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Friends and neighbors are good about saving bottles for me. Yesterday, another CARE resident apologized because the brown Bacardi rum bottle wasn’t pretty. Hey, it’s very impressive because name and logo are embossed into the bottle (expensive)!!

True story: Mr. Brown gave me the brown bottle. I can introduce you to bottles and say “Monya gave me this beautiful perfume bottle” and/or “Carolee gave me this beautiful large blue bottle.”

Knock on the door at 11:15 and a CARE resident neighbor gave me three more bottles!!

…when I received an email message saying I owe $65,710.00.

Dear Ms. Edwards,

You owe $65,710.

That’s what every American, including children would need to pay to erase our current national debt of $19,964,972,221,822.

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According to Houston TV meteorologist at 6:50 AM: “Twenty-five degrees cooler this morning than this time yesterday.”

“Relativity cool day” according to same meteorologist at 8:25 AM. So-o-o-o-o, I won’t be working in the yard. (Forty-three degrees as I type this at 8:30 AM.) “Typical January weather.”

I’m watching the thermometer (day and night) and will cover my plants if necessary.

Several days ago, I obtained two (free) large containers from the farm store. Today, I was eager to prepare… and transplant the Texas Lilac. See my earlier blog message. Furthermore, check the blog message where I referred to myself as the “Bag Lady.”  My, oh my, how time flies: I was surprised to see that I’ve been collecting plastic containers for more than a year.

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Not too warm, not too cold; wore my sweater all day. Cloudy, slight wind, but I was thrilled to be working in my “yarden.” Actually, transplanting the Texas Lilac was only one of many projects but they were insignificant and not worth a picture.

(picture-taking, and blog preparation, is the exception).

I fell in love with this as soon as I saw it on a friend’s Facebook page!! No “procrastination” here; less than ten minutes from her page to my blog.

So I can get things done, I need to be two people!!

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I wasn’t looking for bottle trees; I wasn’t thinking about bottle trees!! This “tree” found me!! Isn’t it beautiful??

Strange how an innocuous visit to a friend’s Facebook page evolved into this.

“No,” I won’t add this to my “yarden.” But I can admire it, can’t I??

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our Attitude.”

Honestly, I am so grateful for CARE volunteers!! My trailer was shaking; my awning was flapping violently. My handyman, Jim, was not available. I’m quite self-sufficient but recognized I needed masculine assistance. It’s a Sunday afternoon and very few people around; I searched until I found an off-duty volunteer working on a jigsaw puzzle in the CARE multi-purpose room. I asked if he could/would help me. ~~ Hoping for help… I’d already set up my ladder; I’d laid out the extra “deflappers” purchased recently from our Thrift ‘n Gift shop (a bargain). While fighting strong wind gusts, hoping to ally the inevitable, the awning ripped out of his hands. Because I’m self-sufficient (lol), I have Gorilla tape for a temporary reinforcement. ~~ The awning will have to be replaced (expensive/ouch); I can’t afford construction of a roof (terribly expensive).

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TV news meteorologist reported wind gusts of fifty to fifty-five miles per hour!!

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“Best laid plans….“ put me in the position of criticism AGAIN!! (I’m still suffering negative opinions regarding my bottle trees and bottle bushes.) The sound of spinning tires and revving engine brought residents out of their trailer or motorhome. “Why were we there? What were we doing?” Most residents are satisfied with a naked yard and honestly could not “see” bird feeders hanging on long chains from high limbs. ~~ The new resident embraced the idea of feeders and appreciated my hardware. We’ll need another plan!!

* Faux pas

Gratefully, another resident bird feeder project was satisfied without mishap.

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