Now that school’s out my granddaughter likes to hang out up here. She’ll be thirteen next month, and entertains herself very well while I’m working. We have little conversations when she wants lunch or a snack–for a kid who’s a size 00, she can eat. Since she’s an HGTV addict, she usually ends her afternoon watching that while I end mine with a workout. Then I watch with her until it’s time for her to go home.
It’s sweet and rewarding that an almost teenager likes hanging at Nana’s house. She does some chores, too, saving me that time. And a couple times a week, she goes into TTP with BW and works there.
On Friday, she was bookstore girl while Laura and I headed down the road to meet more girls for Kat’s birthday spree. This year we decided to make it a shopping/slumber party. We spend the day trying on clothes–total girl stuff. I must now do another closet purge, but I’m totally outfitted for upcoming events, including RWA in NY.
AND our annual Fall Into The Story Brunch–still have to put my raffle basket together for that. More fun with girls in July! I hope to see some of you there. While TTP’s anniversary signings are fun in their busy and bustling way, the brunch is relaxed, casual, with plenty of time to just hang out together.
Plus raffle baskets–and a chance to win a night at Inn BoonsBoro!
But back to shopping. I had to tell my beloved Kat it’s irritating everything looks good on her. (Laura’s note: it is!) Everything. At one point she put on what she considered a terrible outfit, and sorry, even the terrible looked good on her. (Laura’s note: it did!!) But I had to forgive her, as she was the birthday girl. (Laura’s note: ok, fine.)And we’re both also well outfitted for our vacation late this summer in Montana. (Laura’s note: I’m well outfitted for moving in late summer.)
After a full day of clothes and shoes . . . oooh, the shoes . . .Many shoes.
we could walk back to our hotel room instead of fighting traffic. A new tradition is born. So much more pleasant to have a slumber party, followed by a lazy morning and a drive home–where no one left empty-handed.
And when I got home, BW had my wonderful new birdbath fountain placed and running. I love it!
I also discovered the deer had an all-you-can-eat buffet while I was gone. Mowing down so many Black-Eyed-Susies–in one area they had to balance on a steep slope and lean over a wall to chomp them. And nearly all my lilies, which seriously breaks my heart. BW believes the deer repellent hype about three months. This will now be done weekly.
Yesterday I went out to weed, deadhead, got about three-quarters of the way down when I see the snake sunning itself on my garden wall. And that was the end of that. I tell BW, who says what kind of snake? It doesn’t matter!!!! But no, not a copperhead. When I see a copperhead I lead with COPPERHEAD rather than snake. But by the time he gets there, it’s gone.
I haul the bucket of weeds to the composter, hear a rustling–and my close encounter with the snake has my heart bumping. But I look up and see two deer moseying their way down out of the woods. They see me, too, and decide to bound away. I actually shout: Yeah, that’s right, bitches, run! And get the deer repellent. This took about one minute, and when I turn I see Parker is staring up in the woods, head cocked. I look. The deer are moseying right back. He barks at people when they drive up, but just gives the deer an interested look? (the other dogs don’t even bother with looking) So, in my way, I bark at them, and they run away again. And I spend the next half hour spraying stinky deer repellent on everything.
Give an extra spray to the pretty purple coneflowers,just blooming, that I know deer so enjoy. The butterfly doesn’t seem bothered by it.
Due to snakes and deer, the gardening wasn’t nearly as much fun as shoes, shopping and girls, but I ended the day whipping up a batch of belinis. So it could be worse.
How wonderful that your granddaughter loves to spend time with you! What a delight that is. My oldest grandchild is 12, and being a boy thought he wouldn’t want to come here as much as he did when he was younger, Wrong! After supper he often rides his bike down to hang out with us which totally warms our hearts. Sometimes his brother, 10, comes, too. The other two are still too young. But one day!!
Your ‘girls nights’ sound like so much fun. Loved the shoes. And the birdbath is wonderful. Thanks for sharing all this.
Interesting things you learn when you live in Colorado… you know what makes excellent dear and rabbit repellent? Marijuana plants! LOL They absolutely LOVE the stuff, and will ignore everything else and just eat the marijuana. (It doesn’t affect them like us, so you aren’t giving them the munchies or getting them high — they just like the taste). OF course the local feds may judge you for your growing habits, so it may not be worth it. Just saying… 😉
That is too funny !
Oh, I have to try that! Who knew…..? I usually give up and use ugly chicken wire. Ugly, but functional!
Fantastic opportunity for your granddaughter to gain work experience…I mean who could not love working in a bookstore!!!
LMAO about the deer! Perhaps stringing some fishing line with old CD’s on them? They will flash about in the wind at unexpected moments…or …or ..a fountain that has a large bamboo pole that rocks up and down at random times…loud knocking sound which can startle them! Of course one could always tape a Nora invective to play randomly!!!
