around here. I'm waiting until the 1st to add more. We also need to check our 72 hour kits. I put them together last August, so we should have rotated them in February! Better late than never!! That's are preparedness goal for August, rotate the 72 hour kit supplies and more water! Actually filling the 2-50 gallon drums would probably be wise too!!! If ye are prepared ye shall not fear!

California Dreamin'

As if I haven't tortured Eddie enough in the last month, last night he took me to the "Inland Empire Dance Festival." It was held at University of Redlands stadium. It was a wee bit smaller than the Rose Bowl! There were lots of people there and lots of youth having the time of their life. Let's see the positive things: It was a great experience for the youth to be in a dance festival and to be together with so many other kids their own age with the same beliefs and doing something positive! The entry was fun to watch as they all came running into the "stadium" from the two, I guess, end zones. I liked that they all changed into red, white or blue shirts for the "finale" and made a huge flag, minus the stars! They also had 232 American flags and the missionaries got to carry in the state flags and they enjoyed that! There was actually a plane or something that was filming from above that would give aireal shots on the "jumbo tron" during the grand entrance and finale. During the entrance it was still light outside and we thought God was filming it! During the finale there was actually a little light in the sky, which had to be a plane filming it. I probably enjoyed the Disney Medley the best. It had the most props. They danced to "Once Upon a Dream" "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Colors of the Wind." The dance after that was probably the best as far as straight lines and actual precision moves that were almost all in sync. It was "Oye Come Va" The deacons who did the "Get 'Cha Head in the Game" with Basketballs, did have a cool snake like roll and considering they were deacons, they did very well. The dances before that were all over the place. I'm glad that they were having a great time. That was the main point!

Eddie enjoyed, mildly, the little girl dancing from the Tongan Cucamonga Ward and the fireworks. He spent the first part of the night giving me the "you owe me big time for this" look.

We were out of Redlands in record time!

As a 3 time Dance Festival veteran I know the fun the youth experienced this past weekend. I

can also honestly say we were very spoiled with the experiences we had in the 70's and 80's. I'm glad the youth of the Inland Empire got to experience a portion of what I did! It's all good!

Enchiladas

Our latest adventure was making Enchiladas for dinner last night.

Eddie's made them before by himself and I've made them by myself, but we've never done them together! We used Eddie's recipe. He makes a different sauce than I do. It's good!

Before we started the cooking, we grated the cheese! This was the best part of the adventure! We've had the shredder/slicer attachment for our jumbo Kitchen Aid mixer, but we've never used it before! We had 5 pounds of monterey jack cheese. We weren't planning to grate it all, but it was so much fun we did! Some of it is in the freezer now!!!

It works great!

We each had our own jobs in putting the enchiladas together. Eddie was frying and drying the tortillas and dumping them in the sauce. My job was to retrieve them from the sauce fill them with cheese and roll them up and put them in their place in the pan. We did quite well if I do say so myself.

I had boiled and fried beans the night before. After putting the enchiladas in the oven for baking, I made some spanish rice! It was a delicious dinner and we'll probably be eating it all weekend! It's nice because we don't have to cook, but I kinda get tired of the same stuff!

Eddie is working right now. Electrician stuff. I got "da mudder" off to dialysis and now I'm waiting for Eddie to return, blogging and doing the laundry.

Tonight, much to Eddie's dismay, we are going to the Dance Festival in Redlands! I haven't been to a dance festival since the last one I was in, 1985! I've been in 3: 1976, 1980, 1985, all at the Rose Bowl. I attended one in I'll guess 1972. My brothers were in it, also at the Rose Bowl. It will be fun to be in the audience again! Have a great weekend!

