Garden, Caterpillar and BigBoy

 I finally found a caterpillar this week, it was just kind of hanging on the milkweed, so I scooped it up and brought it in with a milkweed leaf.  You can see the black spot by its back and in the morning it was all black.  Finally I have a caterpillar and something got to it.  It is buried under the Red Bud tree.

 Not sure what BigBoy was doing. He often sits like that on the couch, cats are funny.

The Banana Pepper plant is going crazy and there are some that will be ready to pick in a few days, it has tons of blooms.

I had my first and second and third cherry tomato this week and both plants are loaded.

I love the purple petunias, they look like velvet.

 The safflower is blooming under the bird feeders,  It drops and grows, and there are thorns like crazy around the flower part.

The plants I brought from inside are doing great.

The deer must have been up the other night and helped themselves to my Sunflowers.  This plant jsut showed up, must have been the squirrels carried it there.   

 

Dear Joann's

 I have received your email twice now telling me about Michael's picking up a lot of the things you used to sell.  And oh look a 50% off coupon on ONE thing regular price.  Did you get a look at the exclusions, there are more things excluded than there are in the store. Michael's started doing this with their coupons eons ago and it never got me in the store. I think I was last in one pre-COVID.  Their prices are more expensive, their sales aren't that great when you consider the regular price and they tend to have more framing and silk flowers than anything else.  

I can not imagine buying fabric and yarn online when I can not see or touch it.  Yes I have bought yarn online but only from a store I was very familiar with their products.  

I want to know if Michael's is going to offer the Big Twist yarn at the same price and have the same sales Joann's did.  Probably not.  

I will stick with Hobby Lobby even though they now sell bedding, really why?  If you are a craft store stick with the crafts, I can buy the other stuff cheaper somewhere else.  

Good thing my basement (aka my craft room) is well stocked, so perhaps I will use up what I have and forgo the online shopping.

 

Happy 100th

 Yesterday I attended a birthday at church of our oldest member.  Vernon was 100.  I have never been to a 100th party before.  His whole family was there but his wife. She has passed a few years ago and it was just him and his cat.   Half our church was there as well.  The night before one of the news channels did a little item about him and when I was talking to him a reporter was taking notes, she had pages.

Vernon has had an amazing life so far.  He was part of the team that drew the map for the state of Alaska from an airplane when it became a state.  He retired from the military and went on to teach school and be a scout leader.  His kids are all military as well as some grandkids.

I would often sit him at Fellowship after church, it was as if my dad was still alive.  He has not been doing well lately and has not been to church for a while but yesterday he was as sharp as ever and having the time of his life.

People like him need to be celebrated before they are all gone.  I asked him if he thought he would ever live this long and he said his first goal was 75, then to see the turn of the century and next year he was going to start all over again and turn 1.   

Happy Birthday Vernon, you definitely need to be celebrated.  Thanks for sharing your life with our little church, we are blessed to have you as a member.