Party with the girls!!! Life at its most awesome!
[Fixed it for you! ~Laura]
Oh, how I wish…
The totally awesome bits of your weekend trumps the crappy bits for sure! Thank you for the share.
Laura: I dig your notes!!!
Even your blog posts are entertaining had me laughing out loud at your yelling at deer! Thanks for brightening my Monday morning and love your new shoes! Yum
Barking at them is even funnier.
Enjoy when you share tidbits re your grandchildren – you appear to have a great relationship with them. My 2 grandsons are still young – 6 & 3 – but we both do our best to spend as much time with them building fun memories. BTW – love those shoes
Wow, I can’t believe it’s been 13 years since we had the discussion about being a Nana as opposed to being a Grandma. Time really flies.
I can relate to the snake. In my case it is spiders. Had a huge black one crawling on my stove while I was cooking last week, by the time Hubby got there he couldn’t find it. I saw the darn thing on the black part of the stove, but he didn’t see it until it hit the white part and then dived for the floor. By that time I was in the living room and dove for the sofa with my feet up. Terrifying, I tell you terrifying! Hate them! Why can’t they stay outside?
Spiders and snakes. They have their jobs in nature to do, but not in my house, not on my path. Too bad mongoose aren’t native to this country. Tell Parker you’re trading him in for a deerhound, that might give him incentive. I live right in town and the deer trot right down the middle of the street to drink at my birdbath (yours is beautiful!) and try to eat from my bird feeders. My g-niece is five, and nicknamed The Hurricane, so I’m hoping for that kind of relationship down the road but now, not so much. Traded in my heels for Keens years ago, but they’re sure cute! Glad you had a good time.
I feel the same way about spiders and snakes. You can also add bats (the flying kind) to that list. With all the insects spiders and bats get rid of, they can stay around.
Love grands and Grammy time. Only have the two granddaughters and you Nora plucked my first out of her buggy at TTP when she was only months old, you were in the annex and I pushed her buggy in the store, you jumped up to come out to pick her up, it was a darling scene as I know how much you love babies. She is now just 12 so I understand the ways of your firstborn grand, they seem similar in personality too.
I love the new birdbath/fountain. I too just ordered a new birdbath for myself. It is a tiffany style glass one that hangs.
The shoes far right would go perfectly with a dress for an upcoming wedding. I will now be on a search for something similiar. Our dog poops in the woods & keeps the deer away. I could send her to you for lessons. I woke up at 3am a few weeks ago to what sounded like a buck coughing on our deck. My husband & the dog assured me he was in the woods. So lucky to live in the same climate zone as Nora. She has now become my gardening inspiration with her blog as well as her books.
Thanks for the laugh! Your last blog was just as entertaining.
Nora,
We just recently moved to house that is surrounded by woods and was afraid the deer would eat all my plants, so I read about some plants that they don’t like because of oil in plants. Lavender is one and yarrow is another. If you haven’t tried these, you might like too.
oh, I have those, and foxglove, columbine, astilbe and other deer resistant plants, but I love my Susies, and coneflowers and lilies, and so on. It’s a battle every year, but this year the deer seem a little crazy. Eating everything. Honestly, some of the stuff they’ve gotten is right beside the house. They’ll stroll in the door next.
Hi Nora, Love your monthly tell-alls as much as I like you books. Have read all of them I believe.
Anyway, we have found that sticking pin-wheels around the plants that deer have for dessert works very well.
I am enjoying your blog — you lead such an interesting life — I know, you’ll say it’s just everyday stuff but you make it sound so entertaining. It would have been fun to see a video of you barking at the deer. I hope you can keep them put of the flowers so that you can enjoy them. Glad you have fun with your granddaughter — I enjoy my grandnieces when I get to see them.
Thank you for the peek into your weekend.
Hey, love your blog. like to hear about your everyday life, I’m with you about snakes. I will hurt myself getting away from one and if I’m fast enough to get to the shotgun. it will be a dead one.
Loved seeing the bird bath up and
running . laughed about the deer and Parker being no help and you hollerin at them.
The deer eating the flowers had me laughing – mainly because I just re-read the Quinn saga, and I recall after Ethan poached Anna’s flowers to give to Grace, he blamed it on rabbits and deer coming up and chomping on them, and said the only way to keep it from happening was for them, I believe to be peed on. So, city girl that she is, she believed him, and ordered Cam to go pee on her flowers.