Rambling Thoughts

I haven't blogged for a few days, and you're probably grateful I don't have garden pictures to post. (The garden is still growing!)
This morning I thought I would just free write about life in the last few days.
We have friends/ward members moving in a week or so for Napa! We are envious of the adventure they are about to embark on. We long for the day when we too will be able to spread our wings and fly. For now, we are content at the moment to be where we are and serve as we are asked too.
Eddie worked all day yesterday for Cheek Electric. He hasn't worked for Mike since the end of May. It's been fun having him home. I do get more done here at home when he is working, but we do have a great time when he's home all day too.
Yesterday, I actually fixed 3 whole meals! My mom and I had pancakes for breakfast, I made chicken salad sandwiches for lunch, and dinner was hot and on the table by the time Eddie was out of the shower, after a hot and sweaty day of work. Homemade Macaroni and Cheese, (NOT KRAFT!) Green beans with bacon and almonds, and a nice mixture of zucchini, summer squash, onions and tomatoes for my mom and I. (Too many vegies for Eddie!) It was delicious!
I didn't go to any stores, not even a grocery store. I only left for a little over an hour to help the missionaries teach a discussion. That was a great experience. It's been a while since I was able to do that.
I would have like to have accomplished more. I did get the entire back yard watered. Eddie does that when he's home, but I did it because he was working.
We even had a brief Family Home Evening last night. We sang and prayed and watched Boyd K. Packer's talk on "The Weak and Simple of the Church." That is the talk the Elders used earlier in the day and I thought it was something Eddie and I needed to watch again!
We have been very blessed in the last almost two years to be instruments in the hands of the Lord with some dear friends of ours. The Lord surely works in mysterious ways and we often find ourselves on their doorstep when we are needed. Thus was the case this past weekend. What a blessing it is to have a worthy Priesthood holder in my home...yes, I'm talking about Eddie Plummer! (I said God works in mysterious ways!!!) To have watched the Lord work through him in the past two years and to watch his comfort level increase while perfoming the Lord's work is truly a testimony builder. We are grateful for our friends who provide the growing experiences we have learned so much through. Their pathway looks much brighter this very day, thanks to the gracious hand of the Lord in their lives!
Today is a dialysis day! My mom has a new lump on her arm...I believe the techinical term is an aneurysm of her AVF (arteriovenuous fistula). I will go to dialysis today and ask about it. She's had out-patient surgery twice on these, so we'll see what happens!
Eddie is off work today, so it's been a lazy day! I did make biscuits for breakfast. I did cheat and use Bisquick. I don't have a sifter!! I need a sifter! Maybe today I'll go SHOPPING and get a sifter!!
Tonight is the Tuesday night Picnic at Palm Park for the ward. We have them every other Tuesday! Tonight we're actually cooking the left over hamburgers and hotdogs from the Pioneer picnic last Saturday. I need to go shopping for lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles!
Eddie is working at midnite tonight. He has the last two Tuesday nights also. He's removing all the shelves from Blockbusters. Tonight he goes to Woodland Hills. Last week he was far away in Pico Rivera on Rosemead and Whittier! ha ha ha! (For those who don't know, we live in Pico Rivera, not far from Rosemead and Whittier!) It's extra cash!! I do miss him at night when he's gone. He's been able to get the job accomplished in a farely short time. It's usually 3 people. Tonight he'll work with the same 2 guys he worked with last week.
This past weekend, my niece Shannon & Matt & kids were down for Matt's brother's wedding. They came over for dinner on Sunday with Bill & Sheila. We grilled shish-kabobs again! I also made Yummy Salad to go with it. It was fun to see them. I got to hold Baby Dylan for awhile. He is a happy baby! I got him to talk to me. I talk to babies using the language of Pebbles Flintstone. It works every time!!! I have no idea what I'm saying, but babies always respond! Once Levi woke up he was fun to watch. I loved watching him eat his shish-kabob. He ate like corn on the cob. It's kinda a great way to kids to eat. Stick everything on a stick and let them hold on to the ends and munch away! He's a cute kid! It was nice spending some time with them. We like going to visit them in Sacramento too!
Eddie is finishing up the eggs I started boiling! He's the deviled egg maker. Marissa Armstrong loves his deviled eggs and so I'm sure we'll be headed over to their house to deliver some of them before the afternoon is over.
I forgot! I also made Rice Krispy Treats last night. Eddie hates marshmallows, but it's something my mom can eat!!! She is NOT diabetic. She has lots of other dietary restrictions, but she can have as much sugar as she wants!
I just asked Eddie what we need to do today: he's going to Z's to fix their toilet and he might go to the Petrell's to help Jay do something and then we have the picnic tonight. I guess I get to go shopping and then slice stuff for tonight and that's about it! I guess I better be going! Thanks for reading my ramblings! Life is good!

GardenZilla

So....this is a picture of our garden yesterday. A whole lot over grown and where does one plant end and another one start. Granted there are 4 tomato plants and 2 squash in one plot! Imagine the crowding!!! I tell Eddie we're going to create a new vegetable: The Tomaush or the Squato!!!

The cherry tomatoes in this photo are overgrowing everything!!! Something must be done!
We're not even sure what happened to the peppers. They're under there somewhere! It's starting to invade the herbs! The squashes too! They're not even in the same plot! So, yesterday we picked up some trellis' at Home Depot. We needed to somehow get them in their own spaces and untangled from each other and OFF THE GROUND! Fortunately it was overcast this morning, so we got everything tied up! Some of the vines are just laying across, but all of the beef steak are tied up! They weigh a ton!!!!

