Chatting Over the Garden Fence! :-)

We could of used your "fire" when we needed to get an Charcol grill started..we used probably an 1/4 an can of charcol fluid lighter and still ended up giving up on it all. And of course I guess you know hubby is use to doing "Dutch oven" cooking with the Scouts where you count each little briquet for the bottom and top to do the cooking....an grill full of briquets seemed "wasteful" to say the least. I am now off my diet...just an bad day from the start of it... I guess for recording things down. Tired, and I don't care if I go back to it right now either. Ate my lunch out at the kid's house while we fixed thier patio umberella from trying to blow away in yesterday's wind. I made my swiss cheese and fresh tomato with mustard 1/2 sandwhich and fresh veggies. I will have the kids after tomarrow for an few days...so geared up for that earlier this afternoon. They only have two days of school left and are out for the summer. I watched thier hispanic cousins sprinkle the flavor mix on top of dry Ramen Noodles and eat that for their lunch today...thier mother was home an off work also..she is not hispanic...she's an "nurse" that should know better. Why she chose to not fix it correctly is beyond me.

Paul...what lovely memories you supplied with all the names you mentioned...we kind of played with Petty one time going north for for an race.... out of California.... they'd pass us, we'd pass them and both of us laughing...talked an bit on the CB.. seemed like decent folk back then you know. Something I read in this motorcycle  book...how they liked to stop at the small cafe's enroute... and talk to the local folks while they do these trips. Hubbyhas kin in Indiana...so they are into the racing bit. My brother use to be an bit at the PIR (Portland International Raceway)here in Portland...Use to have an race during the Rose Parade Week but don't know if they do any more...the PIR claim ot fame these days is the entire thing goes into an Christmas theme every year for seeing light displays...they have the thousands of people for that event. Oneof the city's big events at Christmas.

Nice Parade last night...you can't go bad when you have VooDoo Donuts in the parade. they had an cute little car...pink with the brown little voodoo man you see on thier donuts...lit up with lights...all the cars were last night..."Starlight Parade" starts about 8:30 through Portland. Even world traveller Anthoney Bourdain has been to our dowtown "Voodoo Donut Shop". Weather was perfect, people were in an good mood also. As ussual most my cousins and friends and people I know showed up in the thing...from Washington State all over, to here locally. Now its the end of the weekend and I need an day off for the rest of this week...maybe tomarrow?

You always entertain me, Shirley. Voodoo donuts and Anthony Bourdain. I have no idea what it's all about, but it sounds fascinating. I'll have to look it up and see if there's pictures on the Internet. Love Anthony Bourdain anyway as well as Andrew Zimmern, the Bizarre Food guy. He's sweet. Watch his show all the time.

I did find Voodoo Donuts on the Internet. It is really something! Never saw so many unusual donuts in my life and a little voodoo guy with a pretzel "stake" in him. I always thought if I couldn't live in England, I'd want to live in Portland. Now I know why:) Very interesting place.

I don't think you would have wanted that fire Shirley.  Anything you cooked on it would probably have tasted terrible, if the dreadful smell was anything to go by.  Wonder what had been dumped in  the area to make the smell and the fumes so bad?  It sure wasn't just grass and bush!

Voodoo Donuts (Doughnuts here, lol) Oh my goodness!

VooDoo donuts are quite the craze here and they make really unusal donuts also. They had one here awhile back decorated with Fruit Loop cereal "O"'s...had some bacon and onion donuts one time also also...french fried onion rings.  Their motto is as Brenda mentioned..the little VooDoo guy with the pretzel through his heart for an stake. Mouth in an great big "O" on his body face.

