Welcome to Locust Trail Homestead

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Chicken In The Oven

I got a pot of just fresh green beans from the garden cooking in bacon drippings and a big ol onion. A dressed out chicken in the oven and the house is smelling good. Warm and toasty on this cool cloudy day.

Made new slipcovers for my living room sofa and love seat, Its a fall look for sure. Using a burnt orange fabric. Oh it looks good for fall but right after Thanksgiving off they come and the more old fashion Christmas colors will decorate the home.

We did go to Heritage days at Truman Lake this last weekend. All the ol timey crafts and way of life was all around. We had our group the kids and grandkiddies went along. I got a few pictures to share, but didn't take as many as I should have cuz I was havin so much fun just looking and learning.

Oh and I had to get some soap being made right there. It was the hot press and they had cold press for sale as well made with pine tar. A good antibacterial type soap. Got some good info too.

Weavers, spinners, broom makers , log splitters, apple butter and sorghum, beans and corn bread dinners along with smoked turkey legs. I took a couple of bites of turkey, left the rest of that monster leg with DH and went over to talk with the lady dying yarns with natural materials like walnuts, hedge, onion skins and different herbs and plants to get just the right color for the yarns. It was packed with many interesting crafts.

This lady was making rugs with something I had not seen before. Using a buggy wagon wheel and long strips of rags and weaving in a fashion to make a rug. I wanted her wrap. It was a little cool when we started out and that warm shawl with the blanket stitch was beautiful. I was hoping she was selling those, but no it was gift. if I wanted to get warm I could buy a rug and wrap up with that

The art of lace making will make you go away shaking your head. Wow was it involved. All those bobbins to keep track of and this artist did it with such ease as she shared about her dress she made. It was beautiful too.

They had a cabin that was built on location . One room downstairs and one upstairs , sleeping quarters. Fireplace was going and all the pans to cook up a good dinner. I seen my Dutch oven that I sure want to get.

The blacksmith that was important part of pioneer days was busy making a hinge , showing us the techniques how to make a round in the metal.

In the Hooper house the wood stove was going and nice to warm the hands along with smelling the pies cooking.

Even the name of these stoves bring a warm feeling.

Now there was a couple of ol buckskin wearin old timers that gave the youngsters a time, in a loving fun way. It was my grandkiddies to get the scare.

They had em look into the cage and out jumps a skinned varmint to give them a leap backwards. They loved it.

Now this was cute in a wrinkled brow type way. This ol timer was showing the girls his necklace made of toe bones. Girls took a good look. He explained that he was missin a few toe bones, then looked down at their feet. Took out his big ol knife and asked if they would give up a toe. They jumped way back, heck dd and I jumped back. Ahhh he said I don't want to take your toe I want two of them, Oh my gosh , he reminded me of my Dad and grandpa , something they would say. We assured the girls he was just kidding but leave your shoes on just incase.

These two old guys were fun , we need more ol timers like them so we can lightin up. Know when a joke is just for fun. And know what kind of people can take a joke in a fun light way. I'm glad we looked like the right kind of people.

I loved this wall tent , its taller then most the wall tents that were set up for the two day event. This one had a stove and when you poked your head in it was so warm. I so want to have one like this to do the winter camping at my Outpost.

There was so much to see, tipi's , civil war relics, cannons even and oh the noise when they went off. The sorghum makers were giving out taste of sorghum. Ahhhh the guy that was making it does not like it. I tasted and , well I didn't care for it either, I like the taste of honey much better.

A fellar was making sauerkraut, he had old crocks, old shredders (what are the names of those?) We got to talkin about cracked crocks (hate when that happens) and he pulls out under his table what he makes his kraut in, a 5 gal plastic bucket, lol so much for the ol timey stuff. He said it was ok to use a cracked crock (which does not leak) but I still have my concerns about it leaching from within , whata you all think?

Well there was citified bathroom and good old country outhouses. This two holer was the only non working outhouse. Everyone likes or dislikes those Johnny on the spots. I'll take the originals any ol time, but I like the single hole ones. I just don't care for company when nature calls.

