Thursday, January 8, 2009

Spring has Sprung in Winter... But, Please Don't Pee on My Roses!



We have another cold front heading our way over the weekend, with cold temps followed by frigid they say, but today ... today it is simply a
gorgeous, perfect South Mississippi day.

I had to make a run to WalMart earlier and the sky was blue, the sun was shining, the temps were in the mid-60s, just beautiful. I rolled down the windows of my Mustang to let that wonderful fresh air circulate through the car while singing aloud to the cranked up classic rock station - yes, while my body may be in my 50s, my mind still thinks I'm 30-somethin'!! Good old songs from back in the day when life was much more simple and being young was all about having fun and nothing else.

I have had a pretty good week - kept my goals, stayed within my
Weight Watchers points (and no, I'm not starving either), plus I still have the weekly bonus points and thanks to exercising every day so far, I have activity points I haven't touched either! Other than being annoyed that the TiVo box crapped out on us and we had to replace it, I'm feeling great! Glad to wash out some of the sugars and white flours I have OVER consumed the past couple of months, but don't worry. I will NEVER give them up, so you'll see some good ole deep south, Cajun and Creole cuisine back on here before long, intermingled with the other diet friendly stuff.

Yesterday I went out to fill the bird feeders and decided to do a bit of
yard work. Except for a few cold spells, one of which involved snow, the weather here along the Gulf Coast has been really warm this fall and winter. You'd think it was more like spring or even early summer the past few months, rather than fall or winter. But, those couple of cold spells did manage to send the plants into thinking winter was here, at least long enough to wither them a bit, so I set out to clip back everything and haul it to the compost pile. Three wheelbarrows full and I still have to rake leaves!

While I was out there, I noticed that several of the plants were beginning to bud out, courtesy of this unseasonable warm weather we've been having.

Looks like we've got a few
Meyer Lemons on the way.


Aren't the blossoms so pretty?


The Lantana is revving up again too already.


I could not believe the azaleas! It's as if they came out of hiding overnight.


Even the fig tree is trying to get started.



Which brings me to this.  I guess I should be upfront here and say this is gonna be one of those southern style hissy fits I have warned you about before. I am still stunned over this even though it happened a few days ago.

I was doing some housework when I happened to walk by the hallway. Now my hallway is a straight shot from the front door and then turns into a "T." So in other words, its sort of a dead-end and you cannot see out the front door unless you are standing in the hallway. We have a full glass storm door on the front door, so I usually keep the door open, and the glass storm door locked, so I can get some natural light inside. 

I guess I should add here that I have a rose bed across the front of my yard because that is the best spot for the amount of sunlight that they need. They were doing beautifully and I actually got compliments often from people passing by when I'd be outside working in the yard. But this past year they were doing horribly, and I struggled to figure out what was going on. I think I tried everything to get them back healthy.

Well, I happened to walk by the front door, glance out and find the neighbor who lives around the block directly behind me about to allow her male dogs to use the bathroom right in my front yard, right in the middle of my rose bed!

So I open the door and I say
"please don't let your dogs poop in my yard. I am really tired of picking up other people's dog's poop."

She starts stuttering over some words about how I need to make sure of whose dog is doing the deed, but she continues to let her dogs sniff all around in my flower bed right in front of me and doesn't even attempt to stop them! I guess I should have been more specific than poop.

So I say,
"Please don't let your dogs use the bathroom in my yard." I guess that wasn't specific enough either.

"But they're not, they're just sniffing," she says.

Soz I think to myself - um hum, they are
sniffing because they are either gettin' ready to lift a leg and pee right on my roses or take a crap in my yard. HELLO! Knock Knock. Anybody home over there?

But instead I say,
"They are sniffing because they are about to use the bathroom and I do not want them to pee on my roses. Can't you take them over there (I point) to the pole, or a street sign instead of my plants? There are poles all over the place."

Even still, does she attempt to move or stop the dogs? NO! She does NOT! They are right there, sniffing at my plants and just about to relieve themselves.

