You get up, head for the coffee pot (at least I do ), get that started and then you head for the bathroom.  Sometimes, the bathroom comes first if you are my age THEN head for the coffee pot.  You do whatever you must do the first thing in the morning.  If you work, that sometimes means a shower, perhaps blowdrying your hair, applying makeup, etc.  Mundane.  Repetitive.  BOOOOORRRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG!

Somewhere along the line, you get to drink that coffee or gulp it down.  Put it in a travel cup and head out for the day.  You work.  For me, that means I do things like making my bed, dust mopping the floor, dusting the tables, shelves, etc.  I usually pull things out of the freezer that I intend to make for dinner and put them on a cutting board to defrost during the day.  Then I hit my computer room.  I turn on my computer, the TV and head for Pogo.  I check to see who is on Yahoo Messenger on my friends and family lists.  Then I play my *daily* games.  Later, I make something for lunch.  Later still, I make dinner.  In between, I am on my computer reading up on the news, the weather forecast for different areas of the country where I have friends and family.  I also have a couple blogs I read. 

While this is going on, the Beast is doing his *thing* of the day.  His day has some mundane things going on, too.  Right now, he is the one that turns on the fireplace in the morning and the baseboard heaters.  Once the rooms warm up to the level he's had the thermostat turned to, he turns that up to a more reasonable temperature so it doesn't struggle trying to heat the house.  He watches that carefully.

I could go on-and-on but I swear, he keeps coming up with new projects for two main reasons.  #1:  He is afraid when he runs out of the said projects, he will die.  #2:  Because he HATES living a boring, mundane existence.

It certainly makes MY life interesting at times.  **Insert sarcastic look here**  It's why he keeps filling up our property with all kinds of trees.  He likes the idea of growing fruit trees BUT...he is bound to fail at this for the most part because he refuses to do some of the things he should be doing.  Like pruning the trees.  He wants growth so much that he ignores what all the internet information says AND what the nursery workers tell him he should do.  I looked at some of the trees and pointed out areas where branches were crossing and such and he just ignored me although he KNOWS those should be pruned.

His peach trees should have been pruned at the top to force proper growth of the trunk and lower branches.  Did he do it?  Of course not.  Even though I took him past a peach orchard where trees approximately the same size/age of ours to show him how they did it.  He just doesn't use his head to understand that it makes the trunk strong and the branches, also.  That way they can hold a lot of fruit on them without injury to the tree.  It's what makes me nuts about him.  So, I try to ignore what he does.  Let him learn the hard way.

He bought another tree today.  At least I THINK it was just one.  *Sigh*  We only have an acre of land here.  We already have 30 trees on it.  The space is all measured between them to allow for growth.  One day, it MAY be a jungle out there.  Well, a forest of fruit trees.

Some people (and we all probably know one  or two of them) need excitement in their lives constantly.  They create it one way or another.  Everything is either a disaster or it sets your hair on end.   I wouldn't want to live like that, TYVM.  Somehow, the mundane seems...well, comfortable.  I like the little pleasures.  Enjoying hearing about a happy event of a neighbor, family, friend.  Hearing your grandbaby recite her ABC's correctly, or her numbers, and getting it right.  Attending a baptism of a baby or a wedding.  Watching a movie that makes you cry....or laugh.  Sewing something for someone and watching them try it on and be happy about it.  Crocheting or knitting something for someone and they love it.  Those are all simple pleasures.  I'll take one of those, one of those......

I yell at the dog when I am dust mopping and it's full of dog hair.  I swear, this dog should be totally hairless with what I mop up in a week.  And I am not counting the hairs I can see on my comforters, sheets and couches.  I pull out the lint screen on my dryer and find it full of dog hairs.  Sometimes, there are more dog hairs than lint. 

She's become very successful and it was her drive and intelligence that did it.  The Beast has always been available for help when she needed it because there was so much for her to learn.  She took the company in another direction than we had been doing but it worked well for her.  We're very proud of her achievements and value her friendship.  And, no, she doesn't read my blog.  She, like the Beast, is totally unaware of it.  TYVM.

It was Shirley that called.  It seems she wants to hire the Beast for about a week and a half to design a control panel for this one problem building that the Beast used to work on.  He was the only one that was ever able to get it running and keep it running.  The sum she offered him was just too large to pass up.  It will be probably March before she needs him but the sum is a flat offer even if he completes it early.  What she hopes is that he can train one of her techs to understand the inherent problems with the building design and how the control panel works both.  That way, her tech can take care of future problems.

