277 - Bud!

I ordered four tires off eBay. They are takeoffs with 90% of the tread remaining, with a lower speed rating than my current set... but since I don't go 130 mph they will be fine. I went to Walmart to have my wheels balanced but they said my left front tire didn't have enough tread and they couldn't. Mini told me I would probably have to replace two of my tires by summer, so I didn't realize it was that bad... So anyway, one of the guys suggested that the annoying jittery feeling I was experiencing as I drove was probably due to the fact that the new tire had a thicker tread than the older, worn tire and they were spinning at two different rates of speed so the car was having to compensate.

So my plan is to go to Walmart and have them replace all four tires with the ones I just got, dispose of the two bad tires, and I will take the two that are still in good shape (one brand new and the other about a year old) so I will have spares.

My makeshift pantry. I was tired of nonsensical clutter everywhere so I decided to make sense of it. It's primitive but I like it, just two benches stacked on top of each other.

My "office." The desk Mike sanded down and we stained. Looks pretty good. I got a second monitor so I can see two documents at once, and I have an office phone. I have to find an internet provider because VOIP won't work with my mobile hotspot, but that can wait a bit. But once I have that, I already have a Tennessee phone number.

I also rearranged the bedroom, putting the bed against another wall. It makes more sense to me and the room feels bigger.

Mike even has a side table now. And he's closer to the a/c vent so it should help keep him cooler since he tends to get hot more easily than I do. Especially in the head. :)

 I call this evolution of a snack.

 

And this is playtime. Mike calls it the bitey-bite game. He looks all viscious and snarly, but he doesn't really bite, more like a nibble.

 

And then his lip gets stuck on his teeth and he looks funny.

I also put a curtain on the kitchen window that faces the street. It's sheer, as you can see, but it feels a little more private. And it helps make the heat of the sun bearable.

My sycamore has recovered from the last freeze and is budding out again.

The Japanese Maple is small, but gorgeous and healthy.

I have a rose bud.

And a hydrangea blossom.

And the fig tree, formerly a lifeless looking stick, is growing nicely.

'mater.

I think these are dewberry flowers. Sort of like a blackberry but smaller and juicier.

And I'm pretty sure there are a mass of blackberry canes down the road. There aren't a lot of flowers on them yet, but the leaves and thorns look right. We'll see.

276 - Today's moment of cute

Bo being cute, quiet and content

Bo's soon-to-be sister Daisy nee CeCe.

275 - The good part of the day

...before the storms came...

It hasn't gotten bad so far, a little heavy rain and then it abates. I hope it stays that way. I can take the rain, I just don't want the hail.

Cardinal Richelieu was unhappy that I took his bird feeder down so he sat on top of the pole and kept chirping and chirping. Since it was still calm out I put it back up for a little bit. Of course he flew away as soon as I opened the door, but after a minute or two he was back, happily nibbling at the bird seed, cocking his head from side to side, casually observing the world around him.

And there was a new bird in town.

I figured if the cows were still grazing, it couldn't be too bad. :)

274 - MY CAR IS BACK!!!!

Went to pick my car up today. They didn't do the oil change even though I told them to, so they did it for free and it was done in under 20 mins, probably because they didn't have to let anything cool down. So that's cool. As I understand it, everything is back in camber, front and back and I didn't have to pay a thing (well, technically I paid years of insurance premiums and I bought a tire warranty...). It's so nice to have Scout back... the a/c is so much better, the floormats are different, the seat is up higher, I have a GPS again... To celebrate I removed my front license plate and scraped off my inspection and registration stickers because they don't matter here... I swear my windshield is bigger...

I wish we had dogwoods this pretty in our yard... ours have a few blooms here and there and feel more airy. But someday we'll get there. I'm working on it.

Bo versus moo-cow. He's very curious about them. They don't seem to share the sentiment.

The hummingbird

The cardinal visits pretty much every day now. He's soooooooooo pretty.

And entertaining.

The Bo-Bo's had the squirty butts last night, so he slept a lot. I gave him Immodium and it seemed to help, but it was pretty bad. To his credit he whined and stood by the door and held it until he got outside, so when he whine and stood by the door I got up and took him out quickly because I knew it was serious.

I took pics along the way to pick my car up. I call this the Perfect Road... nobody on it but me!

Cool old cabin in the woods

Ghost Towny building

Beautiful creek by Kemp Farms. I can't get the picture I want because there is no place to pull over... and the cows weren't in the water today so it wouldn't have mattered. I love this place it is gorgeous...

Carthage

My to-do list... I planted the lavender and the rose bush this afternoon, but I picked the rockiest spot yet to plant the rose... After the rainstorm we had a couple of days ago the soil was fairly moist, you just can't get much out at one time because you have to dig around the rocks. Found a few earthworms... that's a good sign.

Our baby Japanese Red Maple. It's going to be a stunner.

Where the blacktop ends.

More barn porn.

Our baby fig tree. It's not very big but there is a bud at the top, so it's determined to grow bigger.

Gerber Daisy.

Walter wondering why he's an outside kitty...

Bootsie taking a walk with us. Walter did too. Funny that the cats will walk with me and don't need a leash to stay close, but Bo does...

This is one of our dogwoods. It's pretty, but I wish it was a mass of blooms. And in the front yard.

Roses before they went into the ground. So I have a hydrangea, two boxwoods and the fruit vines... three or four of them... those are the deepest holes I have left to dig, the flower don't take as much effort.

The cardinal again. :)

And I shot a little video of Cardinal Richelieu (yes, I named him). It's adorable and entertaining and about a minute and a half long.