So again I say, raising my voice just ever so slightly,
"I do not want them to pee on my roses either please!"

She STILL does not attempt to stop them. So finally my manners went the wayside and I raised my voice MUCH louder.
"I SAID ... I DO NOT WANT THEM TO PEE ON MY ROSES EITHER!"

About that time, my female dog - a Lab - apparently heard the tone of my voice, felt I was in distress of some kind, and came running to the front door and started barking at her.
(Good girl!)  She has a very deep, loud and scary bark. As soon as this woman heard that, she FINALLY jerked her dogs away from my plants and started to head up the road.

As she's walking off, I hear her mumble something about somebody being RUDE.

But wait. That's not all.

The VERY next day, I happened to walk into my bedroom - which is also on the front of the house - and one of my cats was in there by the front window, so I picked him up and was hugging him and I was sort of just daydreaming and staring out the window, through the lace curtain and lo and behold, who just happened to be walking by? Yep. That same neighbor.

And her dogs, were immediately heading to my sniff out my roses... AGAIN! I couldn't believe it. Immediately I thought, those dogs have been relieving themselves on my roses all year! No wonder they haven't been doing well!

About that time she happens to look at my window and apparently she could see my silhouette through the curtain, because she suddenly got this disgusting look on her face and jerked her dogs away and went on up the street.

Well I may be
rude, but at least they didn't pee on my roses ... this time.




~

4 comments:

  1. I'd say you're not the rude one. Some people. That is probably what's wrong with your roses. You need to take your dog on a walk over to her yard. Turn about's fair play I say.
    I made your pork schnitzel tonight. CD loved it. It was really good and a lot simpler than the recipe that I've fixed before. I made a German soup and potato salad with some home grown canned green beans. Very good German supper, thanks for the recipe.
    I am so envious of your flowers and I would love to have a fig tree. Do you have any tropical lookin' plants?

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOL you read all that!

    I have cannas all over and quite a few banana trees, a couple of hibiscus and some jumbo elephant ears, couple of palms - that's about it on tropicals I think. It's hard to keep 'em here because we do have a couple of freezes every winter (followed by 70 degree temps) but they generally do come back. I love having some figs - mine is still a baby, just a few years old but there's plenty for me to eat if I get them before the birds and the squirrels do. They usually get to them faster than I do, really that's okay too.

    I'm glad you like the schnitzel! I love the cracker crumbs - it's just a bit different and real easy. Wow your dinner sure sounds yummy! I did green beans with mine too but with a green side salad.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I will never understand the rudeness of some people. I grow elephant ears and cannas, but have to dig up the bulbs every Fall. I store them in my basement and eagerly await Spring. I indulge myself with only one hibiscus...I have to lug it onto my enclosed sun porch every year before Winter rears its ugly head. I used to can whole fig preserves when I lived in Mississippi. I also made the "strawberry" variety, but my favorites, by far, were the golden syrup, plump, whole ones. Do you have a local recipe for them? I am afraid my recipe was lost in one of my moves over the years. You mentioned your friend Cindy. By chance, did her maiden name begin with H and her previous married name an R? I am thinking of my beautiful cousin in Woolmarket. Of course, I realize Cindy is not an uncommon name. If she is not your best friend...she would be, if you knew her! Smiles. As for the schnitzel, I live in an area heavily populated with German descendents. I look forward to trying your recipe and will pass it on to my friends up here. I told my sister (D'Iberville) about your site and will be sending her the link today. Happy Blogging

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Cyd and welcome to my little corner of the world! I love figs - most of mine go to the birds and the squirrels and I just eat a few. I don't can or anything - I make up a refrigerator jam with some of them but mostly I like them straight off the tree! My friend Cindy doesn't live here in Mississippi - so different Cindy, but that would have been crazy funny!

    I feel so honored you thought my recipe worthy of sharing - it was really good but I sure hope they like it.

    Please come and visit again soon!!

    ReplyDelete

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