We had a great day, weather was a beautiful fall . We stopped by our favorite rib place for dinner. Got back home and I got ready to head to the Outpost. I was pooped, Sis joined me late, scared the b-gee-bers out of me. Ok its dark, she didn't say whether she was camping out or not, its getting real late. Its hunting season and I see a light that looks to be coming from the pond dam. Oh that is not sis, and why would DH be out this late on the dam. So my thoughts were being a lost hunter. Oh my I'm in my long underwear too. I just see a light, I poke my head out the tent and hallar "who's there" , no one answers, and the light is getting closer, I yell again louder, "Who's There" and still no answer. Light is in the camp at this point and I'm a sitting duck with my light on and head sticking out of the tent. Think linda think!!!! I really screamed "Who's There", and now I hear a clicking sound. Now I'm scared and mad at the same time. The light now is in my eyes blinding me and my crazy nutty sister says "Its Me". Oh I had a cow, I told her never ever do that, you could get yourself shot. Lessons learn here. I should have turned my lights off so not to expose myself. I should have said "I have a gun", even tho I had a stick . I should not wear long underwear in the woods b/c I may have company.

What's with the clicking noise you ask , well sis has this thing that she thinks I'm scared of UFO's, aliens that make clicking sounds. Not true, well sorta of, but I'm more trouble of strangers that would not ID themselves. Lessons learned is all I can say.

It was cold that night and sis woke up on her side of the room and made all kinds of rustlin noise around to wake me up. She said this might be her last camp out cuz of the cold. : (. I wish I had one of those wall tents that has the wood stove in it.

I slept good under warm goose down comforter and DH's long johns. But My bones hurt from a fall I took from the day before. I practice my falling skills every winter on ice covered walks and yard, good thing cuz it came in handy for my Walmart parking lot fall. It had been raining and I have lost thread on the bottom of these cheap Croc knock offs of a pr of shoes, but they are sooooo comfy. Sis is in the truck, we are handy to town to meet clients and there I go. Its not quick, its long and drawn out, sis is watching me the whole time. I am trying to catch myself in a graceful way and I just keep going forward and down, some ten feet of falling forward. I see this road blocker and think while I'm falling moving forward that I can grab it and keep from a crash and burn. Nope I crash and burned. Sis said I looked like a 2 by 4 in mid air and fell flat : (. I laid there for a bit to see if I was ok, make sure my guts went back into place. A women jumped out of her van to see if I was ok and also another person drove up. Sis was getting out of the truck and wondering why I didn't jump right up , wipe off my backside and get going. Everything was checked out, scraped the palm of my hand but my biggest concern was that my brand new underwear went flyin across the parking lot for the world to see. Oh how embarrassing. Yes I broke down and bought bloomers. I guess the excitement of new under britches made me not pay attention to my walking. Yes my falling skills did pay off.

Chickens:

Now Sunday we had to take out a few more roosters. And I get to go retrieve the boys. I almost had one in my grips when he few in my face and nailed me good just above my eye lid with his nasty dirty sharp toe nail : (. Oh that roo is in the oven now : ). Lessons learned, get those boys when they are roosting

Garden:

Picking and gathering fall garden veggies, herbs and flower heads for saving the seeds.

Expanded the garden for a big pumpkin patch, corn, wheat and buckwheat. Man came out and plowed up the rich dark earth. I can't wait tell we plant in it next spring.

Weekend:

Planting many tulips , hyacinths from co-op and waiting for peonies coming soon too. Weekend will be busy so I hope weather will be warm. Camping out in the Outpost, gosh this will be the 11 th weekend camping out. Oh I hope I can get sis to camp out.

Thanks for dropping by and reading this long blog.

Winter is here for many. I love snow but I want it to hold off for a bit. Haven't started up the fireplace yet.

Take good care

Blessings many

linda

• Comments (3) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Having Lunch With The Buffalo

Posted in Family Trips

Well really called Bison, but I like to call em Buffalo. Sis and I are starting a brown bag lunchin these days when we go in town to meet up with our clients. Its a bit of a trip so we make a stop at the lake on our way in, find a nice shaded table and start eating.