The cherry tomatoes on the right here are so out of control. They're all out of control. We actually discovered that the Roma tomatoes are a nice little bush and they didn't need to be corralled at all. Tons of fruit though! I just called a tomato a fruit! Whatever!
The beef steak tomatoes are tied up to two trellis' There are too many of them.

We did find the pepper plants under the cherry tomatoes. There are two peppers on the one and nothing has grown since the three purples one we already ate!

This is one of the reasons we needed to get control of gardenzilla as Eddie now calls it!

A conjoined triplet! The biggest, ripest one has worm holes.

This is our trashcan! Unfortunately we lost a lot of vines with fruit on them. They snapped alot when we were trying to untangle them. I read a lot today about tomatoes and zucchinis and growing them and all the things we should have done! We'll see if the plants recover from the shock we've put them through and if the fruits they're already baring will ripen! It's a learning experience and there's always next year!

Zucchini Bread

My day began with Eddie leaving for the temple around 6:30 a.m. I actually got up too. I decided today I would try and use the torpedo zucchini and make some bread. I don't think I've ever made zucchini bread, but I have a good recipe from Viola Thurber in West Valley 3rd Ward. It was easy enough. I was able to get two loafs our of maybe a fourth of the zucchini. Okay, maybe less than a fourth. I suppose we'll be shredding the rest and freezing. The bread was done before Mom was awake and ready for breakfast. It's de-li-cious! I made some scrambled eggs to go with it. She's taking a piece with her to dialysis. I just had a brilliant thought...we'll send zucchinis to dialysis too.
This is the part of the yard I planted petunias and hydrangeas in. The far hydrangea is not happy. The one in the middle has several knew blooms! The petunias are doing fine.

This is the next plot of dirt I'm going to garden. There's already the stumps of my Grandma Wanlass' naked lady plant. It's dormant. In the next month or two it will have flowers popping out of it. It's really hard to find out how to take care of it. You can't google "naked lady plant" and not get bad stuff!!!! Actually I haven't even tried, but I know better than to open that door! I need to find the scientific name for it and look it up that way. It needs to be thinned and possibly re-located! It's was moved to this spot from Bakersfield, so I know it's possible!!! What will I do with this spot???? I want a pumpkin patch, but don't tell Eddie 'cuz he doesn't want me to grow pumpkins!!!! Probably not a good place for a pumpkin patch because it's next to the sidewalk and the gate and across from the trashcans! We'll see!!!

This is the aloe vera I need to replant and thin and make about 12 other plants out of! At least I haven't killed it yet. My friend, Dottie gave it to my last October when I went to visit her in Las Vegas! She has a good green thumb.

I was going to blog all kinds of stuff the last few days, but I didn't! So, this will have to do for today! I'm tired. Should've slept in!!! Nah! I got lots done this morning! Well, until I blog again!

Trick-or-Treating in the Garden

Before church Eddie went out and took a peek in the garden! He was very pleased with himself because he found two squash that were ready to be harvested. After church I decided to go out and take a look at the garden. I was so surprised! I went back in the house and told Eddie he was terrible at trick-or-treating in the garden!!!! I made him go out and look again! In one corner we found 3 huge torpedos!!!! The other side a little large one and then I made him pick 3 cherry tomatoes!!!!
That's the big one!

This is what we found in the garden!!

Our harvest!

The tomatoes are turning a little yellow! There are tons of them! When they are ripe...they'll be coming to a blog near you!!!!!

Wicked!

Saturday, July 12th was the last day of our 2nd anniversary celebration. We went and saw Wicked again!

We were on the opposite side of the stage from last year. So, we had a different perspective. It was still wonderful! Most of the cast had changed, but they were still good!

We always forget that there's more to the show than what's on the soundtrack! Besides being a good story and great music...it's hilarious as well!

I suppose it was our last trip to OZ!

It was a great visit! A great adventure! Maybe somewhere over the rainbow or down the yellow brick road we'll see it again!!!!

What Stinks?

