Flowers

For my F post, I thought I’d show you some of the flowers that are currently blooming in our yard.

The timing of the blooms seems to vary quite a bit from year to year.  Some years, the azaleas are in full bloom by now.  This year, they’re just beginning to bloom right now. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks, we’ll have a lot more flowers. 

The daffodils are always some of the first to bloom and are almost finished for the year.  There’s one little cluster still holding on.

And there’s one pink tulip in full bloom.

The scilla, transplanted from GrandMommy’s yard, is blooming.  She’s the one who taught me to garden, so it always makes me happy when these come back.  Her flower legacy lives on.

I’m not sure what this one is called.  It’s a bush in the front yard.  I think the tiny flowers are so pretty.

What’s blooming where you are? 

Facebook - The Status That’s Becoming More and More Tempting to Post

Let me start off by admitting that I’m kind of addicted to Facebook.  I spend much more time on it than I should.  I post tons of pictures of the fur kids, the garden when things are blooming, and some food pictures.  It’s a great way to keep up with people I don’t see regularly.  And I’m a sucker for cat videos.

It seems like periodically, though, there’s a rash of people using Facebook as a way to sell (or harass you to buy) whatever home based or direct sales product they’ re selling at the moment.  Some of them border on stalker behavior trying to get you to try their product, buy their product, or have a “party” to sell their product to your friends.  Lately, the trend seems to be to add you to a group or an event about it.  It fills up your news feed, and you constantly get notifications about it.  It’s annoying.

I first had the idea for this a few months ago when the “Make Facebook Fun Again” photo went around in response to people’s behavior on Facebook concerning politics and other controversial topics.  I liked it.  I thought it was a fairly lighthearted way to make a very valid point.

I have no artistic abilities, so I just wrote something out with markers.  I haven’t posted it on my Facebook page, but it’s becoming more and more tempting.  Unfortunately, everything here has been something that has been an ongoing issue.

The leggings: For some reason, I took an instant and intense dislike to these.  They remind me of the stirrup pants craze of the late 80s/early 90s.  As a child, I took an instant and intense dislike to those.  As a kid I was more of a jeans and button down kind of girl.  Today I’m more of a Worthington pants and top or sweater for work, and jeans and t-shirt or sweater for time off kind of person.  Leggings just don’t do it for me.

The habit with them seems to be for people to add you to groups and events for them.  You then get tons of notifications and reminders.  Sometimes there’s a blurb about why the person selling them needs your support.  I just don’t think that’s appropriate.  If you’re trying to sell me something, at least focus on why I need the product, not on why you need the money from selling me the product.

The miracle weight loss programs: This has probably been the most egregious one.  The worst person by far, is a former co-worker, who started messaging me every single time I got on Faceook about trying it.  EVERY.  SINGLE.  TIME.  Early in the morning, late at night, it didn’t matter.  Every time I logged into Facebook, she was there on Chat, telling me how her program would transform my life, make me skinny, and make me a millionaire so I could quit my day job.
I finally told her that I didn’t try weight loss products that are soy based, or that have any soy at all, so if hers did, I couldn’t try them.  Most of them do, so I thought that would get her to leave me alone.  I have to avoid soy for medical reasons.  I have benign tumors that are estrogen fed.  Because soy mimics estrogen, I have to avoid it.  It can cause the tumors to grow, which increases the chances of them rupturing and causing internal bleeding.  To put it bluntly, and dramatically, consuming large quantities of soy could actually kill me.

You might think that would be enough to make someone back off, but you would be wrong.  She went on to tell me how their soy is different.  Okay, sure.  I’ll ignore what medical professionals have told me because you (with no medical training) think I should try this program.  I don’t think so.  I turned off Chat and stopped reading her messages.  She then added me to a group detailing people’s success stories.  It took me a while to figure out why every time I logged into Facebook I was inundated with pictures of half naked strangers.   I finally figured it out, removed myself from the group, and chose the option to prevent anyone from adding me back in.

The cosmetics and skin care: This seems to be the latest trend where the people selling them send you friend requests and messages because you’re friends with a friend of theirs, and they just know you’ll love what they’re selling.  Really?  You know my skin type and cosmetics preferences just based on my being friends with someone?  Do you also happen to know the winning lottery numbers in the next drawing?

The other trick is that they add you to groups to teach you how to apply cosmetics, take care of your skin, etc, once again filling up your news feed and sending you tons of notifications.  No thanks.  I’m 35.  I’ve been wearing makeup since I was 14.  I’ve figured out how to apply it over the two decades I’ve worn it.

The accessories: In my experience these are usually the most blatant appeals for money.  The sales pitches usually come with appeals along the lines of “I just need to sell X number of dollars worth per month to be a stay at home mom”.  Again, if you’re selling a product at least focus on why the potential buyer needs it rather than why you need to sell it.