Today we chose a nice place that we could watch the Elk and Bison play, no , roam, no, they just layed in the cool grass under the shade trees.

This was a bull and boy was he big,

There was mamas and babies laying around and a few were standing but not many moving.

But when they do get movin look out, hands off fence and no messing with these guys. Just look at that fence how its busted out, oh boy, they can just lay and be good. And they were today. I hope no one was provoking the Bison to do this but it sure looks like something was up.

Its sad to see them in a fenced in area, you just think of the wide open plains for such a beautiful animal to be free, but then I look at them quite content and just resting. Oh the life of a buffalo.

Another area had a great herd of Elk. These two bucks were laying down by the large pond. They were a distance and they looked big, the racks on these are huge.

Now for lunch:

Sis and I are doing something new for us, we are brown bagging it. We are so not doing lunch in restaurant for a long time. We are so tired of the nasty foods that are being served, and in good restaurants too. Alto not all, but it just takes a few to make you not want to eat out any more. Plus the cost too.

Heres the kicker, sis orders a chilli corndog :P at a fast food stop ( oh I don't like fast foods), but I ordered a banana split : ). She takes a bite and out it flies out of her mouth. She see's it has green mold on the bun. yuk. We call for them to take it back and ask for a refund, they ask whats wrong with my banana split, cuz I wanted to return it too. Well after seeing sis hurl the green bun, I just couldn't eat : P.

Then theres been hair found, a roach running across our table, a waitress with her thumb in my hubbies mashed potatoes and gravy, and after she sits the dish down, puts her gravy covered thumb in her mouth and says, "umm that is good" yuk yuk yuk.

Now I can get this kind of treatment at home, oh just kidding on the hair and roaches, but I have licked my fingers when I eat chicken. And then we get country bugs coming inside once in awhile : ). But at least its sorta free and we don't have to leave a large tip.

But sis and I are done with eating out and now we bring our own. Now this has been fun so far, we bought these small coolers that we each load up surprises and trade food with one another on some days, or one will do the whole lunch on one day and then its the others turn to do lunch.

Heres our coolers: We pack this babies plumb full : )

Today I brought a hot tater wrapped in foil and tucked in an oven mitt to keep'er hot. Topped with butter, slap of cheese, bacon, and a piece of dried tomato. Also some pear halves. Sis brought corned beef sandwich,(it looks like she used a hack saw to cut it) chips, and vinegar cucumbers. We split everything and really got full. Oh and our little glass salt and pepper shakers. We are stylin with our brown bag lunch.

We bring ice and a gallon jug of sweet tea to drink on the road. Later as the weather gets colder we talk how bringing soup and cornbread would be yummy. Come on cold weather!!!

We have so much fun talking of our new brown baggin it in style and how cool this is and will be. We are the "KISS" Keep It Simple Sisters.

More of the lake:

This has been another enjoyment of brown bagging it, the sights and planning on different outings to do lunch.

Its so very peacefull here watching the fishing boats and sailboats crossing the water.

The rock cliffs are huge and quite a drop off.

The wild flowers are everywhere.

Oh and beautiful butterflies.

These are so big, and when they open their wings it is a bright yellow. The markings on a butterfly are just something to see. I need to find out what kind they are.

It was a good day in town, but most fun hangin out with sis. We have a hoot and laugh hard on the littest things. Oh we get in tiffs to but they end as quick as they start. Going to have that when you work with sis for as long as I can remember in our family business.

Were talkin about a trip to the State Fair, if weather is cool and whether we can bring in our little coolers of food

All take good care
Blessings
linda

• Comments (1) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Road Trip

Posted in Family Trips

What do ya do when someone totals your car and their insurance company gives you a brand pankin new rent- a- car with all expenses paid (not gas of course). ROAD TRIP : )

It was a modest trip, just an hour away from home to Truman Lake. Today the sun was shinning and it just felt like a day trip with my dh. Grab some BBQ and check out the lake , maybe see some wildlife. And take pictures !!!!!!

Well in the winter down around the lake not everyone is open for business, and that included our favorite BBQ place.

