Mama Kanta's Home Apothecary & Backyard Musings

Simon's Cat visits the McKenzie! Husband shared a funny cat story this am.  He was about early and peaked through the curtains to the patio. WHAM! 4 paws and a large grey Tuxedo hit the screen at chest height, he's 5'11" and loud MEEOOOW emited from the aged Uncle Snowball's mouth. Hubby held up a finder, closed the curtain, walked back to me and mentioned, "the cats are watching Simon's Cat through the window. By the way, the horde is hungry."

Greetings from Mama Kanta's Menagerie!   It's day Whatever of self-isolation/physical distancing and thing are pretty normal up here. Well, except for a few new feline faces. With all the turmoil regarding COVID-19 and people absolutely refusing to accept that THEY MAY CARRY THE VIRUS and treating this healing time as vacation/let's party/screw the world time....people are dumping pets. Yes, folks are so intent on their personal self pleasure that they figure pets are no longer necessary and taking them out of town and dumping them in the woods. Hey, the people don't care the pet companion loves them and has needs; the persons needs are paramount.  The Lt. Gov. of Texas suggests getting the economy back to it's 2018numbers. Money is more important than your grandparents living or the child next door living or the health-compromised gas station attendant living OR the health providers living. Dollars over lives; the great platform of the politically conservative.

WOW, it's been a few years since I've updated. Forgot this was here, actually.  Now that we are all home-bound for a while it might be a good time to update. Sooooo, finally decided to have my hands checked for something other than arthritis and, yep, Corona19 made me postpone the nerve studies.  Still, decided to practice a little on the harmonium and yeah, the hands hurt after about 10 minutes. Put a wrist brace on the right hand, the one that is more painful, and that helped during the next practice session. Ordered a brace for the left hand. With both hands braced that should help some. Next is to work on the height of the keyboard as the elbows start to ache and then the digits want to sleep. I was curious as to why, maybe, it's taken this long for a doctor to say Hmmm, you may have carpal tunnel. Started to think about what I've done with my hands. Started playing keyboards 63 years ago when I was 7. Never learned piano. Dad disliked piano so he bought a Bal

Hah! Nearly the end of March 2017. It's been over two years since I've looked at this blog. Sheesh, a lot has changed. I'll be trying to figure out how to really used this thing for my own use and maybe others. We will see. We've moved out of the city up the river to a quiet hamlet. A nice place with lots of trees and plants. It is a joy to figure out what we have spring wise as we moved in late summer. I know we have lots of lillies lol. The main reason I've re-started the blog is to find out what's in the garden, log the plants and then find out what to do with them. Looks like we have a Goat Willow (Salix caprea) at the road end of Hummingbird Island. The other end is home to a Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) and it's pretty huge. In between are Rhodies, Clematis and something else. Under the willow tree are Lemon Balm and that orange flowering thing (get name) that is great for hummingbirds.  Some of the plants I purchased from Heiko survived th

Last day of the first month of the new calendar year, wow, already! I'm at the tail end of the two week crud that likes to scare one into thinking they have either some new flu or pneumonia. Many thanks to my DC and my Acupuncture people for giving me back my lungs. Thanks too, to the MD who gave me an over-the-counter expectorant that worked better than the herbal one. Go figure LOL Simon is still with us!! I guess he decided that being inside and warm, eating real food and having company was okay. We just take each day as it dawns. Wildlife is filling the back yard, yippee. Having a garden consult this week so we can learn how to work with the huge evergreens and still manage to grow food. Ordered a Coolaroo sun shade and am curious how it will work out for the blinding afternoon sun problem. Curiously energized after seeing my first Bald Eagle of the year a few days ago. cheers )

Getting ready for the weekend: charging station; NOOK HD+, check; Samsung NOOK, check; ASUS tablet, check; smart phone, check.   Oooooo getting ready for NaNoWriMo! I am a seat of the pants writer so, in this case, I'm okay. Have a list of ideas and need to select just ONE! Whew. Listening to Cold/Flu webinar again. Great timing for this webinar as ye olde change of seasons sniffles/scratchy throat have appeared, grrr. This weekend will have a number of people involved so it is good to be prepared.  Simon is taking some time out of his cat cave to snooze on a chair. He has tried to convince us to let him out of any door )) Silly cat. Luckily he gives up easily and heads back to the food station for another munch. Happy just about November!