Cheryl Beckham

With the weather just being so wacky this winter, the past couple of days have been in the high 70′s, there are plenty of people taking advantage of the nice weather to get a good amount of outside projects done that normally don’t get done until spring. And if they aren’t busying doing outside work they are busy having outside fun. Heck my neighbor is just itching to start getting his swimming pool cleaned up and ready for water fun in the sun.

He was looking at swimming pool liners back last summer and but actually purchased a new pool cover so he is excited at the prospect of enjoying all that having a swimming pool in your back yard has to offer. His close friends, family and neighbors are looking forward to it as well, I can tell you that.

I have a feeling that we are going to pay dearly for having such a mild winter by having an extremely hot summer, so having a neighbor with a pool might possibly be one of the ways to help beat the heat that we are in store for real soon here.

Now is the time of the year that I start looking at getting my hands all in the dirt and thinking more and more about Gardening. Today it was so nice outside that I was so tempted to start doing some digging and tilling, but of course that would have been a waste of my time and energy since we will most likely be dealing with “Old Man Winter” for a few more months and anything could happen with this crazy weather we have been experiencing this winter.

I’ve been finding seed and plant catalogues in the mailbox lately and I’m enjoying looking at all of the varieties of plants, trees, bushes, flowers and shrubs that you can order these days. I can’t wait to order flowers for my new window box planters which I bought at the end of the season last deal. Man did I get a sweat deal on those babies. My mother used to have some of the most beautiful window boxes that she always took such pride in. So I’ve always wanted to give them a try and now that time has come. I just hope I can do them justice by looking even half as good as my mother’s did. I’m excited.

This year my tree only has strings of popcorn and cranberries wrapped and draped around it. Wasn’t into doing the whole kit and kaboodle this year. This way when it is done and over with I can simple undo them and put them out back for the birds and other animals that will enjoy eating them for a few days.

The snow is bad enough, but the wind is totally out of control today. I’ve had to go outside numerous times so far today to retrieve several things that have been blown out of their proper place. So far, two box tops, one trash can, one lawn chair and just now I picked up several plastic trash can liners that blew in from somewhere in the neighborhood along with some other trashy items. The wind about blew me away, and I had to come running inside quickly and calm myself down a bit.

It will be a good day to stay by the blazing fireplace that I just started a nice fire in and watch all the football games that are being aired today. I have a good sized flat screen T.V. that makes watching the games so much more enjoyable.

What a cold and nasty Saturday, and the bad news is that tomorrow is supposed to be worse, oh what a wonderful Monday that will be.

Years ago I must have expressed out loud in front of someone, somewhere, something about the cuteness of a frog lawn ornament, that had caught my eye, for some reason. I didn’t even buy the frog, but some how that was to be the start of the many, many frogs that have now seemingly taken over my house and lawn. Word got out and frogs are a constant, but welcomed gesture from folks, as a gift, a token, a present, a tip (after all, I am a bar tender, and we receive quite a variety of tips now and then) from virtually everywhere from all types of people that I have/had a relationship with over the years. I must have a frog made out of any and every type of material that is known to man, in all kinds of sizes, and stances.

For Christmas I was given a frog aquarium kit, which requires a check to be sent in with the order for the frogs to come in the mail, or I could go down to one of the many pet stores that have popped up all over the place in the past few years. I’m sure at least one will have baby frogs for sale, it seems like the more humane way to receive new members of the family. But going to the pet stores, any of them like PetCo, Puppy Palace, and Petsmart always leaves me with me wallet emptied out and my heart broken from not being able to take home more of the critters that are all there, just waiting for a home, and knowing that their chances of being purchased and treated adequately highly reduces most of their survival rates.

One of the places that I try not to go in to are the A.S.P.C.A. and Animal Shelters, I have never left one yet with out crying like a baby and feeling like a piece of scum, and dirty. Not something that I enjoy or look forward to doing, ever.