We had 7 inches of rain Thursday night and 2.5 inches on Wednesday. So we are in the green.
I’ve been painting outdoor rusty ornaments and such and finally finished painting the cart.
Before
After
This color makes me feel like I’m at the beach!
Okay, I’m off to paint some more and work on the Medieval Highland book. It’s at 39K, nearly halfway done. So making some headway! I believe it won’t take me 20 more years to write. Yay!!!
Have a beautifully green day!
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
On a zinnia flower in my backyard. Okay, so I took the photo last year as the zinnia aren’t up yet, but the seeds are just sprouting. The swallowtails are out already though. I’ve seen a couple looking for flowers in my backyard. They know they will be there. Roses and Gerbera Daisies are already blooming!
I’m off to work on the Highland book. I’m up to 35K.
Have a beautiful day!
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
I love these roses. They turn all different colors, from oranges to pinks to peaches. And the seedlings are spouting forth from all the perennial seeds we planted. Hmm, what will they be when they flower? It’s like Christmas!
I was out in a RUSH this morning trying to get all my cut branches bundled for the trash and finish painting that cart and work on some other garden ornaments before it pours. We’re supposed to have thunderstorms all day, but I managed to get everything done and the painted projects moved to the covered porch before the rains started. Yay!
I was assembling the last of the flowerbeds with my grandson last night. He’s not even 3 but he placed 48 bolts in the panel holes so I could add the wing nuts! We had an adventure with watering though. I fill up his turtle watering can and he takes it outside to water his blue flowerbed. I’m still filling mine up when he returns for more water. It wasn’t until I headed out with him that I saw he’d spilled at least a 1/2 a watering can load of water each time on the dining room floor. lol And when I went out to see if he got any in the flowerbed, he had. All in one spot. So I was teaching him (you know you think kids should know things like this because you knew them when you were born), that the earth is lighter where it’s dry and needs water, and the darker the earth, the wetter it is. But we love our adventures and he was a great help with cleaning up all the spilled water in the dining room. When we got sis after school, we filled up the water cans OUTSIDE. Even grandmas can learn some new tricks.
Off to work on the Highlander book. I worked on it all day. The original was about 82K, but I’m scrapping a lot of the end, which I loved, because I want to go in a similar but different direction. That means grabbing paragraphs I want to keep and heavily revising them. But I don’t get rid of the earlier mss. Who knows if I might be able to salvage it later?
Have a terrific Thursday!!
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
The HOA had planted these black-eyed susans last year, mixed with marigolds, saliva, and other lovely flowers. I had to stop and take some pictures. They were beautiful. I put out perennial seeds this year that hopefully will make my flowerbed look just as pretty. My salvia are in full strength this year. I can’t wait to see them flower.
Last night, my son-in-law dropped off 10 very sad looking tomato plants and I can’t let them die. I managed to find spots for 3 of them, but I’m still working on making room for 7 more. I’ve tried some out front and they never survived. And out back, it’s hard to find spot that they have enough sun and water. Sooooo, I’m working on putting together another flowerbed, but I don’t think they will last that long. Today, little one and I will put them out somewhere! We both love tomatoes!
In the meantime, I was working on The Highlander’s Nymph of the Woods, a full length novel I wrote about 20 years ago that has had a myriad of changes. I’m making more changes. I like the mystery of the original, but it means the heroine has no voice, literally. So I wanted to show more of the story before she meets up with the hero. I love the story though and I hope it won’t take me another 20 years to revise it.
I’m off to work on it some more before my grandson arrives. We will probably be planting tomato plants together and maybe weeding some. He loves to help. He pulls off the tops of the good grass while I’m pulling up the weeds.
Have a super hump day!
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
The miniature rosebush is really prolific and I love it, but sunshine ligustrum had taken it over, which is really beautiful too. But the roses needed more sunshine, so yesterday was moving day. When I moved it, I didn’t realize I had split it in two, so now I have 2 yellow miniature rosebushes. I just hope they do well in their new planting beds.
Little one here, so we’re off to get some groceries. Their little flowerbeds were a huge success and today my grandson scattered perennial wildflower seeds in his and we planted some of them outside also. It will be fun for them to water them and see them grow into flowers, and the surprise will be what kind of flowers they will be.
