Why does the smell of freshly cut grass smell sooooo good on a warm spring day? What is that urge to plant something on the first sunny day of the year? To get down and dirty and get that vegetable garden, herb garden, flower garden going? When the sun shines in the spring the garden stores are just over flowing with people who need to plant something …..plant anything.

I too have succumbed to the urge. We worked in our garden today laying landscape cloth and bark. The sun felt great. The dirt and bark smelled sooo good. It was almost intoxicating. Why??

Is this some primitive instinct to celebrate the fact that you survived the harsh winter and now it’s over. It’s time to forage and plant spring crops. I don’t know.

What I do know for sure, is it feels awesome being outside in the sun. My need to “plant something” is about a 7 on a scale of 1-10. I’ve been ordering plants all spring, mostly roses. I will admit I love the flower catalog’s and I tend to order more than I can comfortably plant. But my neighbors on both sides have beautiful blooming yards so the pressure is on to catch up.

Do yourself a favor and go plant something…it feels great!

Ms Sparky

I’m not sure what all the hullabaloo is about texting. All the kids are doing it and many adults. There is this texting shorthand that I just don’t get. Here is an example.

DILLIGAD – Do I Look Like I Give A Darnn?
BFF – Best Friends Forever
IJWTS – I Just Want To Say…
J4F – Just For Fun
WDYMBT – What do you mean by that?
YGTBK – You’ve Got To Be Kidding

What the hell kind of language is this. I got a text message the other day and had to call to get a translation. Am I getting old?

Here’s a text for you.

IUW2T2MCMOTP

(Simply translated-”If you want to talk to me, call me on the phone.”)

Ms Sparky

When Tiffany was initially arrested she was about one month pregnant. I was in Iraq and she wasn’t talking to me because I wouldn’t bail her out. So, she sat in jail and I communicated with her through her attorney.

I didn’t bail her out because I knew she would run and be back on meth and whatever else. She would then be a fugitive and would be putting my grand baby at risk. Is that what they call “tough love”? Because it was very tough.

When Tiffany did start talking to me, I started planting the seed that it might be best to place this baby for adoption. She was adamantly against it. I was totally exhausted after working in Iraq for two years, mentally, emotionally and physically. I was showing signs of having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I was having a hard time holding it together myself and with the realization that Tiffany was going to prison for almost six years, I just didn’t think I was capable of raising a new born baby and foster care was not an option. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Over Memorial Day weekend we were childless and looking for something to watch on TV that didn’t involve Sprongebob, Pokemon or Transformers!! I ran across some black and white 1950′s “Leave It To Beaver” show. They were sitting at the breakfast table. Mom was puttering around the kitchen and Dad was drinking his coffee and reading his newspaper.

My… my… how times have changed. Does anyone even eat at the dining room table anymore? Ours has been turned into a desk that has two laptops sitting on it. As well as a printer, paperwork, a digital camera, research books and notes for future blogs.

Our morning starts like this. I stumble to the kitchen, start the coffee, go check my emails and blog comments while it’s brewing. Then after it’s done I grab a cup of coffee head back to my computer and read the news on Yahoo or CNN. Cal gets up, grabs a cup of coffee, sits down at his laptop and reads the news. Then we discuss it, looking at each other over our laptops.

Black and white TV as been replaced with HDTV. The “day old” newspaper has been replaced with countless “as it’s happening” internet news publications. The dishes on the table have been replaced with laptops. The only thing that’s the same is we’re still drinking coffee, except it’s $10 a can….. and $4 a cup at Starbucks.

Ms Sparky

This weekend I was taking my grandson Keelen to spend the weekend with his Dad and Step-mom. I was heading south on I-5. It was raining like crazy but the holiday traffic was still moving. Then it got slower and slower and slower. Then we were at a complete stop. I sat on the interstate for about 10 minutes with the car in park. I thought there had to be an accident ahead or the draw bridge was up over the river. When the traffic finally started moving we reached a top speed of 11 MPH. I was looking for the cause of the slow down but didn’t see anything obvious. I FINALLY got across the bridge and what did I see? A motorcycle cop, standing in the pouring rain shooting radar. You have got be kidding me! What was he shooting? All three lanes of traffic were at the agonizingly slow speed of 11 MPH. The birds were flying faster. Maybe he was shooting the birds. Maybe he had one of the “new fangled” long range breathalysers checking for holiday drunks as the traffic crawled by at 11 freakin’ MPH.

It’s very possible he was the cause of the slow down to begin with. If I had been him, I would have been sitting at a Dunkin Donuts somewhere!

Ms Sparky