Luckily I don’t have to tend with snakes or deer. I don’t think I’d sleep at night. I love to be out tending our garden, until a wasp or a bee or any buzzing flying thing decides to encrouch on my space, then I’m legging it for the house 🙂 I am such a scaredy cat! Nevertheless, I do find gardening very therapeutic and it helps my creative mind whirr along merrily.
I love your bird bath!
Thank you for sharing, Nora. Loved your post.
So glad you barked at the deer. I remember the first time they mowed down my flowers. I was madder than a wet hen!!!
Nora, my husband grew up in a heavily deer-populated area, and he said that they used blood meal as a repellent and sprinkled it around their gardens, flower beds and anywhere you don’t want deer around and he said it works great and has little odor.
It does work, and I generally use it routinely. Haven’t been able to find dried blood this season locally. I actually ordered it–and they sent bone meal.
OMG, look at those shoes!!!! So pretty!!!!
sounds fun, what are the ingredients of a Balini? I want yo try it
Ha..You’re having deer problems too,huh? I can jump up and down screaming and waving a broom at them and they just look at me like “what is wrong with you?” and keep munching. I had a little dog, part pomeranian , part pekingese, Archie. He would run barking at the deer like he was going to massacre them. They…or maybe just one particular….would stomp at him. It was pretty amusing to watch.
Anyway, I heard that Irish Spring soap slivered around in your flower beds will keep them away…the rain may be a problem though. Also if you know someone who owns a salon and wouldn’t mind giving you hair clippings, spreading those around is supposed to work. Again, I would think the rain would wash the scent away. I’ll just keep jumping up and down and waving my broom. Wasn’t it Einstein who said “Crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result .” hmmmm 🙂
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The official blog for Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb readers
ive an extra spray to the pretty purple coneflowers,just blooming, that I know deer so enjoy. The butterfly doesn’t seem bothered by it.
ive an extra spray to the pretty purple coneflowers,just blooming, that I know deer so enjoy. The butterfly doesn’t seem bothered by it.
How wonderful that your granddaughter loves to spend time with you! What a delight that is. My oldest grandchild is 12, and being a boy thought he wouldn’t want to come here as much as he did when he was younger, Wrong! After supper he often rides his bike down to hang out with us which totally warms our hearts. Sometimes his brother, 10, comes, too. The other two are still too young. But one day!!
Your ‘girls nights’ sound like so much fun. Loved the shoes. And the birdbath is wonderful. Thanks for sharing all this.
Interesting things you learn when you live in Colorado… you know what makes excellent dear and rabbit repellent? Marijuana plants! LOL They absolutely LOVE the stuff, and will ignore everything else and just eat the marijuana. (It doesn’t affect them like us, so you aren’t giving them the munchies or getting them high — they just like the taste). OF course the local feds may judge you for your growing habits, so it may not be worth it. Just saying… 😉
That is too funny !
Oh, I have to try that! Who knew…..? I usually give up and use ugly chicken wire. Ugly, but functional!
Fantastic opportunity for your granddaughter to gain work experience…I mean who could not love working in a bookstore!!!
LMAO about the deer! Perhaps stringing some fishing line with old CD’s on them? They will flash about in the wind at unexpected moments…or …or ..a fountain that has a large bamboo pole that rocks up and down at random times…loud knocking sound which can startle them! Of course one could always tape a Nora invective to play randomly!!!
Party with the girls!!! Life at its most awesome!
[Fixed it for you! ~Laura]
Oh, how I wish…
The totally awesome bits of your weekend trumps the crappy bits for sure! Thank you for the share.
Laura: I dig your notes!!!
Even your blog posts are entertaining had me laughing out loud at your yelling at deer! Thanks for brightening my Monday morning and love your new shoes! Yum
Barking at them is even funnier.
Enjoy when you share tidbits re your grandchildren – you appear to have a great relationship with them. My 2 grandsons are still young – 6 & 3 – but we both do our best to spend as much time with them building fun memories. BTW – love those shoes
Wow, I can’t believe it’s been 13 years since we had the discussion about being a Nana as opposed to being a Grandma. Time really flies.
I can relate to the snake. In my case it is spiders. Had a huge black one crawling on my stove while I was cooking last week, by the time Hubby got there he couldn’t find it. I saw the darn thing on the black part of the stove, but he didn’t see it until it hit the white part and then dived for the floor. By that time I was in the living room and dove for the sofa with my feet up. Terrifying, I tell you terrifying! Hate them! Why can’t they stay outside?
Spiders and snakes. They have their jobs in nature to do, but not in my house, not on my path. Too bad mongoose aren’t native to this country. Tell Parker you’re trading him in for a deerhound, that might give him incentive. I live right in town and the deer trot right down the middle of the street to drink at my birdbath (yours is beautiful!) and try to eat from my bird feeders. My g-niece is five, and nicknamed The Hurricane, so I’m hoping for that kind of relationship down the road but now, not so much. Traded in my heels for Keens years ago, but they’re sure cute! Glad you had a good time.