So Eddie tells me last Wednesday night, "I think something died in the garage?" I was so thrilled to hear this! He opened the garage door, took me outside and WOW! What a smell! He said, we'd figure out what died in the morning. Nice way to get a good night sleep huh?! So the next morning we opened the garage and he was walking here and there in it, trying to figure out what was smelling so bad. I told him it reminded me of my grandma's house....gas leak! When we'd leave the garage door open for awhile, the stink would move out 2 or 3 feet! So we called the gas company they said they'd send someone out between the time I called and 8pm. I guess we're staying home today! So, while we waited for them we would go out and smell every now and then to see if we could figure out where it was coming from. We didn't. It would be in one spot and then another. It was a very tricky stink! The Gas Co. showed up around 1:30pm. They did find a gas leak, a small one. He fixed it, but it wasn't causing the horrid smell. By this time, my mom was at dialysis, I had a headache from inhaling the stink and so Eddie took me out for ice cream! I gave up Coke on June 1st. (I was really proud of having gone this long without a caffeine binge, except for the occasional chocolate, which I'm not addicted to, like I was Coke.) My head was feeling so bad, I was really thinking, you DESERVE a coke! Plus! He was taking me to Ruby's Diner! They have de-li-cious Vanilla Cokes! I was so talking myself into the Vanilla Coke. Thankfully, when we got to Ruby's Diner they handed us a little menu with their shakes of the month! It's all about Chocolate! I ended up with a Chocolate Banana Shake! Delicious! So, I still haven't had a coke in 44 days! Woo Hoo! No more altered state of reality for me. It's kinda funny now that I've been off it, I realize how much it does mask alot of .... senses let say!!!! Oh, so sorry, I have gone on a coke tangent! Back to what died in the garage.... So, we decide that the next morning we will pull EVERYTHING out of the garage to find out what died. We woke up the next morning very much not looking forward to hauling EVERYTHING out of the garage. So, I told Eddie just get the Miracle Grow out and we'll see if that helps! He kept saying that the stink was organic and it had to be the fertilizer! So he filled up his lovely wheel barrow (see other blog!) and that didn't help the stink, but it was keeping it in one place!!! We smelled the back corner...no stink there. We smelled by the dryer....no stink there. We walked past the work bench! YUK! Stink!!! There was a big red tub that had "stuff" in it, and then more "stuff" piled on it! I bent over and took a whiff! What a mistake! I found the STINK! So I ran and Eddie pulled the red tub out and went through it. There in the bottom of the tub was an OLD GLASS bottle of MALATHION!!! INSECT POISON!!!!! I now feel sorry for bugs! So, Eddie did what only a guy could do, he wrapped it in a couple grocery bags and DUCT TAPE! I provided a box we stuck it in and then we put it in a 5 gallon pail! Eddie seat belted it in the back seat of the car and we drove with all the windows opened to a Hazardous Waste place out past DI in Los Angeles and disposed of it!!!!! A few things lost their lives. A couple of Eddie's "work" shirts and the Red tub and who knows what else! Oh....the smell! So my advise to you is don't keep your old glass bottle of malathion around. It might tip over and eat a hole in the lid and kill you! Tomorrow is the 18th anniversary of my Dad's death. The malathion was one of his garden treasures we hadn't parted with, until Friday!!! Don't keep bug poison around for over 20 years!!!!!

The Great Dialysis Scam

Well, today my Mom had an extra dialysis session. She came home goofier than ever, but still very entertaining. She was so serious and it was so hard to keep from laughing. I did laugh a few times. She discovered today that now that she's been at "all 4 sessions"(whatever that means!) it's all a big SCAM! They're ripping off the Government and she doesn't want to go back to dialysis again because she's going to get in trouble for them scamming the FEDS. She went on and on. I asked her if she wanted to call the FBI! I told her that if she didn't go back she would die. Her answer to that was, "That's what they tell you!" It's all a scam! I think we have her convinced to go again tomorrow. It will be fun to hear what stories she has when she gets home! She went for an extra session because she's very congested and it will help remove fluids from her lungs! I guess it also clues her into the great Scam that's going on! She was only on for 2 hours today, 1:30 - 3:30. She got home at around 4:15. According to her, they didn't put her on until 3:00, but she was on for 2 hours. No one talked to her, there were just a bunch of old people there and some nurse she's never seen before said, "Hi Billie!" when she got there! It's all a Scam!!!!! She told me she was afraid of getting in trouble for ripping off the government because she was too smart to play dumb! It was hilarious and I wish I'd had a camera to tape it all for you! Even audio tape would have been hilarious too. The look on her face though! It was priceless!!!! She even told us that her cute Dr. Lange would make more money selling his body than ripping off the Government!

Just another day in Paradise!

The Garden

I guess I don't have kids to write about, so I write about my garden. My brother, Bill, asked for a picture with the "Titanic" in it. So here it is. The last time I grew tomatoes, I grew them in the "Titanic." That was 2001. Tody and I made the "Titanic" for deep root watering! I should have planted them there this time too. They would have had more room. I keep saying I'm going to plant in this plot, but I haven't done it yet! I will!