So we searched and searched and came into the town of Warsaw and there it was , not a BBQ joint but a cabin type cafe and the name "Cow Patties" hummmm do we really want to eat at a place called that!!!! So we drove around and then seen "Rusty Skillet". Ok we better not go any further so we went back to Cow Patties. I mean how bad could it really be. It looked old fashion and whats in a name anyway, that rose smellin thing comes in mind.

Now getting inside we sat in a booth and the waitress was super nice and funny. We order breakfast, far cry from BBQ but the whole place felt like a good old fashion breakfast. It was so good.

Have you ever went up to anyone and ask if you could take a picture of their food? Well I did, they brought out the biggest hamburgars , were talkin a plate size bun filled with a whole cow. I had to have a picture of those monsters. They were very obliging, so I went about the photo shoot on their lunch. They didn't want to be in the picture (strange people) but I was still very happy to get a shot of those whoppers. Thank you strangers.

Could this be why the place is called Cow Patties, those are huge platters and the size of the buns is the size of my large plates. My whole family of five of us could have dined on one of those and still have left overs for the next day.

Be sure and stop in Cow Patties if you get to do a road trip to Warsaw, you'll love it.

Now for our first place , well second place to visit we headed to the fish hatchery. I wanted to gather some new material on Missouri Conservation and boy did I , take a look

First the calenders, oh boy, this one I bought , beautiful pictures of wildlife, native plants and great information

And this I bought to and can use for plant ID when out on the trails and field

Now the freebie stuff, here ya go, another calender this is big and loaded with info and great sketches, very nice work. I love the site of quail in flight and those little chicks running around. Way cute

Heres a whole heap of info and everything I could ever need to read about conservation in Missouri

Then they loaded my bag of goodies with fun conservation books for the Gkiddies and wooden tokens and wildlife cards too. They are going to have hours of fun with these and will go great in their homeschooling

Now I did feel a little bit like I took to much and even asked. They said go ahead, they want us to have every bit of info we need. Now I know our tax dollars pay for all this , but still. I'm over it, movin on.

The fish, this almost looks fake but its real and real fish swimming around

I wonder what the fish think of us, go away!!!!

Now these cats look stuck and the big one seem to be saying something

Heres the inside hatchery, and tiny little fish start out in these, this room is cleaner then my kitchen

Heres just a small part of the outside ponds that hold different size fish they raise, its acres of ponds

Now off we go in search of Eagles. Heres where they said we might see some . This is the visitor center, a must see if your in the area. They also have log cabins and old timey buildings in the woods

No Eagles here , but wouldn't that be fun to climb : ) or not

So we head across the lake still looking for Eagles in flight

And low and behold no Eagles but lookie heres a nest, and its the real McCoy and very ,very big.

That was soooo exciting to see this nest. The picture looks like a reg. ol squirrels nest, but its all Eagle nest. We seen tons of squirrel nest and they look like little dots in comparison. It was a great find. Next time we are planning a real early trip and maybe see the Eagles in the morning hours.

It was a great day trip and I got to return the nice new car next week. They gave us a fair amount for my old car and when we finished talking over price and such and hung up she called right back and said she forgot to tell me that I have the car until tuesday, shoot I thought they might have forgot about that brand new car their letting me drive around in , Oh well .

Anyway, cars and material things can be replaced and we go through many in our lifetime , but our love ones are the main thing and living life the way God wants us to and thats with a ture heart of love. I just Praise God for the safety of my family that night on Christmas when they were hit. Praise God

Thanks for stopping by . If you do get to Missouri check out Truman Lake , lots of fun stuff to do.

Blessings

linda

• Comments (5) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Sleepin In A Tipi

Posted in Family Trips

We could not have asked for a better trip this last weekend, sleeping in tipis, walking along the spring fed river, campfire cookouts,spotting wildlife, looking on top of bluffs and seeing all the beauty of autumn all around.

