Roses and Horses and Finches....Oh My!

My lovely daughter, Terri, has a faboo friend that is quite the gardener.  She has gotten Terri into it big time.  So much so that M constructed Terri a greenhouse and built wonderful garden beds for her!  Anyway, Shany {Terri's friend} created a rose garden as a memorial to her mother.  Shany lost her mother to cancer a few short years ago and seeing as how her mother loved roses she planted a lovely plot and even had a nice sign made.  That got me thinking.  My Mom loved roses.....yellow roses.  AND....roses seem to grow really well here in BF Arkansas.  Everyone seems to have thriving rose bushes, except me of course, because I always thought they would be terribly complicated and I would kill them for sure! Anyway, after seeing Shany's rose garden, I decided to give it a go.  I also had some influence from our dear Poolie, as she has some incredible roses under her care!

My plan was to have my Timmy help me build a rose garden while he and Riley were visiting.  He has really gotten into helping Terri and Shany with their gardens and we had a plan!!  Alas, time ran short and Chuck didn't have time to do HIS part in all of this, so Tim and I didn't get to build my rose garden together :(.  HOWEVER!  As luck would have it, the lady at the end of our road {who used to work for a nursery~and who's house was surrounded by gorgeous plants and flowers, including many roses} is moving!  Last night on his way home, Chuck stopped to see her and came home with 9 rose bushes and 2 HUGE SunPatiens plants (a form if Impatiens only HUGE)!  What a surprise!!

The plan is to build a big bed out of some rock we have that he made me a couple other flower beds out of.  And since the bed he made me for my Hydrangeas has taken off and done so well.....and since roses allegedly like the same conditions as Hydrangeas, he will make the bed for me in the same area of the yard.  Which, BTW, just happens to be near the pasture fence and in direct line of my view to said pasture, from my computer and sewing machine!  If they live, it will be prefect!!  She seriously pruned them, as you can see, but I suspect she knew what she was doing.  Her only advice was to water in the morning and again in the early afternoon and give them rose food once a week.  She said they don't like to "go to bed wet".  LOL  So....I think I can handle that.  I think I can, I think I can.......Of course I will be researching online and will greatly appreciate any and all input from any of you that are successful rose growers!!

And, in other news.......I was quite envious of Poolie's daily gathering of finches at her feeders!  I often see finches out on the fence and flitting by the window, but only after her influence did I finally decide to acquire some finch feeders.  Well, they went undetected for so long....5 or 6 days.....I was about to move them one morning, when lo and behold, I had a visitor!  That was about 2 weeks ago....and all this time I only ever saw just the one.  But 2 days ago, there were 3!  And this AM there were 5!  I am thrilled.  I love having birds around, just outside my windows and although I do miss my favorites in Alaska, there are so many down here that don't live up there!  The gold finches (only visit Alaska briefly), Cardinals, Indigo Buntings, Blue birds, House Finches, and I musn't forget the Hummingbirds!!  I'm still working on pictures.  For some reason, they seem to take flight when I quietly open the door, with camera in hand and a rambunctious Cocker Spaniel comes out of no where and goes bursting thru the door!  I just need to remember to camp out on the back deck, while Gus is at work with Chuck, and quietly wait for them!

And Dixie is doing a little better everyday.  Although I wish we had a horse size scale so we could weigh her and see if her "water and hay" diet is helping yet.  Can't see any difference yet, but with horses it does show fairly quickly.  She had to come over and investigate while I was watering the roses this AM.

Actually, her appetite hasn't been that great and she hasn't even finished all of her hay until yesterday.  Apparently it is improving, as she appears to be liking the taste of the fence......better keep an eye on her that she doesn't start eating it LOL  And I just noticed the ripples in the water trough!  Susie was taking a drink, just out of sight of the camera/phone.  :)

Not Sure What to Think....

There is a sign attached to the light pole at the end of our road, where it turns onto the 'main' road.

LOST
Female Shitzu
Red Collar
REWARD
Dead or Alive
470-000-0000

Not quite sure what to think of this one. Personally, when it comes to Shitzus, I don't care for them dead OR alive, but if it was my beloved pooch, I would prefer "Alive". I realize that this person, ultimately, just wants to know for sure what happened to their dog, but the wording struck me as quite odd. Mayhaps it's just me..... I hope the little pooch is found....'alive'.

My back continues to feel terrific (well, as terrific as it can), but the damage I inflicted on my hip by waiting too long to get my injection is still causing persistent discomfort, accompanied by frequent and searing jolts of pain. These jolts are accompanied by involuntary yelps of pain which Hubs is finding most distracting/disconcerting/annoying. I suppose I need to get an appointment with my "Hip Doctor", who is in the same office as my "Spine Doctor", but not to be confused with my Neurosurgeon. I have been going with the logic that I caused a severe bout of Bursitis to flare up, but it does feel different this time than last. And although I am 'resting it' sorta kinda (by not working, at least) it will only ease up a bit after a handful of Tylenol and then returns with a vengeance! The strangest motions set it off. For example....I just now, quite simply, reached for my Pepsi can to take a sip, whilst sitting in my chair typing this. Only moved my arm about 10 inches.....and YELP! It's just what I need. There's no end to it.

And speaking of my 3 doctors, I am having a rather difficult time with the one that I think should be signing my Leave of Absence papers for W*M. Been waiting all day for a call back from the disagreeable wench that does his LOA and Disability paper work. She is one of those people that is "too busy" to shut up and listen, so we had quite an annoying conversation. Since it is now past their closing time, I will pursue her again in the AM, because I NEED SOME ANSWERS HERE!