I’m sorry, but I’m just not going to part with my hard-earned money for overpriced handbags, hair clips, nail polish, whatever the product of the moment is just because you want me to.  That’s not why I get up and go to work every morning.

Like I said, I haven’t posted this on my Facebook page, but it becomes more and more tempting every day.  I’m just not sure it would actually make a difference with some people.

So what about you?  Are you inundated with people trying to sell you things on Facebook?  Have you found a good way to convince people you’re not buying?

I realize this post was a little bit of a rant, and I promise that tomorrow’s post will be much more positive.  We all need a good rant every now and then, though.  So feel free to rant away in the comments.  I’m honestly kind of hoping I’m not the only one.  

Juggling Letters

For those of you participating, you know the A to Z Challenge is in full swing. For those not participating, the A to Z Challenge is a challenge for the month of April that involves blogging every day except Sunday and following the alphabet (A on the 1^st, B on the 2^nd, and so on). Some letters are easy, and you’re forced to choose between a few, even several, really good topics. Some letters are not so easy. And some letters are just plain hard.

There seems to be a lot of general agreement that letters toward the end of the alphabet are hard. Vowels also seem to be somewhat troublesome overall. Other than that it seems to be based on the individual blogger and possibly their theme (if they have one) as to which letters are hard. Here’s looking at you I, N, R, and U.

I found myself doing a lot of juggling letters around when I was planning posts (they’re not all written yet, so I’ll just say planning) and trying to find ways to make different posts work for different letters. It was helpful to write everything out and think of different titles and different angles for approaching the same subject.

I managed to juggle it around and turn what was going to be my B post into my U post and what was going to be my F post into my K post.

So what about you? Are you participating in the A to Z Challenge? Which letters were hard for you? Did you juggle anything around to suit a different letter?

Fizzy Lemonberry Pansies

Two weeks ago we made our first trip of the season to the specialty garden store. We went with Nick’s grandparents (a.k.a. The Grands or GrandMommy and GrandDaddy). GrandMommy and I went because we love the flowers. It was a fairly warm day and we needed to be outside and see the plants and flowers. We needed something that felt like spring. Nick went because he loves us, and possibly because of the lunch plans for later. GrandDaddy went because we were all going, and possibly because of the lunch plans for later.

I love going to the garden stores, and I love going outside and seeing all of the flowers they have. This particular store does a great job of displaying the flowers in the most attractive way possible. It’s just beautiful there. They also tend to have more special plants; types, colors, and varieties that you just don’t see at other places. You always find something a little special there.

This time it was these Fizzy Lemonberry Pansies. I think that’s just the name of the color, but I think they’re really pretty. I really like the color combination, and I love how the petals are a little bit curly. And, in all honesty, I really love saying Fizzy Lemonberry. Give it a try. It just feels good in your mouth doesn’t it?

So what about you? Is there a special flower that you like the name of?

Feeding Feral Cats

About a year and a half ago a local spay and neuter organization asked for volunteers to help feed a local feral cat colony.  I didn’t know anything about feral cats, but being a cat person, I called the volunteer in charge of the colony. 

 

I learned that there is a colony living behind a nearby hardware store, and that volunteers feed and manage the colony.  I also learned what makes a cat feral rather than stray.  Basically, stray cats are cats that have become lost or been abandoned.  They’ve had interaction with humans, and can be approached and petted.  Feral cats are much more wary of humans, and usually cannot be approached or petted.  They are often cats who are the offspring of stray cats. 

Because feral cats cannot be adopted into homes the goal is to humanely manage a colony through providing adequate food and water, a TNR (Trap-Neuter-Release) program, and providing medical care for any cats that may become injured.  The goal is basically to keep them healthy, and to keep them from reproducing. 

Estimates vary as to the number of cats in our local colony, but most of us believe there are somewhere around a dozen cats.  One gentleman who is retired largely heads up our little group of feeders, with about five of us taking a day or two a week to feed the cats. He’s also the person who coordinates with the local T-N-R group to make sure any new cats are spayed/neutered, and to get medical care for any cats that any of us notice with an injury. 

Most of us have never met in person; we just exchange emails to work out feeding schedules and to discuss what’s going on with the cats.  We’re all cat lovers, so we’re happy to work together to get them fed, adjusting the feeding schedule as needed to make sure they’re fed on holidays and any time one of us is out of town. 

We’ve all managed to find a favorite cat, or two, and we update each other whenever we haven’t seen a particular cat in a while.  One volunteer builds shelters for the cats during the cold weather, and most of us take them treats when we feed on a holiday. 

It’s not a complicated or official system, but it seems to work.  The cats look good, and the colony doesn’t seem to be growing. While none of us are able to pet the cats, or even get very close to them, they do seem to know and expect us.  They sit and wait just a few feet from the feeding area in the mornings.  It seems like they know we’re coming, and maybe know they can trust us, even if it’s only to bring them food every day.