Its started to rain good at home when we started out and was wondering if we should cancel, rain and little ones being wet didn't sound to good. But having a weather check on the internet in the area we were to head to looked very promising. Not more then a few minutes on our road trip we seen sunshine in the southeast and knew we were in for a good dry day. It was perfect, the kind of weather you could feel comfortable in a sweatshirt or a t-shirt.

Even tho it was a weekend trip we packed in a lot of fun things. We did more things then we planned, but first the camp. We got two tipis that were walking distance to the river. The top picture is the owners own picture. My pictures didn't look as cool b/c of the vans and cars parked by them. Just seems way out of place. It also shows more of a fall look to the leaves. We were just a little to early for a peak fall event, but beautiful just the same.

Everyone checking out the tipis and pickin out where their going to sleep. I had my "personal furnace with me" that being my hubby, so we took the double wide and our little granddaughters wanted the single wide's each be to their own with lots of sleeping bags and fuzzy covers.

Heres a pic of the inside. Now the Native Americans didn't have it quite this fancy with wooded floors and air mattresses but it was close enough to feel we were in the real McCoy. The beds have a frame made of tree edges so it was rough , but that air mattress was a little better to sleep on then bare ground : ).

I slept pretty good , checking on the girls a few times,just to make sure their covers were still on, and that critters didn't get in our tipi. All was good and they slept through the whole night. I got them each a flashlight so they thought those were pretty cool and did hand shadows on the tipi walls before going to bed along with each sharing madeup stories. After 5 stories each it was bed time, they were ready to story the night away.

This is a 4:30 morning fire in the tipi, it was a bit chilli , in the upper 40's , but the inside it was as warm as toast. Hubby made coffee outside , and drinking a cup of hot cowboy coffee and watching the glow of the fire shine on my little granddaughters faces while they slept was just a sight to see, one you just don't forget and my thoughts of all the blessings that we all receive all the time was felt in my heart.

I have plans and those plans are getting closer to reality of making a tipi by our camp on the trails. This is a picture of the liner inside the tipi. Walking in it looks like sleeping quarters, bunk beds you might say. but it was let known not to put anything on top. It was a rain catcher over the sleeping areas. It catches the rain and then you just dump it out and it falls to the outside. I was just glad we had a nice dry evening. But I bet the sound of rain would be nice hitting on the canvas as does the sound on a tin roof.

Well keeping up with as much authentic as we could , I got some buffalo meat for burgers and bruats. Our SIL and SIL To Be did the cooking, good guys. They did a great job. That is a huge wheel used for a fire ring. Don't think they had them in the old days, but it was there so we used it. Baked beans in the little iron skillet.

It was perfect for the morning breakfast too. Placed a grill on top and was able to hold that big iron skillet of my Moms. Bacon and link sausage , eggs and fried biscuits. We didn't do pancakes , had a big enough breakfast without pancakes. DD did the cooking and boy did she make some pretty eggs, good too and those fried biscuits, yum. Not burnt like I would have done. Everything was so tasty. Great way to start out the day, along with that hot outdoor coffee.

The bright stars at night were breathtaking. We are in the country and can see the bright stars and milky way but this was even more clearer and wide open in the valley.

Heres an early morning picture of the bluff with the river fog in the valley. I seen the moving fog across the field , it was so thick and really something to see. I love the fog on the rivers and valleys. The picture didn't do it justice and theres some kind of black thing on the side, but its a little bit of what it looked like.

The bathhouse was neat, neat cuz it had hot running water for showers

Heres a couple of pictures of the sink with a galvanized bucket for the sink part and a lock for the door, pull the rope over the wooden latch to lock yourself in, pull it on the outside to lock the door and keep from swinging open on the outside.

We took a long walk down by the river and the guys did a little rock skipping , I think everyone did, looking for the perfect flat rock with enough wait to skip and not sink. Its all in the wrist action.

Turning around and there our 5 yr old is rolling up her pant legs to go wading in the cold spring fed river. And then all the girls were heading in the river. I must be getting older , or maybe because I was taking pictures I stayed on the bank cuz I would have been in there to.

We spotted our next camp out , It will be in a tent next time but right next to the river where we can set up for fishing and kayaking.