This is a picture of the Big Beef Steak tomatoes that have appeared over night! They're huge!

There's a ton of them. The bottom half of them are starting to turn yellow!!! I know they're all going to ripen at the same time and I'll be up to my ears in tomatoes in various forms!!!

These are the grape tomatoes! They're huge!!! I found a ripe one today! It's the second one I've picked! They never last long enough to take a picture! They are delicious though!
These are the cherry tomatoes. They are huge too! Eddie thinks they're the beef steak tomatoes! They're bigger than any cherry, or cherry tomato I've ever seen!

They are hiding from us too! It's a good thing they turn red! That's the only way will ever find them all!! They're everywhere!

Speaking of hiding! We found 3 more zucchini's today. I keep forgetting the "h" when I spell zuccini. It never looks right when I spell it wrong, but with the h you should pronounce it differently! Sounds more Italian!!
Found this little guy today too. We may cut him down tomorrow! See all the blossoms! Signs of things to come!!!!!

The cilantro is still nuts. My friend, Dottie, told me to cut it back and it will be fine! The basil is going to seed I'm afraid too. It has blossoms. If anyone out there needs some basil, or curly parsley, or sage...let me know. If you're interested in tomatoes, I'm sure we'll be able to spare a few when they're ripe!

I Survived!!!!

It was probably the best Sunday I've had in a long time!! My lesson went okay and I was at church for all 3 hours. I think immersing myself in the scriptures in preparation for my lesson made a huge difference! We're definately going to do more of that. Immersing, not teaching! HA! I told someone today I hoped it wasn't an audtion!!! We'll see how next Sunday goes when I don't "get" to teach!!

We found this growing in the garden. It was delicious!!!! Our first crooked neck!

We may try shish-kabobing steak!!!

Eddie's really loving the chicken though.

Not so fond of the vegies, but he humors me!

Pray for me!

I get to teach Gospel Doctrine tomorrow. I received a phone call around 1pm, asking if I could teach. How can I say no to Victorious?! So, I've spent the most part of the last 5 hours studying Alma 13 - 16. Eddie even knows the story contained in these chapters!!! So, I need to study for another week or two, not a problem! HA! I haven't taught Gospel Doctrine since 2000, when I first moved home. It was Book of Mormon then too! I haven't taught anything in quite awhile! So, pray for me and I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow! A blessed Sabbath to you all! Don't forget, it's fast Sunday!!!!

Happy 4th of July!

We had family over the 4th of July.

Bubba even ate with us. Bill & Sheila were over and Sister Meservy came too! We used them as guinea pigs!

We've never BBQ'd Shish-kabobs before. I must say, they were yummy! The zuccini was from our garden!

We sent the Sheila's out to the garden to trick-or-treat for squash! They found five that were ready for harvest.

I had Eddie pick the 3 Purple Peppers earlier in the day. We haven't tasted them yet. I'm trying to find the perfect dish for them!!!

They aren't very big, but they sure are cute!

Maybe scrambled eggs tomorrow!!

Or an omelette!!!

The fireworks are already going off outside! I could live without the loud BOOMS of the illegal ones! My pyro husband is in our room, last I heard he was watching Blazing Saddles on TV. I guess I'll be blogging for awhile tonight!!! I did torture him earlier today with 1776! Yes, another musical. He seemed to take it well. Hope you have a safe and sane 4th of July!!!

Battlestar Galactica (1978)

Forest inspired this post!

The original Battlestar Galactica was only on TV for 1 season in 1978. It was a great show! Glen A. Larson was the creator/writer behind the series.

This is what Wikipedia says about him and Battlestar:

"Larson later secured a then-unprecedented $1 million per episode budget for Battlestar Galactica. Originally, the series was intended to be called Adama's Ark, and the show incorporated many themes from Mormon theology, such as marriage for "time and eternity" and a "council of twelve." Larson is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[1] Larson had been working on it since 1968, and Gene L. Coon had been providing guidance and mentoring to him through the writing of its earliest incarnations. Larson is credited with coining the word "battlestar," a contraction of the phrase "line-of-battle starship," after being convinced to rename Adama's Ark to include the word "star" in the title in some way."

Here is one version of the narration from the beginning of the show:

"There are those who believe... that life here... began out there. Far across the universe. With tribes of humans... who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians... or the Toltecs... or the Mayans... that they may have been the architects of the Great Pyramids... or the lost civilizations of Lemuria... or Atlantis... Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man... who even now fight to survive... far, far away amongst the stars..."

You can purchase the whole series from Amazon for a crazy price! I have I think the first episode on DVD.