Emails between those ‘mal-adjusted adoptees’…

The Adoptedones:
You live down south and there are probably nasty snakes there. Are there? I hate, hate, hate snakes – spiders are good, other bugs are good, most reptiles don’t scare me but snakes, nada. Do you have snakes where you live? We only have garter snakes and they make me run and scream, worse than mice and rats. Strange email I know but the question came to me while watching TV last night.

Shadow Adoptee:
And, oh, yes, we have snakes. Mostly just rat snakes, otherwise known as bull snakes, or chicken snakes. They sort of look like rattle snakes, if a person isn’t familiar with the difference, or accustomed to see them. Not my favorite critter either. I try to make lots of noise, and if hubby sees one he tells me, so I can avoid or prepare for the situation. I’ve had babies crawl up on the bench by the back door to get out of the water, and on my swing to sun. If hubby isn’t around, I hit the bench or shake the swing before sitting down. Mostly they stay clear of us, and we stay clear of them. They do keep the rat and rabbit population under control, so the rule, “Stay out of my way/house, and I’ll stay out of yours.” seem to work for all. We haven’t seen any poisonous snakes around here. Those would be shown no mercy, an immediately killed. We have had a couple of six foot bull snakes, but they avoid us as much as we avoid them. On average, we only see two, maybe three, a year. Two of my neighbors actually had a snake, somehow, get in the house, but we think it was, for one, when she carried in some large potted plants, and the snake had just burrowed down or something, and the other, from under the house. I have a concrete foundation. Nothings coming up through that, and I don’t bring outdoor plants in anymore…for obvious reasons. Lol

The Adoptedones:
You are braver about snakes than I am. I have my feet up just reading what you wrote.

Shadow Adoptee:
I just wanted to see how you were doing? Is everything O.K.?

The Adoptedones:
Just overall kind of in a funk. How about you? You have been noticeably
absent lately.

Shadow Adoptee:
I’ve been spending a lot of time outdoors, mainly just sitting and daydreaming, listening to the 500 baby birds in nest under my carport chirping. My goodness they are noisy. Of course there aren’t 500, but it sounds like it. The mom and dad bids are so very busy trying to keep them all fed. My gosh they work hard. They are accustomed to me, so they fly near me, land near me, and occasionally poop on me. lol had to move where I was sitting. The babies should be leaving the nest soon, so quiet will return to the home front. Yeah! lol

Shadow Adoptee:
I’ve spent all week putting squash, from the garden, in the freezer. I thought I was done, until last night, when hubby brought in another counter full to put up. Guess what I’ll spend the rest of the afternoon doing? I’m beginning to really dislike squash.

Fill me in on what is going on with you? I miss you and my other online friends. Hopefully soon I can get back to the blog.

The Adoptedones:
Seems funny to hear you are already doing veggies as we are just now getting sun and temps in the 60’s.

I MISS YOU TOO!

Shadow Adoptee:
7 quartz of green beans, and that’s just the first picking. I’ve lost track of the squash, but the freezer is at it’s quota on squash. Still waiting on tomatoes to turn red. Why does it takes so long for a tomato to turn read? Cucumbers, well, I’ve gotten one so far, and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong there. I should have cucumbers running out my ears. Bell peppers and egg plant are covered with blooms, but no peppers or egg plant yet, which makes me wonder what’s up with that too. Am I just impatient? All of Hubby’s hot peppers are coming on strong, and he should be picking them in the next few weeks. We’re trying to beat the grasshoppers this year. So far, so good. Oh, and there’s a watermelon patch, but I have very low expectations there.

I read your last post to the blog. You wont believe this. One of the first things I did when I lost my job was try to root some roses from cuttings off my only rose bush. Out of three cuttings, one took and has a bud. I’ve tried another, but it’s still in the experimental stages. I took the cover off today and the new growth, on my latest rooting, began to wilt. I put the cover back on and took it out of the sun. Hope it’s not too late. Anyway, if/when the bud, on my first one, opens, I want to take a picture and email it to you. The rose bush is only a stick about two inches tall, but the bud is a good size for such a small plant. I think it would be cool to post it to the blog in memory of your dad. What do you think?

The Adoptedones:
And I was just musing at the window that the apple tree is filled with blooms and we should get a good batch of apples this year. The tree is a 5 variety dwarf apple tree and they come on at different times, so I don’t have to make apple sauce as we are always up for apple crisp or pie after dinner.

My strawberries are blooming too – they sit in pots on the front stairs to get the most sun and hang over the sides of the pots so they don’t get mushy from all the rain. I get a cereal bowl full every couple of days through October.

Rhubarb is starting and the grapevine is just budding out. The grapevine was a gift from dad as a start off one from his that hubby moved from our old house in the dead of winter simply because it was from dad.

The Salmon berries are coming on and the raspberry canes are growing like mad but that is all I grow now. (Salmon Berries are like a very mild raspberry that grow wild here and have small thin branches instead of canes.)

Amazing about you planting roses like dad did – I hope they survive. I doubt I would be successful as I ‘forget’ as soon as I plant something now, and if it survives it is sheer luck. I am successful with sweet peas…

Shadow Adoptee:
I had forgotten that we have a small pot of strawberries. Actually, it’s hubby’s pot of strawberries. I love strawberries. Unfortunately, we can’t keep the birds, or squirrels, out of them, and we only got about five strawberries. Apparently, a squirrel had buried a pecan in the pot over the winter. A little sprig of green started coming up in the pot. Hubby, pulled it up, thinking it was a weed or something. As it turns out, the sprig was attached to a pecan. It was a pecan tree that had taken root in the strawberry pot. Hubby put it in a five gallon bucket, which we normally would grow tomatoes in. It’s grown quite a bit since, and looks like we can add it to the other pecan trees someday, when it’s big enough. We have four pecan trees, but rarely get any pecans. The birds and squirrels beat us to them.

I hadn’t heard of salmon berries before. We have wild blackberries, but there been so little rain that they haven’t done well as yet. We had some wild grapes at one time, but again, the birds keep the fruit picked clean. I’ve tried just about everything to keep the birds from getting everything, especially my tomatoes. Then there are the squirrels, rabbits, possums, skunks, and the ever so hated grasshoppers that will show up in June. The only solution I’ve found; grow enough to feed them all, and us too.

Keep your fingers crossed that the rose will bloom soon. I think I’ve rooted all I can for the season, as it will be getting really hot here in the next couple of weeks, too hot for rooting roses. I still find it amazing just how similar we are. Oh, and would you believe, the little birds that have nested on the carport have hatched a second batch of little ones? I thought they just had one set of little ones a year. Apparently not, because, I swear, it’s the same mother bird that nested there before. I’d know that chatter anywhere. Oh, well, I had a few weeks of silence. OH, and we finally have a hummingbird coming to the feeder Hubby bought me for my birthday. Just wish I could see it.

 

Did you really think adoptees only talk about adoption and how horrible it is? 

And yes, we also talk about other things and these are just snipits from our latest emails, but I still find it amazing that two individuals who have never met in person, live in different countries, lived totally different lives, can share so many things in common, not just the fact that we are both adoptees.

Here’s to great friends…