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Monday, June 18, 2012

I'm Covered In Bees

And that does not mean what you might think.

Not this.

Nor this.


No, being covered in bees means being too busy.
It means having 3 months' worth of stuff to do, and 11 days to do it.
I'm beginning to realize that being covered in bees
just might be my natural state.
Kinda scary, that.
(More on the bees at the end of the post.)

I can be a self-starter, when I have a good reason to start myself.
My favorite reason is . . . a party.

On Saturday, June 30th, we're having a party to celebrate our daughter Anne's grad school graduation.
I've got a To-Do List -- but you knew that, didn't you? -- and some of it is actually getting To-Done.

Some small changes.  The convex mirror over the fireplace . . . 

is replaced for the summer by a watery-cool watercolor, painted decades ago by my cousin Bill.

It's leaning on the mantel.  It was too big to hang from the mirror hook!

Wacky picture of the day -- one of the front windows,
reflected in the mirror that's temporarily resting on a chair, awaiting its summer job.

********************************
Outside, Howard and Anne yanked most of the mint out of the patio
border this weekend, where it had gone all Organized Crime on us
and muscled in on every other plant's turf.

Below -- Mint strangling poppies.  A mob hit for sure.

Now, most of the mint has been rubbed out
(it's how we do it in Jersey -- we take no prisoners) and is
wearing tiny cement overshoes, waiting to be dumped into the
Hudson River to swim with the fishes.


Or, to get picked up at the curb in tidy brown paper bags
destined for the municipal compost heap.

We also took out a massive load of overgrown ivy.
There is still plenty of that, if anyone is interested.  Free Ivy!  Get your Free Ivy here!

That's the top of a tomato plant at the bottom of that snapshot, above.  We are watching
our baby tomatoes grow, and hoping the chipmunks and groundhogs won't get to them first.
But, yeah, we know they will.

We have a married pair of groundhogs -- or woodchucks -- burrowing merrily all over our yard.
They have made enormous holes behind the stone retaining walls.
If those old walls collapse because of those danged groundhogs, I am suing them.
Or, finding tiny cement overshoes that will fit their creepy little feet.


Daughter Alida's mother-in-law Billie told me that putting fresh dog poo down the burrows will scare
the groundhogs away.  Finally!  All Dion's efforts at abstract lawn sculpture will not be in vain.


Now, about being covered in bees . . . 
this was part of the parlance that Anne and her grad school
classmates used to describe being too busy and stressed,
which pretty much defines graduate school, or so I hear.
There are levels of bee-dom.
Covered in Bumble Bees is: normal grad school stress.
Covered in Yellow Jackets is: I have a big project due ... tomorrow.
Covered in Africanized Killer Bees is: finals!


Anne wants to make sure I credit comedian Eddie Izzard with originating the phrase
Covered In Bees, even though his use of it has nothing to do with stress.
But ain't it a handy little phrase?


Visit some other bloggers who are posting this Monday.
At Little Red House, it's Mosaic Monday.  Click here!
At Between Naps On The Porch ... What else?  Metamorphosis Monday.  Click here!





7 comments:

  1. There is nothing like a party to get all of those chores moved from the "TO DO " list to the "TO DONE" list! It's why I entertain so much!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I need something to motivate me to "get it done". :D
    Enjoy your evening.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congratulations to Anne!
    Good luck with the veggies. I battled ground hogs for many years - my old garage floor fell in 3x thanks to their burrowing.
    The only way to get rid of them is
    1. Kill them (I did shoot one, out my kitchen window, no less), or
    2. trap and relocate. Trapping and relocating did not get rid of all of them, just kept their number from increasing.
    I've tried the rest - smoke/stink bombs in the burrow, dog poop and pee, dog and cat hair...I could go on, but I won't! Or get a dog, but that's not working for you.....
    Good luck with all your busy-ness!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love this bee analogy. Showed it to my college kiddo. You know you do your best against a deadline Cass.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You have a great sense of humor Cass and the little cement shoes just made me chuckle!
    So Jersey of you....hehe!
    Your home is so lovely and I imagine that your guests will be impressed!
    I need to get over and visit more often I love your blog!
    And congrats to your daughter too!
    Hugs,
    Cindy
    P.S. We had a bear right in our yard about a week ago. Same one I think...huge fellow, I was in awe.
    But if he comes back I am calling the bear squad...if I can find one!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have a huge To-do list, which I'm dying to transfer to a To-get-someone-else-to-do list...

    Love your stone walls! We haven't seen our resident groundhogs since we started seeing the coyotes... Here's hoping that Dion's contributions help... ;)

    Are you ready for the killer temps this week? xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  7. Seems like I work best under pressure. I don't like it but I have a tendency to procrastinate :/ I'm sure you'll get everything done...at least the big stuff... in due time. If not, don't tell and everyone will have a great time anyway!!
    I didn't know that about the groundhogs...interesting. Wonder if that'll work with moles?

    ReplyDelete

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