My Friday in bits and pieces

This morning, I sat on the patio and soaked in the sun - along with Laydee who always keeps an eye out for the bad guys. 

Walked around the yards - and trees were starting to leaf out. 

That "spring" green is so pretty and fresh...To me, it seems greener than ever before due to all of our rain. It's been a long time coming, that's for sure. 

My husband LOVES this ground cover - TRUTH be told it is a toxic invasive species. The stems and foliage contain a sap that can irritate the skin or cause a rash. These plants are poisonous if eaten by both humans and animals. The leaves are quite bitter, so most animals tend to avoid them.

Now that I found out about this - I hope my husband will take heed. 

Anagallis arvensis

It has many nicknames - according to where you live - here it is called Scarlet Pimpernel, or just plain old chickweed. 

So we're going to have to pull these out. It is a shame - they are so pretty. 

I had some errands to do this morning and took a drive to check out the first of the TAPLAP plant stands for this growing season. 

The TAPLAP (Take a Plant Leaf a Plant) stands are “ideally” barter or trade-based with the intention of building community resilience through shared plant-based resources and mutual aid. Ideally, folks “Take” items with roughly the same value as what they “Leaf.”

Depending on the stand, common items for trade include:

- houseplants

- veggie starts

- native plants

- cuttings

- seeds & bulbs

- soil & amendments

- pots

- garden tools

- fresh produce from your garden

- yard art such as painted rocks

- other supplies (seed envelopes, plant markers, clean jars for cuttings, Sharpie pens, etc.)

I say ideally because some people can be rude and just take and take and take and never give back.

I have a lot of starter pots that I plan to donate and an abundance of seed packets. 

After I did that, I went to Walmart. Ugh. No offense but with the exception of their Equate acetaminophen, The Pioneer Woman's merchandise, white picket fence paint, and my favorite brand of craft paint, Waverly -  I try to avoid that place like the plague. 

And this is one of the reasons - They lock everything up and then don't provide a button to push - so you have to leave your cart and walk all over the store to find someone to unlock the glass security doors. 

Target doesn't do this - I don't know of any other store that does this. 

It's very annoying. 

Then once you find a person, they can't just give it to you - No they have to place it in a locked container. They used to bring it up to the cashier which was a hassle when you had other things to buy. 

Plus they have the worst shopping carts ever! 

In the future, I plan to order my stuff from their APP and then sit out in the parking lot and let them deliver it to my car. It will save on my blood pressure. 

Then I drove over to the 99-cent store - it has been a while. I was looking for a container for all my dog's toys. 

By the way, only about half, if that is still .99. Everything has jumped up to $1.99, 4.99, etc. So that way, they don't have to change their signage. I can still find better buys there than at Dollar Tree. 

So when I came home, I placed all Laydee's toys in her new toy box and Susie had to check it out as well. 

Laydee is really "into" her toys. She will go over and ruffle through the toy box, lifting out and moving around just to pull out the toy she wants. 

When I vacuum I have to go around and pick up all her toys - IF ONLY she would put them back where they belong. 

Susie has a toy box, but she doesn't go there - it's more for us, to store her toys. At night, before going to bed, I will take out a couple of her toys and place them on the floor. By morning, the toys are somewhere else - she likes to play at night and it is not uncommon, to hear her, running up and down the hallway, meowing and "pretending". 

What JOY they both bring to my life. 

Here are my faux shamrocks Oxalis acetosella. They are loving spring! 

I finished my first week (only 2 days a week) of Physical therapy and I am thrilled to say, my shoulder is feeling much better. I will still keep the MRI appointment at the end of this month but I am crossing my fingers and toes that I do not have a tear; not even an itty bitty one. And that I will be able to manage it with PT. 

I love my Physical therapy place - they bring in their dog and he is so adorable. He reminds me of those Wegman dogs on Sesame Street. He is so laid back, you have to step over him - he won't move.   

 

And I forgot to mention that even my orthopedist surgeon brings his dog to the office. This is not his dog - but looks like him. His name is TANK and he is a retired  *Australian shepherd. 

When my surgeon is not doing his surgery, he owns a cattle ranch in Red Bluff. He even wears his cowboy boots to work. 

See? This is why I totally love it here. You just don't see that down in the bay area. 

*Here's a tidbit I did not know...

They are not actually Australian. The Australian Shepherd probably came from the Basque region of Spain. Basque shepherds first took their dogs with them to Australia and then to the United States, so Americans called the dogs Australian Shepherds. The breed, as we know it today, was developed solely in the United States.

Well, I am done for today. I hope you all have a nice weekend, enjoying the spring whatever that looks like for your area. 

Debby