Dogwood Acres, 3/29/10

DOGWOOD ACRES, 03/29/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. It may be safe to say that the wrath of winter is behind us as we look forward to brighter days. My first bright spot of spring is our Forsythia, which is an early bloomer. Now the Jonquils are wide-awake, a few Sarvis Berry trees are beginning to lighten the woods and Redbuds will soon open.

Tulsa friends, D.C. & Carol Reynolds, were here this weekend hoping to see Dogwoods, but I told them to come back in about three weeks. While D.C. and their son, Tommy Smith, were trout fishing, Carol drove out and visited with us. Trout were not biting so D.C. called Carol to come pick him up. While she was gone, I made spaghetti, Grands’ Little Pies filled with strawberries and raspberries, and we had good fellowship around the dinner table.

Neal and LeaAnn were gone this weekend, first had gone to Eureka Springs to celebrate their wedding anniversary. They came home, repacked and went to Kansas City where LeaAnn attended the Alliance for Life Conference. As Executive Director for Options Pregnancy Clinic in Ava, she gained valuable information and training in these sessions.

Ashton, Erin and “the kids” got to spend extra time with PaPa and Granny Hodges. When I went to pick them up Friday afternoon, Bill and Mary Lou were building new fence around the garden. Bill said the ground was just right, making it easy to drive new posts.

PaPa Rick is still wondering what “the surprise” is. I asked the girls if they didn’t think they could tell him, since he was hurting and not able to go see them. They had no mercy and said, “NO”.

Rick is still recuperating from the broken rib and bad cough that caused the whole catastrophe. He did drive to Save-A-Lot for dog feed and satisfied his craving for fish with canned tuna, sardines and frozen fish sticks.

I spent two days last week with my Realtor friends in Continuing Ed classes. That seemed to take a big chunk out of my week, but is necessary for license renewal.

Justin and Kasie have spring fever and are doing some landscaping around the log house. They trimmed the roses, laid some landscape timbers and using Kasie’s big pickup brought a load of gravel from the creek bank. Kasie showed me paint chips samples from which she is choosing a new color for the bathroom walls.

Their enthusiasm rubbed off on me …just a little; I came home from work and rearranged my deck furniture. Rick has been less than enthusiastic about some of the changes I have made, but after I got it all done decided it might be nice to have a table and chairs on the deck.

We watched a TV show about Hoarders, people who never throw anything away, including trash. While I do not think we have quite reached the extreme that those people have, there is a yard sale in our future. It will probably be a couple of months, but I will be sure to let you know.

Bye for now.