The Beast knows her techs and has hopes that this one particular one might be able to be trained.  He's tenacious and has a quick mind.  So, I am elated.  The Beast WILL be going away.  It is an answer to MY prayer for this to come up when it has.  Not only will it help with some of the money he's drained off our account the past several months but it will also get him OUT OF MY HAIR while he's awaiting the TRUE arrival of spring here.  Plus, he likes to know he's needed still.  He always was at the top of his field before his strokes.  Life is cruel sometimes.

The Princess told me I WILL have Chewlee on Saturday morning for about four hours.  She has a class to attend.  We won't discuss why but...it has to do with *points*...  She also told me I might or might not have Chewlee tonight.  I have no idea what she WAS planning but I guess she feels she won't be going out tonight.  Sometimes it's tough to balance your online college stuff, a toddler, a home and a full-time job plus things like getting haircuts, coloring, nails done, etc.  Thankfully, she's young and has the energy. 

I made tuna casserole for dinner tonight.  I hadn't made it in forever but when Bratfink mentioned she had a taste for some, I thought it a good idea for us.  It turned out wonderful.  There's hardly any left at all.  No leftovers by the time I do the nightly cleanup in the kitchen.

I DID finally get to the repairs on my flannel sheet.  It took some pinning of patch but I did a loose binding type stitch on the edges.  It works and isn't bulky, which I was worried about.  Tomorrow I will work on the patchwork quilt.  That will actually be the easiest.  I have the perfect stitch to do the repairs.  I won't have to *graft* much in the way of fabric.  AND, best of all, I didn't have to buy any.  I already had some that's just perfect in my *scrap* bin I have been keeping.

Time to call it a night.  Weather here today was cold but sunny.  Rain for the next two days, however.  *Insert sad face here*  There's almost nothing worse than rainy, cold weather with a predicted brisk wind.  *Sigh*

Anyway, his phone rings and it turns out it's Walmart.  It seems he's been approved (meaning he has no felonies) for the purchase of the .22 rifle he ordered.   I know!  When he got home, I asked him what the heck he bought a .22 rifle for when we already have a great shotgun AND a beautiful revolver here already.  I am not even counting the black powder rifles and pistols we have.  It just blew me away.  He says, *It's for a stray dog.*

Now I have to tell you that we had some new neighbors move into the house that was built a few months back and I have seen this little black scottie running around, barking at everyone only since they moved in.  The Beast says he has never seen that dog anywhere except running around the neighborhood and he thinks a couple different neighbors are feeding it.  It won't let you get close to it but it's been snapping at Baron when he does his run around here.  This one, however, HAS bitten Baron.  It's not like the little chihuahua that Baron pee'd on and it now leaves him alone.  The Beast SAYS he asked the new people if the dog was theirs and they said no.  I told him * YOU ARE NOT GOING TO SHOOT THAT DOG!*  He just gave me that look...you know the one that men get on their faces when they are going to do just what they want.

I will say this about the rifle.  It's beautiful.  It's no toy gun and it also has a scope on it.  I'm sure he will be joining our neighbor behind us in his squirrel shoots later on this summer.  I can just see their competition now:  * He he, got me another one there, Bubba.  That's four for me, three for you.  Gonna be one GOOD supper there.*  At this point, I am rolling my eyes.

He actually loaded the rifle and I think he has plans for later on today but I could be wrong.  I told him, *You are going to be arrested for shooting that within 100 yards of a house, buster, and I will NOT bail you out!*  He laughed and said, *Oh yes you will because you're like that.*  ASSHOLE.
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Well, the poor dog lived another night.  The Beast didn't go out to *try out* his rifle.  He WAS looking for a rifle range somewhere close to us and found one not too far away.  Whether or not he makes it, that's another story.  I'll mention it if he does.
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I won't have my Chewlee this Saturday because it's one of the relatively few Saturdays the Princess got a day off.  Those are rotated amongst all the employees because it gives them a weekend off since AT&T isn't open on Sunday.  At least, not here in the Bible Belt.  BUT.....I get her for a few hours tomorrow night.  No clue WHY.  I didn't ask.  At least I won't have a full day of 'Zilla movies.    I need to find some other monster movies that she likes or at least some other 'Zilla ones.  I think tonight must be the night I hit Amazon.  I've put it off long enough.  The Beast will just think I am punishing him for his buying the rifle.    Little does he know.  Tee hee hee!  I have better ways of punishing him. 
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Since the Beast is now distracted by his trees and such, I've given up on the idea that he will actually build me some more shelves for my room.  I need a place to put my DVD's.  So I was eye-balling the big bookcase and decided that I need to take over a couple shelves on there.  He's got a lot of his *stuff* on it that should be close to where HIS computer is in our bedroom.  I am going to look over that area and start moving shit over there to free up what I need.  Doesn't that sound like a good idea?  I think so too.
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I ended up freezing some of my pea soup.  One container for me and another for the Princess if she wants it.  I am going nuts trying to use this darn freezer (it's one of those on the side of the fridge) and make it work for all the varied stuff we use.  It's just impossible.  I think I am going to start my nagging again about getting an upright freezer for us.  I can't even stock up stuff like we used to because there's just no room.  AND, why aren't they made so that bags of things don't have to be stacked in a pile like a haystack?  Makes me nuts to have to dig through them to find what I want.
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Guess it's time to close this.  I didn't mean for it to get so long.  Sorry 'bout that.  But...one last thing that is REALLY bugging me is the new *additive* or whatever the hell it is that they have put in our cigarettes.  It's supposed to prevent fires.  Yeah...even while you're smoking it, they go out.  I just HATE whatever the hell it is they add.  I am constantly relighting my cigarettes.  I think they only did that to try to discourage everyone from smoking.  Make it tough so people will just give it up.  All I have to say is that whatever wood or other ingredient they added (and I've seen CHUNKS fall out of the end of my cigarette...even burned a hole in my one robe) the cigarette manufacturer's better start making those chunks SMALLER.

