Road Trip - Joe's Graduation Party

I woke up at my usual 5:30 AM. I didn't want to (I'd hope to sleep in on Saturday) but I couldn't fall back asleep, so I just got up.

I remembered (belatedly) the load of laundry in the washer, so I turned it on "rinse" again to get out the wrinkles. While that was working, I set up the sprinkler in the front yard. I have been listening to the horror stories from people at work whose lawns burned up last week. Now, mine still looks good and if I'd gotten an inch of rain Thursday, I wouldn't worry about it. But, I didn't, so I am.

When the washer finished, I turned on the outside spigot. Then I put the laundry in the dryer. I set the stove timer for 40 minutes. I put a pie pan on the front lawn so I could see how long it takes to get one inch of water (I forget that from year to year).

Back inside, it was after 7:00 AM, so I turned on Saturday Morning, Over Easy. When the timer went off, I hung up the laundry. Then I went outside to check on the sprinkler. No, not yet. It's only about 1/2 inch of water in the pie pan.

So, I grabbed the slug pellets and went out back. Okay, so I misspoke. I have 13 hostas out front and only 12 out back. But, I treated them all. Unlike my brother Carl (who has a wide variety of special hostas) or my friend from work, Lori (who is a Master Gardener, like Luanne, and has spent $300.00 US on a single, special hosta) I have merely divided mine. So, I got very little variety.

But, what I got, I treated. Maybe, (maybe) my brother Carl will give me transplants from his fancy one's this fall. I am hoping I get a cutting of his trumpet vine, at least.

But, what's amazing is the yellow rose I called Anne (for my sister, who loved them) has re-bloomed. I took a picture for you.

While I was at it, I took pictures of the various hostas I have. I basically only have four varieties. So, I took a picture of the best representatives and posted them for you as well. Then I filled the bird feeder.

I turned the sprinkler off and switched to the square head sprinkler to water the side lawn. That throws an amazing amount of water, but only a short distance, so it took three times to get that done. Then I switched back to the oscillating sprinkler and watered the gardens and the adjacent lawn next to the patio.

When the timer went off for that, I shut everything down and locked up. I went in and took a nap.

Oh, shit! I woke up at 3:30 PM! I'm supposed to be in Romulus for Joe's graduation party right now! So, I shaved and took a quick shower, got dressed and headed out.

When I got to the party, Jake and Carla and my brother Carl were already there. Jake and Carla had brought a folding canvas lawn chair for me (and one for their Uncle Carl who didn't need one). We exchanged books (I got the new John Sandford mystery and lent Jake my "Empire of the Summer Moon") and then I joined the party.

The party was in back of Jyl's brother's house. It had a huge lot and was well suited for the occasion. There was a "Slip and Slide" for the kids, a nice pool and a bonfire.

I met a lot of new people as well as some old friends (Jyl's sisters Brenda and Judy and Joe's Grandmother, Nancy).

Our side of the family was joined by my niece Laura, her son Austin and daughter Anna.

The food was fantastic! It was all kinds of pizza (including asparagus pizza, bacon pizza, Black bean pizza, fresh spinach pizza, Italian sausage pizza, mozzarella cheese pizza, pepperoni pizza, pesto pizza, portabella mushroom pizza, roasted eggplant pizza, and spicy jerk Caribbean pizza). For dessert, we had both chocolate and white cake as well as s'more fixings (to make use of the bonfire). Beverages included orange Sunkist, V8, Monster, A & W root beer, Sprite, various juices, and bottled water.

I personally had a piece each of the roasted eggplant pizza and the portabella mushroom pizza. Both were great, but I liked the eggplant best. Other people raved about the black bean pizza and the pesto pizza.

I drank a lot of bottled water and must admit I had one piece each of the chocolate and white cake for dessert. I did pass on the chocolate that accompanied the thank you card, handwritten by Joe.

My God, Riese is getting tall! I didn't get a chance to ask her how the trip down to her Grandma Lu was. Jeremy and Jyl were the perfect hosts. Finally, it was time to leave. Jeremy called Joe when I couldn't find him to say goodbye. He ran and caught me as I was pulling out the drive and thanked me for coming. I left at 7:00 and got home at 7:40 PM.

Nice, nice party! Thanks for inviting me!

I changed clothes and turned the square head sprinkler on in the raised bed garden. I set the timer and read until it went off. I turned it off, coiled up the hose and figured the weekend watering was done.

I went back inside and read until bedtime. About 9:30 PM, I started getting hungry and wished I'd stuffed a piece of that eggplant pizza in my pocket before leaving! And, I should have gotten the name of the pizza place they came from!!