With Spring almost here, I decided to bring the grill out of the garage and clean it up. As soon as it is warm enough to be outside without a jacket, I will be using the grill to cook dinner. I love food cooked on the grill – it adds a special flavor to the meats that you just can’t duplicate on the stove or in the oven. I also like to use marinades on the meats if i am going to be grilling. So I will have a much larger variety of flavors for all the different meats very soon.

When my grandfather was in his 70’s he retired from work and started to teach himself how to oil paint. He painted hundreds of landscapes, based on photographs and picture postcards that people sent him. They were really good paintings, and I loved to see them when I went to his house. When he passed away, I asked my aunt if I could have some of his paintings as remembrances and she said no. I was very disappointed. A few months ago she surprised me by shipping me about six of his paintings to me! I love them and have them hanging in my living room in the place of honor above my sofa!

I have finally decided to splurge and put in an electric garage door opener. I have always wanted one, but have put off buying one; feeling like it was an extravagance. Well, I have come home late after dark to a dark house once too often! I’m tired of coming home unexpectedly late and having no outside lights on to help me find my way in the house, and using a flashlight to find my way to the door and unlocking it. I’m going to really enjoy having the ability to pull into the driveway and push a button and have the garage door open by itself and lights come on to help me find my way into the house without having to use a flashlight!

I have a very old floor lamp that I was given by a dear aunt. She tells me that she bought over thirty years ago. I love it dearly, but it has finally given up the ghost. The socket died, and I decided it was appropriate to rewire the entire thing because the plug was the old fashioned kind that just was not as safe as the newer ones. So I went to the hardware store and bought what I needed to rewire the lamp. It took a couple of hours to take it all apart and rewire it, but I did it myself and it turned out fine. I had called an electrician and asked him how much he would charge to re-wire it and he had told me it would cost over $100! The rewiring supplies cost me less than $20, so I’m thrilled that I saved $80 by re-wiring it myself! And I’m thrilled that I kept the lamp from going to the junkyard, so I did my part to save the environment today!

Well, today is the last day of winter and tomorrow is the first day of spring!  I’m looking forward to spending some time out in the yard this weekend to check and see what plants might be poking their heads up.  I have noticed a lot of deer in the yard at sunset lately and I’m glad that I plant deer-resistant flowers!  I’m sure that if I hadn’t done that, I’d have no flowers at all!  My neighbors are constantly complaining about how the deer eat their flowers and they ask me what my secret is.  I tell them that I buy the deer resistant flowers and they don’t believe that there is such a thing!  What a riot – the joke is on them!