A question???

I have a Lantana planted in my rock garden. It always does really good in this spot. Like REALLY good. Every spring I cut it back a lot & every summer it fills out quickly. This summer something happened.  I don't know what. I haven't done anything any differently than any other year. Normally, it gets out of control. This year I don't know how to describe it.

 Colossal maybe??

A view from the other side. These pictures really don't do it justice. I swear it's probably 5 ft. in circumference!  It's completely taken over everything else in the rock garden. I'm not concerned about that because everything else that's there grows like crazy & you can't get rid of it either. I just remember that when we bought the house this spot didn't have any grass because of the lab the people had. This was his spot. I wonder if he had some super duper "business" that fertilized the area really good??

That brings me to my question. Well, sort of. Would you rather have a raccoon on your patio or a snake? This is a serious question that I asked Dean yesterday. He didn't give me an answer. I can't figure it out but I'm leaning towards snake. The majority of the snakes I've seen always seem to be trying to get away from the humans whereas the raccoon sat there & looked at me. As my friend Allison would say he looked like he was asking "what's up? what'cha looking at?". The reason this came up is because Dean was outside cooking a brisket (that turned out totally amazeballs!!) on his Primo grill. He looked up just in time to see a snake slither into the rock garden. Yep, into the Lantana, which incidentally, is a FABULOUS hiding place. He wouldn't come out. We now have a shovel as a patio accessory just in case he comes out of hiding. Sidenote: If you're an animal lover or believe snakes are our slithery cousins (that's a direct quote from someone I know), DON'T TELL ME NOT TO KILL IT!!! When the raccoon made his appearance he too visited the Lantana.

I'd given some thought to cutting it back but I like all the blooms & truth be known I'm kinda curious to see how big it will get this summer. Now that I don't know what's inside I'll just wait. I just hope there aren't any eggs or baby something or others in there. I do seem to remember Dean saying something awhile back about the Lantana getting out of control & "it makes for a good hiding place". He's always right. Sigh.

Toodles!

Weigh In Wednesday & Randomness

Even after junk fest Saturday at Logan's birthday party I managed to pull it together & lose 1.8 lbs. this week. I'm getting close to my goal & I'm very excited!

I wore a dress today that I haven't been able to wear in awhile. In fact I almost put it in the "Donate to Goodwill" bag. That would've made me really happy but the fact that I was wearing a dress because I had a funeral to go to made me sad. My ex-boss, who is a good friend (he was the Eucharistic Minister in our wedding) lost his 35 yr. old son Sunday to aggressive cancer. He died on his 1st wedding anniversary 11 months after being diagnosed. Just really, really sad. As sad an occasion as it was, the funeral was beautiful. This is going to sound really crazy but like I told my friend, it was the best funeral I've ever been to. Jeff planned his own funeral & it was much more of a celebration of his life. I'm happy I was able to be there.

I've mentioned before that I'm a mawmaw & go to sleep early. I get up at 5:30 so I'm asleep between 9:00-9:30 every night. Last night at about 9:15 the phone rings. The phone is on Dean's side of the bed & the ID showed unknown name/number. Dean didn't answer. Just a few minutes later when I was just about back to sleep the DOORBELL rings! I immediately thought something was wrong with one of our neighbors. Dean & I both go to the door & you're not going to believe this.....It was the UPS MAN!!!! Now, our UPS people are always late, like 7:00 or if it's Christmas I've seen them as late as 9:00. Generally, they just drop the package & run. Not this time. He rang the bell & ran. What's more annoying than this????? It wasn't even a good delivery. It was a letter from our Mortgage Co. that they send us periodically trying to get us to refinance our house. I don't know who to be more annoyed at, UPS or CitiMortgage!

We're in the middle of a drought & my water bill reflects it. WE NEED RAIN!! If only they could figure out a way to pump water out of the Mississippi to water our yards. Anyway, Dean was out watering our grass & he came in the house to tell me we have a visitor. Yep, you guessed it, the slithery kind. Oh boy. He went to get the shovel  but the stupid snake went into the Split Leaf Philodendron never to be seen again. Or so I thought. I was watering all of my potted plants & here he comes. Of course Dean was on the other side of the yard & by the time he got there with the shovel he'd slithered under the Ginger never to be seen again. I hope.

I don't know about y'all but I'm ready for Friday!

Toodles!

Here we go again.....

Last night while I was cooking Dean was watering all the new stuff that we've planted. Once I had the lasagna in the oven I sat down to watch the news. Well, we have windows across the back of our living room & I see Dean standing on the rocks around the pool with a shovel & rake in his hand & he's poking around in the pine straw by the new bamboo. Sadly, I know what that means. We have a visitor. Yes, one of the slithery persuasion. Lovely. So what do I do? Grab my camera & go outside. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of a dead snake because he got away. That's what all the poking was about. Dean thought he had him but he slithered off. Great. He said he looked to be the same kind as last year & about the same size. Of course I'm bothered by this but what REALLY bothers me is that this creature was in one of our palm trees. Not the tall one but one that's about 4 or 5 ft. tall. It's bad enough I have to watch every step I take but now I have to look in the trees too??? Yeh, I'm not real happy about this development.

Moving on. Melissa at Love and Pancakes awarded me with a Versatile Blogger Award! Woo Hoo! Thanks Melissa!!

The rules to getting this award are pretty simple:  Thank and link back to the person who awarded you the award.  Share 7 things about yourself. Award 5 other bloggers. Contact those bloggers and tell them about the award.

Here are 7 things about me:

1. My favorite movies are Clueless & How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days

2. I'm a bit obsessed with reality TV - not the stuff like Idol & Survivor - stuff like the Kardashians, Pregnant in Heels, the Housewives of OC, NY, NJ & BH & Bethenny. Just complete mindless TV.

3.I love Disney World.

4. I'm counting down the days until Lent is over & I can have a  Sonic chocolate shake, a Chick-fil-a chocolate shake & a Cadbury egg. (I gave up sweets for Lent)

5. I want a puppy but I haven't been able to convince Dean that he wants one too.

6. I love to read.

7. Just about my favorite thing to do is go out to eat.

So now I'm supposed to pick 7 bloggers but that's too hard for me because I read a lot of blogs & love them all so if you're reading, accept the award!

Toodles!