New Pet

My brother caught this guy in the creek. We named him Crawford.

After having him for a week I decided he needed an aquarium if we were going to keep him.

Found a six gallon aquarium at Pet Smart so went and got that.

He seems pretty happy now.

When he passes on then I will get some fish to put in it.

I use to have an aquarium when the kids were little.

I always enjoyed watching the fish swim around.

Elephant Planter

Isn't this a cute little planter?

When the Princess was born she got a stuffed Elephant from my boss. 

She named her Ellie when she got old enough to talk.

She took her everywhere. She never came over without Ellie.

I had to take her home several times after she forgot her here.

We even got a second Ellie incase something happened to the original!

She couldn't sleep at night without her.

Now she is almost 7 and Ellie sits in her room with her other stuffed animals.

Every now and then she brings her over to visit.

She is growing up way to fast.

Now she is into her pet gecko Echo.

She will start first grade in two weeks!

I am so glad I was able to babysit her everyday for those first 5 years.

We made a lot of great memories.

Anyhow this little ceramic elephant reminded me of Ellie.

I found her at Home Depot.

Fun With House Plants

Rooting success!

I decided to try and root my Lemon Lime prayer plant. So far so good.

Hopefully more roots grow and I can pot it soon!

Another Hot July Day

July is fading fast. 

We had a school meeting yesterday.

Looks like school here is opening and will have some safety measures.

Kids will wear masks and some distancing, although not to much. Masks in class and on the bus.

 No masks outside or in cafeteria. 

There will be hand sanitizing stations on campus.

Employees all have to wear masks or face shields.

Temperature taking is up to parents to do before going to school.😬

If a child is sick the school will take their temperature. They will call their parents to come pick up if fever is 100.4, but they are not required to have a test done.

After all it could just be the flu, a cold, ear infection etc.😨

Some schools in California are closed until who knows when.

Anyhow, that is the update so far.

This could change next week.

School starts August 12th.

Stay cool!

Happy Sunday

Fish in the bathtub pond

Crispy

The weather has been overly hot.

I haven't been outside much.

What is there to do you ask?

Well...

I got up early and made a peach crisp with the last of the peaches.

I used my very old paperback recipe book from Betty Crocker.

It is my favorite recipe book.

It was a wedding gift 38+ years ago.

I have used it more then any other gift I received.

Some of the recipes I have changed to my liking. 

I always wrote on the side of the recipe what I did. 

I also made comments if it was a good recipe or not.

Every new bride and groom should have one.😁

Canna Stuttgart

This is the third year for Stuttgart.

It gets burned in our heat, but I still like the variegated leaves.

Still waiting to see it bloom.

Yesterday was 111 degress. Today another hot one.

Bloomin' Wednesday

Starting this post is the Lotus and the hibiscus and the tiger lily.

All beautiful by themselves.

It is this part of the summer that is mostly big bloomers.

The hibiscus will bloom for a few of weeks.

I have several different colors and they bloom at different times.

They are just getting started.

Last, but not least by any means, is the Casa Blanca.

It is so pretty. It opens more as it sits in the vase water.

It is truly amazing.

More Flowers

Pretty flowers blooming.

These are surviving the heat wave. Much better then me.

I am done with the heat. Suppose to be 110 degrees Wednesday!

Ughhhh.  I wonder what will be left blooming after that.

The Hummingbird Bully

It's a thing. He has been here since at least last year. I never really noticed him before last year.

He is always chasing all the other hummingbirds away.

What do you do with a bully hummingbird?

When there are dozens of hummingbirds then it doesn't matter because he can't be everywhere at once.

But when there are only a few hummingbirds he can wreak havoc on their sanity.

He thinks he is clever by sitting on the tip of the bird of paradise. He can scan the whole back yard.

To bad he can't see the front yard from that point.

I really hate bullies of any kind, but this guy was here first...

He stayed all winter...

He may just be trying to save us some money in sugar cost.

The good news is he won't keep the hummingbirds away.

They will all be back next Spring and until it gets to be 110 degrees they will enjoy plenty of sugar water.

Casa Blanca

It finally opened today.  It is so beautiful and smells so great too.

There are more to bloom. This is just the first. Before my Mom passed we took her a big bouquet of flowers with these mixed in. She said they were her favorite.  Her whole room smelled beautiful.  I like to remember that about her final days.  Since then I have bought more bulbs to plant. When they bloom I think of my Mom.  

Summer Blooms

And a sneaky little snake!