I finished Huntress Unleashed last night from beginning to end. Yay! Now I’m going to let it sit for a few days, then start to edit it again so that my mind is fresh on it. Not sure what my next project will be. I was thinking of the fae, but I haven’t started one. I do have a Highland wolf historical started, so maybe that…. Or a cougar book. They’ve been neglected. Then again, I’ve had more requests for bears. Or another elf book. So many to write, so many decisions. I love it!
Hope your day is splendid!
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
This hanging basket has a flowering plant in it–don’t remember the kind, but it survived the winter and is just barely greening up. But in the meantime, birds dropped two sunflower seeds in the basket, and voila, one of them just bloomed. 🙂
Okay, with that fun and exciting news, I’m back to Huntress for Hire. I ended up dreaming I was a vampire, and I could shift into a wolf. I was howling for my lost daughter. That’s what I get for writing about vampires and shifters.
We had 3 1/2 inches of rain yesterday, severe thunderstorms knocking out my electricity and internet for a short while. We have more tonight and tomorrow, and the temperature dropped, which is welcome. Chives are coming up. Planted daylilies and bell pepper seeds (from the grocery store peppers I cooked in the spaghetti for lunch yesterday), and planted caladiums also.
But for now, I’m back to the book! Hope your day is going great!
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Took the photo of the swans somewhere. lol Then added a Daily Texture background for this one.
I’m getting closer to being done with Huntress Unleashed. I’m working on proofing the beginning again and will do that throughout the book so that I can catch mistakes and see what things I mentioned but then never followed up on.
So this week is spring break–which means I’m having trouble figuring out which day of the week it is. Usually, I have my grandson two days, pick up my granddaughter from school afternoons five days a week, and so that keeps me grounded.
Do you ever feel that way when you’re off your regular schedule?
But I am trimming trees and removing weed trees in the backyard. Though the youpon holly tree (a weed tree that I let grow for privacy) is full of flowers and that means honeybees. So I was trimming up underneath it to allow for more light to the rosebush and purple magic crepe myrtle below it. I’m keeping the top of the tree that rises maybe 6 feet above the 6 foot fence. I also have a ton of weed crepe myrtles, so I’m trying to keep some, but trim the branches that criss-cross, so I have just a multiple main trunk. I DO NOT top the trees which ruins the look of them and weakens them. I’m cutting others down that are just growing up everywhere. They have such beautiful flowers and all of the trees are starting to leaf out.
Youpon hollies are kind of unruly trees, growing oddly, not just straight up, but I love them for their tiny white flowers in the spring, tiny evergreen leaves, shade in our hot Texas sun, and hardiness in this area. The crepe myrtles provide shade also and a nice leafy barrier. When I first moved here, I only had 3 pine trees in the backyard, and one died so I had to have it removed. They were native to the forest that had been here. So there wasn’t really any soundproofing. Now with all the vegetation I have, it’s much more soundproofed I’ve noticed. My burford holly that had been under the front windows I moved when they were little and they are now over 6 feet tall against the back fence. That provides a lot of noise reduction.
I’m off to work. Hope your day is fun-filled!
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
I’ve been babying this plant and another bell pepper plant with no success and finally, finally the one has bell peppers. Woohoo! I just put the seeds from my store purchased bell peppers in the ground, but it’s been so hot that they wouldn’t blossom.
Okay, off to write.
It was a tiny bit cooler this morning, but it’s going to be 96 today, add 10 degrees and that’s what it feels like. Have a sunshiny day, while I hope for clouds!
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Several of these plants are volunteers. The pine tree in the back left corner by the fence was there originally, part of the old growth forest before the homes were built. There’s a holly bush behind it that is also a volunteer that must have been in the old forest. The Magic Purple Crepe Myrtle on the far left in the foreground is one that I planted. the rosebush that you can’t see except for one orange flower on the far left behind the purple crepe myrtle I planted. And the Esperanza that makes beautiful trumpet like yellow flowers is behind the purple crepe myrtle, near the center of the photo and in the back at the bottom some red miniature roses that need to be moved so they do better. Everything else, the hot pink crepe myrtles, other pine trees, youpon holly trees, those are all volunteers.
Those are filling up areas where nothing would grow. Nothing. Now I have a bonanza of color. Never give up. Never surrender. They just needed more shade to do well in this hot environment.
It’s great for color, helping to soundproof the yard a bit since we’re all so close to neighbors, creating a little slice of paradise, making it appear that we’re not all on top of each other, and providing more shade, and safety for birds.
Have a super fun day! Need to get started on mine!
