Happy Mother's Day--to Mothers Everywhere!

Graduation Day

May 7 was a special day for the youngest Ponderosa Princess.  She became a college graduate.  There were so many graduates at TTU that the ceremony was divided into two parts.  She was in the morning graduation.

Here she comes marching in.  The youngest Ponderosa Princess is only five feet tall, but her place in line was in between some very tall dudes.  

Here she is waving to her friends and family in the crowd!  

The ceremony is long and introduces a lot of people, so it was a good time to send messages to her sister, the oldest Ponderosa Princess, who could not attend, but watched on the Internet feed.

It was finally time for her name to be called and she walked right across that stage in her gold sparkly shoes just like the princess that she is!

She sang the Tennessee Tech Hymn

.

And then the specter guy led the entire procession right out of the gym,

where we made pictures 

then went out to lunch after which the graduate left with her little family to catch a plane to the beach!

It was a very good day!

Danger Zone

When I hear the word danger, I always think of the robot from the TV series Lost in Space.  

If you are under fifty you may not remember it.  The Robinson family was lost in space and trying to return to earth.  It was science fiction set in the future (1997)!  The youngest child in this family was Will Robinson and he was always exploring with the Robot.  When they encountered something dangerous the robot would wave his arms and exclaim, "Danger, Will Robinson, Danger."  It was awesome!  

Anyway,  lately I've felt like I needed a robot companion to warn me of the dangers here on the Ponderosa.  One must always be aware of his/her surroundings here because just because it wasn't there yesterday doesn't mean it won't be there today.  For instance, it is amazing how much progress a hornet can make on a nest is a very short time. This one popped up on the eaves of our storage shed. 

One must also be careful inside the sheds where reptiles sometimes like to lie in the doorways or even on the walls!

Things like this do not bother boys, they just add to the danger by trying to poke it with a broom.

And always look before you sit on the Ponderosa.

Because you don't know what may be sitting in the chair already!

May Flowers

On the grill

After a long afternoon in the garden, Saturday night supper was a couple of grilled rib eye steaks.

The grill master's secret to a great rib eye is Parkay margarine in the squirt bottle.

I liked mine.  A lot. 

On Easter

On Easter week-end the Ponderosa was filled with egg hunters, basketball players, tractor riders, good friends. more food than we could eat. . .  

And ALMOST all the people  I love!

 PERFECT weather made it a very happy day!

Sigh. . .

Last Friday night just out of the blue here's a conversation Parker and I had and a week later I still feel all warm and  fuzzy when I think about it!

Parker: Nana, how much is it you love me?
Me:  To the moon and back!
Parker:  Okay Nana, I love you to the stars and back to the earth!

How to Startle Yourself

When I am not chasing critters away from my plants I am fighting leaves.  We rake in the fall.  We rake in the spring.  We haul and burn, but we never win the war.  They collect everywhere. I have been raking and burning everyday it was warm enough to be outside lately.  I have a brush pile where I wheelbarrow the leaves I gather for burning and as I started to dump a wheel barrow full, I looked down and saw this.

 

 It did startle me for just a second then I realized it looked familiar and was being very still.  Last year when we were fighting the nesting birds in the eaves of an open shed we placed rubber snakes there to scare them away.  It must have fallen then I  raked it up without noticing and dumped it in the brush pile the day before!

There is one under the lid of the gas tank right now, I just hope we remember to move it before the tank needs filling up again or someone else may be startled!! 

Birthday Trip

Today is my Dad's 79th birthday!  You would never guess his age, since he looks and acts much younger.  As a special treat we took him to Rugby for lunch at the Harrow Road Cafe, a little shopping in the Rugby Commissary and then we did a self guided tour!  Despite the damp weather, it was a great day! 

(See photos below)

Happy Birthday, Dad!