I feel the same way about spiders and snakes. You can also add bats (the flying kind) to that list. With all the insects spiders and bats get rid of, they can stay around.
Love grands and Grammy time. Only have the two granddaughters and you Nora plucked my first out of her buggy at TTP when she was only months old, you were in the annex and I pushed her buggy in the store, you jumped up to come out to pick her up, it was a darling scene as I know how much you love babies. She is now just 12 so I understand the ways of your firstborn grand, they seem similar in personality too.
I love the new birdbath/fountain. I too just ordered a new birdbath for myself. It is a tiffany style glass one that hangs.
http://www.amazon.com/Evergreen-Flag-Garden-Tiffany-Hanging/dp/B008I6J3LK
The shoes far right would go perfectly with a dress for an upcoming wedding. I will now be on a search for something similiar. Our dog poops in the woods & keeps the deer away. I could send her to you for lessons. I woke up at 3am a few weeks ago to what sounded like a buck coughing on our deck. My husband & the dog assured me he was in the woods. So lucky to live in the same climate zone as Nora. She has now become my gardening inspiration with her blog as well as her books.
Thanks for the laugh! Your last blog was just as entertaining.
Nora,
We just recently moved to house that is surrounded by woods and was afraid the deer would eat all my plants, so I read about some plants that they don’t like because of oil in plants. Lavender is one and yarrow is another. If you haven’t tried these, you might like too.
oh, I have those, and foxglove, columbine, astilbe and other deer resistant plants, but I love my Susies, and coneflowers and lilies, and so on. It’s a battle every year, but this year the deer seem a little crazy. Eating everything. Honestly, some of the stuff they’ve gotten is right beside the house. They’ll stroll in the door next.
Hi Nora, Love your monthly tell-alls as much as I like you books. Have read all of them I believe.
Anyway, we have found that sticking pin-wheels around the plants that deer have for dessert works very well.
I am enjoying your blog — you lead such an interesting life — I know, you’ll say it’s just everyday stuff but you make it sound so entertaining. It would have been fun to see a video of you barking at the deer. I hope you can keep them put of the flowers so that you can enjoy them. Glad you have fun with your granddaughter — I enjoy my grandnieces when I get to see them.
Thank you for the peek into your weekend.
Hey, love your blog. like to hear about your everyday life, I’m with you about snakes. I will hurt myself getting away from one and if I’m fast enough to get to the shotgun. it will be a dead one.
Loved seeing the bird bath up and
running . laughed about the deer and Parker being no help and you hollerin at them.
The deer eating the flowers had me laughing – mainly because I just re-read the Quinn saga, and I recall after Ethan poached Anna’s flowers to give to Grace, he blamed it on rabbits and deer coming up and chomping on them, and said the only way to keep it from happening was for them, I believe to be peed on. So, city girl that she is, she believed him, and ordered Cam to go pee on her flowers.
Luckily I don’t have to tend with snakes or deer. I don’t think I’d sleep at night. I love to be out tending our garden, until a wasp or a bee or any buzzing flying thing decides to encrouch on my space, then I’m legging it for the house 🙂 I am such a scaredy cat! Nevertheless, I do find gardening very therapeutic and it helps my creative mind whirr along merrily.
I love your bird bath!
Thank you for sharing, Nora. Loved your post.
So glad you barked at the deer. I remember the first time they mowed down my flowers. I was madder than a wet hen!!!
Nora, my husband grew up in a heavily deer-populated area, and he said that they used blood meal as a repellent and sprinkled it around their gardens, flower beds and anywhere you don’t want deer around and he said it works great and has little odor.
It does work, and I generally use it routinely. Haven’t been able to find dried blood this season locally. I actually ordered it–and they sent bone meal.
OMG, look at those shoes!!!! So pretty!!!!
sounds fun, what are the ingredients of a Balini? I want yo try it
Ha..You’re having deer problems too,huh? I can jump up and down screaming and waving a broom at them and they just look at me like “what is wrong with you?” and keep munching. I had a little dog, part pomeranian , part pekingese, Archie. He would run barking at the deer like he was going to massacre them. They…or maybe just one particular….would stomp at him. It was pretty amusing to watch.
Anyway, I heard that Irish Spring soap slivered around in your flower beds will keep them away…the rain may be a problem though. Also if you know someone who owns a salon and wouldn’t mind giving you hair clippings, spreading those around is supposed to work. Again, I would think the rain would wash the scent away. I’ll just keep jumping up and down and waving my broom. Wasn’t it Einstein who said “Crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result .” hmmmm 🙂