After having had several years of drought conditions in this area, I thought that I would never say this again. But I just have to say . . . ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!! Good Lord! Yesterday I watched as my yard turned into a lake (and I'm on a hill!) about 4 inches deep and the rain just kept coming down. The rain gauge overflowed (it hold 8 inches worth). My Russian sage has drowned and the azalea is about to follow suit. Really. Enough already. And the forecast is for rain every day for the foreseeable future.
I suppose it's good thing I didn't have Memorial Day plans. That's not just the constant rain. That's mostly because I had the periodontal surgery last Thursday, and I'm really glad I didn't plan anything for this weekend. Besides the fact that I look like a mutant chipmunk with it's cheek pouches full, I'm sore and bruised as well. I don't remember the last surgery being this painful afterward, although it was roughly 20 years ago, when I probably healed better. Plus I only had the gum surgery that time, no bone grafting. Weirdly the left side where I didn't have bone grafting is more bruised, but the right, bone-grafting side is more painful and swollen.
The surgery itself I have no memory of, except I remember occasionally he would say, "turn your head this way" and I'd turn it. But I have zero memory of anything else. Conscious sedation is a wonderful thing. I remember the wheelchair ride to my car, and then waking up in bed later in the afternoon. I seriously see why someone has to drive you. I know we stopped to get the prescriptions filled for pain meds and antibiotics because I have a vague memory the clerk saying it would take over an hour to fill them. So my driver must have brought me home and gone back after them - and paid for them, so I'll have to reimburse her.
Anyway, I'm healing so it's all good. I got my May traveling done with no hitches so the next trip is the Paris trip the third week in June. I went online this morning and cleared 250 emails from my work email from the 2 days I was gone, so I won't be too over overwhelmed tomorrow when I go back to work. And I also tackled some of my journal editorial duties for the same reason.
I don't have any new pictures lately since who wants pictures of rain? So the pictures in this post are older pics. Addy enjoying laying outside while I'm out there. All the blooming plants on my sink and counter, along with roses from the garden. I'm also putting in this picture of the very tiny white moss flowers that bloomed under the little pine tree. I don't know that they'll be visible in the post, but they're there.
I think I have more than 2 hummers this year. I've only seen 2 at a time at the feeder, but the food level is decreasing faster this year than it did last year. The horde of sparrows is once again eating me out of house and birdseed. And that Cooper's Hawk still hunts occasionally here, scattering the little birds when he comes. I have both mourning doves and white-winged doves. Some of the mourning doves stay year round, but the white-wings leave in the winter.
Anyway, that's about it for today. Just thought I'd get a post in, even if it's just to complain about the rain and my surgery. I am glad I live mostly on a hill though. I could wish my yard drained better, but maybe that's something I can correct whenever I have to replace the old sprinkler system - which I had on for about a week in early March but have turned off since so far this year I have NO need for it.
Later.
I'm doing a lot of traveling these days, so this poor blog, which already doesn't get a lot of posts, is probably going to be even worse. I'll try to get posts in when I can. This picture is of a new plant I bought. It's called a kalanchoe. Isn't it pretty. The next picture down is another one that I bought at the same time. I just love blooming things. We'll see if I can keep them alive.
So. Traveling. In April I went to Chicago, Washington DC, and Philadelphia. Chicago was a for a symposium I attended, Washington DC was a board of directors meeting and Philadelphia was to give three talks at a review course. Tomorrow I go back to Washington DC for a committee meeting and next week I go to Seattle for a different board of directors meeting. I'm seriously racking up the frequent flier miles. Which is good because I used the balance of my flier miles to book a business class ticket to and from Paris in June for an international meeting.
So far the traveling has been pretty smooth, although I did have to fly back into Dallas from DC one Friday evening when there were severe storm warnings in Dallas. We spent an extra hour on the plane being rerouted across half the state, but we managed to land in Dallas finally. Ride was a tad bumpy, but we got here. I was really relieved because Saturday morning I had to fly back out for my next trip.
Addy's taking the absences pretty well, but I have my regular sitter back and she and Addy get along well. Which is VERY good considering how much traveling I'm doing. Addy still seems to be okay being by herself. Of course when I'm here she's with me constantly - in my lap when I read or watch anime or TV. She does love being the center of attention.
I found out that I need to have some more periodontal surgery. I was kind of hoping not to have to go through that again, but since it's been about 20 years since I had to do it before, I guess I shouldn't complain. They'll do some surgery on my gums and some bone grafting in my lower jaw. That'll be happening when I get back from Seattle, because I have a solid month at home before my Paris trip. Time for my mouth to heal.
Things in my yard are growing well, except for maybe the Russian sage and the hollyhocks. I planted 10 hollyhock seeds and I have two tiny plants coming up. And they don't look too healthy. The Russian sage also is struggling. I'm wondering if it's getting too much water with all the rain we've been having. I went out and sprayed it and my roses this week though since it does look like something is eating on them.
The hawthorn and azalea bloomed for awhile and were so pretty. My roses are blooming too, so of course I cut some for in the house. They are so pretty and smell so good. I need to get back outside and deadhead them now. The ones in the front yard need it too.
My little hummers are back and this little guys sat still for a picture. I also saw a rose-breasted grosbeak on my red feeder! Gorgeous! I saw him and thought, "what the hell kind of bird is that?!" because I've never seen one here before and he's really beautiful. I tried to get a picture but my camera battery was dead. So I was cussing and switching batteries, but he flew before I could get a picture. I looked him up though. We're not anywhere near his range, so he must have been migrating through and just stopped for some seeds. I was glad to have seen him.
I need to find time to do some serious house-cleaning here shortly because later in the month my Colorado sister and her husband may try to stop by on their way through. Her husband has never seem my place and she's only seen it once, so I hope they have time to stop by. Even if it means I need to do a little better cleaning than when it's just Addy and I here.
That's all for now.
After having had several years of drought conditions in this area, I thought that I would never say this again. But I just have to say . . . ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!! Good Lord! Yesterday I watched as my yard turned into a lake (and I'm on a hill!) about 4 inches deep and the rain just kept coming down. The rain gauge overflowed (it hold 8 inches worth). My Russian sage has drowned and the azalea is about to follow suit. Really. Enough already. And the forecast is for rain every day for the foreseeable future.
The surgery itself I have no memory of, except I remember occasionally he would say, "turn your head this way" and I'd turn it. But I have zero memory of anything else. Conscious sedation is a wonderful thing. I remember the wheelchair ride to my car, and then waking up in bed later in the afternoon. I seriously see why someone has to drive you. I know we stopped to get the prescriptions filled for pain meds and antibiotics because I have a vague memory the clerk saying it would take over an hour to fill them. So my driver must have brought me home and gone back after them - and paid for them, so I'll have to reimburse her. 
Anyway, I'm healing so it's all good. I got my May traveling done with no hitches so the next trip is the Paris trip the third week in June. I went online this morning and cleared 250 emails from my work email from the 2 days I was gone, so I won't be too over overwhelmed tomorrow when I go back to work. And I also tackled some of my journal editorial duties for the same reason.
I think I have more than 2 hummers this year. I've only seen 2 at a time at the feeder, but the food level is decreasing faster this year than it did last year. The horde of sparrows is once again eating me out of house and birdseed. And that Cooper's Hawk still hunts occasionally here, scattering the little birds when he comes. I have both mourning doves and white-winged doves. Some of the mourning doves stay year round, but the white-wings leave in the winter.