Cathyml..we had an "first" here last night also...just south of me...the first time ever I've seen an single storm cell come through with rain bands...not green...not yellow...not orange, not red...but Violet, Purple and black. It stopped an major freeway in Beaverton on the west side of town due to flash flooding...then came out here and spent 20 minutes in an little vicinity south of me called Damascus and dumped 1.09 inches of rain..and was headed for west Sandy when I caught up with it..on radar... from seeing the ligthening to my south in my backyard. I called my kids to be forewarned in case any tornadoes were to  be stocking it...and then did my "focusing" to try to lessen it...Eagle Creek had .43 inches of rain...and it turned due south toward Estacada after going over Eagle Creek...in an band of Indigo Red, was an night of "Weather Alert" also..on TV..asking people to not cross water if they couldn not see the pavement. Being an "sensitve" I spent most the night wide awake "super-charged" from its energy. Ears loudly ringing also to where I could hear nothing else. So this morning is kind of laid-back from outside to inside...and getting behind today. At 1 pm the sun is just coming out. I have to go and get some flat bricks today if I can find the time. We have an old fire pit thingy...it sets up in the air an bit...on an stand...well, I put cement blocks around the outside of it so just the top black mesh part of it shows, but I need some topper brick to give it that finsished off look.. could stand to repaint the black wrought iron  top on it again also.

I do not know how my hubby seems to get himself in some of the things he does..but he's going to be playing the "cymbals" in the Jr. Rose parade..as far as I know he's never had music lessons...my sister is already laughing telling me it would worth it to go see it for that alone. I asked him how he was going to manuver it... and he  said they are giving him an "signal" when to do the cymbals. Now I don't mind telling you..when we were in the Elks Lodge, we were helping the good folks out, the officers, since we set with them and they sponsored us, with an huge crowd at one of the functions, by me taking drink orders and my hubby clearing tables...I was going around and around with this guy wanting to buy me an drink ..if he ordered one... when all of an sudden we hear this large crash..everyone went hush and there was my hubby, in the middle of the floor with an tray of silverware he had dropped....what did the crowd do?,,,they all stood up and gave him an "standing ovation"  clapping thier hands....Everyone was " laughing" by then...things continued and the guy finally bought the drink... understanding that I  couldn't take the drink..it could get me into possible trouble if I did. What an night, we closed the lodge and went out to breakfast and got home about 4 am the next morning. they gave me one of  the fresh table flower boquets... an goodwill gesture for helping them... Don Jones later went on and ended up being State President years later . Just never know what we are going to be into at times. Hubby does the dishwasher now and then... to keep in tune as to not drop the silverware..winks*

So POEsters what have you been doing today.  I finished my six hour teaching, checked out POE (nothing happening lol), drew up some new patterns for painting, cooked hamburgers, egg & chips for supper and now my evening is free to chat and play on POE. 

Anyone else wanting to chat or play on POE this evening?

My neighbor is like that also...you know she runs an "private" clientel beauty shop out of one of her bedrooms next door...which she made into an very attractive little shop. She told me one time when I was complaining about yardwork to come over there as she had an picture to show me...so I went over there...on the back of her business liscense is an ariel photo of our backyards when we first moved in and all I had was on dinky tree with strawberries under it, and sand box, and pine tree and our swimming pool , which we no longer have..and the yard looked "huge" to me. So she has an chair at her house... to chat with... and I have one on the other side of my front yard as decoration also. That neighbor works also...nursing of some kind  probably an aide. .Last time we talked she called her hubby on my cell phone, our electricity was out and thier electric door stuck half way up as she was driving out to work...all three of us neighbors went over there and helped her bring it down so she could scoot off to work. I wouldn't mind you being my neighbor, I 'd probably be over watching you paint, and I have within half an block an school with an covered area where you could teach your painting lessons outsde in the summer probably... if not the local church in walking distance.  You could also probably walk to the field down at the end of the street and see the panoramic view of Mt. Hood in the distance.. the fields nearby on the rolling hills. Though the fields are rapidly being made into housing projects. They promised us an park in this area many years ago.

Does any one know if this the only type of wasp nest you get in England? (I ask because we have lots of different ones here!)  I think this nest would be as intimidating as a beehive!  Do they make the nest from mud?

May be Ron the Pest Controller might know?  lol

Picture by Vince Hawthorn

If you count the 'family' that is related to the wasp there are thousands of different species, although just a couple that most would recognize here in the UK!

As for building the nest, the wasps settle on wood fencing, bark of tree's etc chew it and cough it back up when they get 'home' so the nest is actually made of wood, continually being made bigger for more eggs, more workers, more eggs, more workers, you get the picture? But as Dave says it is fragile and beautiful.

During my pest control days we have removed a single nest that filled a wheelbarrow, so yes Dave they do get big!

And then there are Hornets!!