The joy of engineers and cats

As you know I'm married to an engineer and although he isn't quite this goofy, he is a little bit. That is why I love him so. And you know cats. We have had our share over our lifetime with many many in our home from time to time. We are down to one and she rules the roost around here. Hope you enjoy these goofy guys. I've seen this one before, but it was good to see it again. And engineers really are a "whole nother breed of cat". I learned that long ago and far away. They just see things differently for sure.

Things that make you go hmmm...

The new Pringles packages seemed to have an error in the weight of the potato crisps. The "new" improved version has a can that is much larger than the older version







As you can see the weights are different and the "larger" container actually weighs less. Others have noticed the discrepancies as well. http://consumerist.com/5169138/this-pringles-super-stack-size-traps-the-math-illiterate

The math illiterate referenced would be me. My hubby, the math major, noticed the discrepancy last week sometime.

Today is our daughter's birthday, so I won't be around much.

new fence

The mesquite trees got fooled..sort of

Well, so much for the mequite trees predicting spring and all. They got fooled in a big way this weekend. There is a blizzard in the Texas panhandle and there were flurries around here this morning, but we didn't see any snow at our house. So, maybe the mesquites in my part of town knew it wasn't going to freeze right here.

The cold front blew in yesterday afternoon about 4 in the afternoon with super strong winds and it was a sight to see of us trying to put the sheets over the peas. I wasn't too worried about lettuce and the other cold weather vegetables, but wasn't sure about the peas. It got down into the 30s last night and will get down to mid 30s tonight, but warmer tomorrow. The good thing about a cold spell in Texas is that it is gone in almost no time. It is very cold today, but tomorrow it is supposed to get up to 70F.

P.S.-Well, the 6pm news said it was going to get down to freezing tonight. Thank goodness we didn't plant any of the warmer weather plants yet. The gerber daisies came back from last year plants. I guess from seed. They are covered, and I do hope they don't get frost bitten.

How do you know it is spring in your area?

In your area of the country or your country, what criteria do you use to "guess" that spring is nigh and winter is over? In Texas some of us look to the mesquite trees. It is said they will not leaf out until all danger of frost is over. They have been fooled sometimes, but rarely. During the summer I make a mental note of where the mesquite trees are located, and forget by the next year near springtime. But I found a bonaza of them behind a shopping mall and only have to drive past to see. Mesquites are not a tree we grow as a landscape tree, even though I think they are beautiful. But most think they are a pest and a half. Some say they are always dropping something or shedding something or the 2" or 3" long thorns aren't fun when you run into them while mowing.

Anyway, they helped wild horses and cattle and native Americans' and settlers survive the harsh Texas summers with the beans they dropped that could be ground and added to flour, and the shade they provide, and shade in summertime Texas is a big plus. And then there were some of us who started looking to them to let us know when spring is around the corner.

So, let us know what you think is an indicator that spring is there in your little corner of the world and it is safe to plant the tender summer plants. I'll probably be putting in tomatoes next week and that I'm feeling pretty sure spring really is here and the mesquite trees have leafed in my secret grove. Anyway, I still have the garden sheets in case it does happen to get cold again.

Spring has really sprung everywhere!

Today is when the vernal equinox occured....meaning the center of the sun has moved over the equator. So, the equinox occured at 7:44 AM Central Time today. All you ever wanted to know about the equinoxes and solstices you can find here at the National Geographic website. Hope you guys are feeling all springy and all...even if you have snow on the ground still. Just saw on tv that it is snowing in New York again.

I'll take some pix of the fence and all the stuff we have hauled out of the yard over the past week in a few minutes. It is still sort of darkish here this morning.

Anticipation....

Oh agh...we have been working in the yard clearing out flowerbeds for the past two days. The fence guys are supposed to return this afternoon to put up the fence. We are going to stain it with redwood stain after they get it up.

Last week we put out over 15 bags of leaves and this week the same or more. I gave up counting sometime yesterday. The deal is we want to get all the junk out of the flowerbeds so we can plant them with the nice new shrubs we bought a couple of weeks ago when they had a really good deal on them at the nursery. I am getting very antsy wishing the fence guys would come on....but I'm pretty sure my hands couldn't plant anything right now. They are very stiff from raking. The flower beds are tidier than they have been in a long time. It is difficult to work and keep house and the yard, too. Now that I'm no longer tied up with the working part we can get everything back into shape again.

The flower beds had gotten so overgrown with the shrubs we found all sorts of plants we had forgotten about. I need to draw up a plan to decide where everything should go. I'd forgotten about some daylillies out there. Expanding that bed would be really nice.

There is a cool front coming in tonight, but it is still very warm out. Probably why the fence guys haven't shown up. Installing fences is is a very hard way to make a living. Maybe the cool front will come in before they get here. That would make it nicer for them.