Easter came early to our house; my Silkie chicken laid her first egg last week. My niece was so excited! She assessed the situation and immediately cracked the little egg and fried it; you can guess the rest of this story... Mmmm, gone! We are currently gathering for the annual Easter egg dying ritual ( 5 so far), hopefully by April 8th,we’ll have a dozen! As it turns out, my other Silkie, is a ROOSTER!
If you want to cure a drought, dig a pool! That’s right; I started digging my pool on Thursday, March 16th, one of the mildest winters on record. Ha! Until I woke up March 19 to a sheet of rain coming down, you guessed it, right over my freshly dug swimming pool hole! Those of you that called to thank me for ending the drought, YOU’RE WELCOME! Richard Evans, owner of Cookie Cutter Pools, assured me that rain wouldn’t be a problem, and he was right, I freaked out and he stayed calm, his son Justin preempted the strike by spraying an egg shell layer of gahnite on the site and I’m relieved to say we made it through the plumbing/electrical phase and were headed for the coping/tile portion. Wow, these guys really do know their stuff and their prices are amazing! Thought you couldn’t afford a swimming pool? Think again.
As for my new raised bed, vegetable garden, well, the verdict’s still out. I did spot some new growth over the radish rows, and a bit of lettuce popping up next to them, so, I’ll just have to wait and see. As the rain poured down in Lodi, I decided to flee to the mountains for my first bit of 2012 snow skiing. Can’t believe I’m just starting the ski season in MARCH. Figured I’d be better off not watching the pool fill with water at this stage of construction and get out and enjoy the fresh powder! For the skiers out there, I suggest you GO skiing, the snow was perfect and it looks like its going to be that way for awhile. The Sierra Nevada, one of God’s little miracles.
After skiing last weekend, I thought I’d kick back and read a book about gardening. Nope, not this time, my 5 pound yorkiepoo, Sophie, had something else in mind. As I looked up from my book I noticed a yellow box in her mouth, OH NO!!! D-CON… you heard me, MOUSE BAIT, little bluish green pellets pouring out on the carpet from the box in her mouth!!! I felt sick to my stomach and searched my mind for a logical answer. What to do? I pulled myself together and called 411, this in turn got me connected to a 24-hour emergency pet hospital. The woman I spoke to told me to get hydrogen peroxide and pour a teaspoon down her throat to induce vomiting immediately. I did. She was awfully sick for about two hours and out came the pellets and luckily they hadn’t dissolved yet. Then off to the vet in Stockton for the antidote, vitamin K, a blood thickening agent. Not fun but a happy ending nonetheless. I thought I’d share this experience with you in hopes of offering the knowledge needed in pet emergency 101.
Hopefully, we’ll get the rain out of the way by April 27th, just in time for our fabulous 27th annual Stockton Asparagus Festival. This festival fuels over $350,000 to local charities each year, providing tons of local asparagus to attendees. The annual event takes 60 committees, 5,500 volunteers and has donated over $5.5 million to local charities since the start date in 1985. The one and only… Stockton Asparagus Festival.
Thank you, Thelma Stewart, for hosting the annual Lady Bugs Easter basket sale. For the past 40 years Thelma and friends have worked tirelessly preparing hundreds of handmade Easter baskets for this annual event. If you haven’t had the pleasure of attending this spectacular fundraiser, by all means do so. The Lady Bug volunteers assembled about 900 baskets this year, hosted the largest group of guests since 1982, and the weather was perfect! Congratulations to everyone involved.
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I had the pleasure of attending a breakfast fundraiser for presidential candidate Mitt Romney, hosted at the home of Alex and Faye Spanos. This was my first experience meeting a presidential candidate, what a thrill. My decision to endorse Mitt Romney for president was solidified today. I’m proud to join him in his efforts to “fight for the America we love, the land of opportunity, and a beacon of freedom”. His family values, leadership qualities, and plan to get America back on track is exactly what this country needs. I know in my heart we must have change or the United States we grew up with is lost. I believe that anyone running for the most important job in our country “president” should have “successfully” run a company with hundreds of employees for several years. Why? Because, unless you have personal experience understanding budgets, cutbacks, bottom lines, lines of credit, profit, losses, health insurance premiums, insurance policies, taxes, layoffs, hiring, firing, and everything else that encompasses staying afloat during good times and bad, how can you possibly run the world’s largest economic engine, the USA? No more career politicians for me. What I’m beginning to understand as the new norm nothing sensible based on common sense, makes sense. Things we thought couldn’t possibly happen, are happening every day, how frightening for Americans. Kudos to Florida for drug testing those that desire financial relief from our government. Why should our hard earned money go to people using illegal drugs, just to stay home and get high? Finally, something that DOES make sense! Hopefully the druggies fleeing Florida, the “sunshine state” can’t afford a one way ticket to California, the “golden state”. Our state needs to go to school on this and toughen up qualifications for our entitlement programs. I understand people needing occasional help but, staying sober and working your way through life’s challenges is more than reasonable.
Happy Easter,
God Bless America,
Sharon Alley-Calone