Love you all.  Have a great day.  Thanks for stopping by.

This is all because we have a week of mild weather ahead of us if you believe the weatherman.  Even Weather.com and Weather Bug are saying the same thing so, who knows?  It could happen.  I just know that he did the same thing last year, almost at the same time of year and we had several frosts that hit us afterward.

At least this time, he used the Alabama soil he excavated to fill the ensuing hole he dug.  He HAS learned his lesson that way but I told him that he could NOT touch my roses yet.  They will do just fine the way they are until I figure out exactly where I want them placed.  But I see the handwriting on the wall here. 

Lowes is carrying their annual stock of fruit trees.  It seems to be the season for planting them and they will go fast.  I'm almost afraid of what the Beast will be dragging home over the next couple of weeks.  The poor plum tree still resembles a weeping willow but sure does bear fruit each year.  Having to thin them out is tough except that I WOULD like to see it survive.  So far, it seems pretty tough on it's own as long as we DO cull the early fruit.

I told the Beast he had to get some netting for the cherry trees this year so we get more than one to share after he went out and fought off the hoards of birds that knew just exactly when they were ripe.

Now all I have to do is pray we don't get as much rain this season as we did last.  That's how we lost most of our fruit.  Who knew that too much rain is just as bad as too little?  Sheesh.  I never asked for a farm but a farm is what we have with over 30 assorted fruit trees planted here.  At least now the Beast will turn his attention OUTward instead of looking for more things to do IN the house.  I suppose I should be grateful for small favors even if I DO think they are premature.

I'm pretty sure the Beast ran the rest of the lines out to the heat pump for the heat strip today.  He spent too much time under the house to just be checking for bugs and I heard the sound of his drill over where he would have to bring it through the wall to the unit.  I don't think he liked the idea of having a project hanging once he turned his attention to the *farm* again.  You WILL hear more of this later, as you must realize. 

You will get all the gory details of the Beast's battle with Japanese beetles, disgustingly HUGE caterpillers, ants, spiders and other assorted goodies.  Also the battle of the birds for the cherries down the line once they appear.  You will hear about, and possibly even SEE pictures of, the hummingbirds that come to feed.  I will be planting some flowers that attract them as well as hanging out the liquid feeders.  I like to provide some natural food for them, as well as the liquid.  I also hang out two feeders (for now) because the males always fight over possession of one so I put a second one up for the females and babies (once they are out of the nests).  Do you know how tough it is to tell which are babies when they are all so damn small?   

I spent the day doing mundane things like finishing up the cooking of my split pea soup (which turned out wonderful) and doing the wash.  I will be sewing my *bandages* on my flannel sheet and attempting to repair the patchwork quilt that the dog messed up on me.  I hate to start it just because I STILL get all pissed off about it when I start thinking about it.  At least the Beast has now banned the dog entirely from the bed.  He won't even let him up on it while he takes his naps any more.  Hurrah for my side!!! 

I, however, spent a lot of last night yelling at the dog to get down every time he snuck up on the bed.  He's getting better about not touching us any more and laying down at the foot of the bed.  He's figured out that it wakes us up when he does that and we throw him off the bed.    Me?  I feel his weight at my feet and wake up so he doesn't even get to lay down.  It's why I didn't get good rest, either.  I'm THAT determined to keep him off my good down comforter.  Even the Beast is closing our bedroom door to make sure he doesn't sneak in there during the day when we aren't paying attention.

Baron was all upset that the Beast was outside, digging a hole, and he wasn't out there with him.  There was a good reason for that.  Baron thinks that anything that is laying down that is made of wood is a toy to play with.  Ever since the day he grabbed the pear tree and dragged it all over the yard before the Beast got him to put it down, he's banned from being there when something to be planted is NOT in a pot.  Most trees are not potted but have a dirt ball surrounding the roots and that root ball is wrapped in a plastic.  It has a rounded bottom and tends to roll over.  You don't want to slam it down to flatten the bottom since the roots are tender and a bit fragile.  Hence, it rolls over and becomes a *Baron toy*.

Once it got up to 50 degrees outside, Baron went out back and spent time running around the yard barking at everything that made a sound or moved.  I was glad he found something to amuse himself because he has a lot of energy to burn.  Later the Beast finally took him for a run around the circle.  That always makes Baron happy and he's much calmer afterward.

With that, the dryer is calling me and I have whites to fold and put away afterward.  Love you all and hope you have a great day.  Stay healthy; be happy and NO...spring is NOT coming early.  Get that out of your mind. 

PS:  The Beast already untied and put up my umbrella clothes line.  I think that was supposed to be a hint that I can start hanging out my wash.  *Insert incredible laughter here*

After it's picked, it's plowed under and the ground is covered with hay or whatever it is they are using that year.  One year, I swore it was alfalfa just from the smell of it after they spread it. 

Some of the farms have cattle.  One, just two minutes away from me, has a Texas longhorn bull to service them.  It's absolutely gorgeous with those huge, long horns that their name derived from.  It's a golden color and very healthy.  It's coat just GLOWS in the sunlight.  I am assuming that they are raising cattle for eating.  I see them move them from field to field.  I also see the rolls of supplemental feed they put out for them.  Most of the fields have their own ponds on them but one they pipe water into it from a tank on it.  The weather plays a big part on what fields they put the cattle into.  During the dry spell years, they ended up piping water into the ponds for the cattle.    I love watching the calves in the spring and hate when they separate the mothers from them in the fall.  Even more than a quarter mile away, you can hear them bawling for their mothers.

During the winter, many of my neighbors live on unpaved roads.  That helps them out when the weather is freezing because they can still get up and down their own drives even if there has been a freezing rain.  However, the secondary roads are not the ones that get salted so THAT is scary.  Especially because you always get some idiots that will drive the 50 mph speed that these open roads are rated for and SURPRISE! SURPRISE!  when they hit the icy  patches.  Worse, the roads are hilly because we are in the Sand Mountains here, which is a section of the Smoky's.  Oh, yes...it can be fun.  And the Beast wonders why I refuse to drive when the weather is like that.  I can HEAR the accidents just a block away from us even with the house all closed up and the TV's on.  No thank you.  I pity everyone that must go out under those conditions.  I worry about the Princess and Johnnycakes all the time.

You have to PLAN when you live out here, too.  It's not like it's just a trip to the local convenience store for milk and bread.  When it's a 10 mile or more trip, you stock up on certain things.  A stocked up freezer helps, too.  You learn to can fruits and veggies.  You bake.  You do a lot of things that you might not have thought you would ever do.  You stock up on other things, too.  You have a pantry you keep filled with canned goods like soup, pastas, flour, sugars (white and brown), cereals of all kinds, crackers of all kinds, you get the idea.  I even have a cabinet out in the garage that we stock up on things like baked beans, jellies, package pasta with cheeses, etc.

Now, you ask WHY?  I'll tell you.  We live in an area that gets tornadoes.  Yes.  We haven't personally been hit BUT....trees have been torn up and branches have brought down electric and telephone lines.  We have lived in a disaster area before...even if it WAS in Florida.  We were one of the lucky ones that Hurricane Charlie did relatively little damage to our house.  But our town wasn't so lucky.  It took a couple months for things to get back to normal.  Even the grocery stores were not up and running due to the lack of electricity.  We lucked out there, too, mainly because we lived close to an FP&L executive so they got our electricity up and running within 24 hours.

With tornadoes being so prevalent here, we figured we might as well try to prepare.  We even have a gas barbeque now and had purchased a propane stove that sits out in the garage....just in case.  Of course, all this is moot if we actually get hit by a tornado.  Our house will be GONE like a trailer, I'm sure.  It sits up on a crawl space so it's gonna be easy for a tornado to pick it up and mash it all to bits.  Maybe someone will find some of it and be able to use it.  Either way, we have a lot of food here just in case of something terrible happening in our community.

Anyway, that's what popped into my mind today as I was making up my split pea soup.  I looked at all the packs of dried beans I have on one of my shelves and thought of the reason WHY I had them.  That's why it's the subject of my post.