A neat site was a older man chopping his firewood, had a small tent set up with his coffee going, had his rubber wading pants hung on a tree limb from an earlier fly fishing. Said he was going to try in the evening. His camp look so warm and inviting.

Took lots of pictures and walked some distance, theres several springs and I tasted the watercress growing around them. Nice and peppery.

We walked to the bottom of a huge bluff and a challenge was on that I didn't take, but almost, sun was going down and I would have found myself on a high hillside without a flashlight :(. It was climbing the bluff, said it couldn't be done, what!!!!!!! I say it could but I did not have proper shoes to hike up the bluff. LOL, but next time I'll show em!!!!!. Anyway heres a pictures looking down from the top of it and our camp is way off just a bit down from the horizon in the middle right of the picture. We all walked from there to the bottom but we drove to the top of bluff. It was beautiful over looking the river from Bennett Springs.

On Sunday morning after breakfast and breaking camp we took a visit to Bennett Springs. Still lots of people fishing, mostly fly fishing. So peaceful to just sit and watch them. We took the kids to the nature center and we had a little cookout in the park. We thought our trip was over and ready to head back home but no, :). DD wanted to go to Springfield and ride through Fantastic Caverns. So off we went. This is about the third time I have went though them but first time for grandkids and SIL. It was another fun trip and a surprise addition to our weekend trip. Took lots of pictures , heres one of the columns in the cave.

Now if that isn't enough dd wanted to stop by my favorite place on the way back home, Oceloa Cheese. Oh who cannot resist that place. Many cheeses to sample and nothing like a smoked string cheese and difference flavors of cheese curds to snack on our trip back home.

It was just great and everyone wants to go back in the spring. We picked the perfect time to sleep in tipis in the fall time. We were takin a chance tho. We have had ice storms this time of year. But the tipis get really warm and it just seems fitin to camp in them in the fall time. Winter with snow would just be awesome. Maybe when I get ours set up I can do just that.

What a nice trip we had but always nice to get back home with a refreshed feeling and new ideas. We met some nice people who own the camp and look forward to another visit and a long friendship.

Homestead update:

Nice and cool , rain today. Perfect !!!!!!!

Green beans are still doing good, but they are calling for our first frost next week.
This years fall colors our a bit slow, that's ok , the longer the fall weather the better.

Lots of weekend plans to share and our trip yesterday with the grandkids to a farmstead , a hay ride to pick out their pumpkins.

Until later all take good care, thanks for the visit

Blessings
linda

• Comments (0) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Visit to a Farmstead

Posted in Family Trips

Oh was this a great place to go visit ,The Deanna Rose Childrens Farmstead http://www.opkansas.org/_Vis/Farmstead/index.cfm.

Sis and I had an hour window before meeting up with a client so we stopped off to see this farmstead in the middle of urban country. Its a gotta bring the grandkids type of place. Really geared for the youngins, but walking with sis , it was rather nice.

I took a whole bunch of pictures so here we go. From goats to chickens to little barns, tipi's , and old washing machines, they had it all. Lots of hands on for kids, they can even ride ponies and have tractor races. A clean well managed farmstead. A must see if you are visiting the Overland Park, Kansas area.

Opening tomorrow is their 10th annual Pumpkin Hollow. We got plans taking the grandkids after our trip this month. It will be a horse drawn wagon ride to the pumpkin patch for the kids to pick out their pumpkins, Play in the corn maze, a Hay Worm, not sure what that is. An obstacle course, pumpkin fishing , corn filled "sand boxes" and other activities. Should be great fun . Well do a picnic out there too : ).

Heres a mess of pictures, grab a cup of hot tea and have fun. Hope you got your walkin shoes on cuz we'll be walking, there's some sittin places too : ).

This makes me want to draw up some cold spring water.

Lots of barns on this farmstead but this was soooo cute!!!!

This turkey did a good stretch.

It was dinner time for piggy, or I sould say dirty piggy!!!!

Not sure about this chicken but one of my clients says this is Bob, I gave her a chick some time ago and it was suppose to be a hen, turned out to be a rooster, not good where she lives so off to the farm he went. Bob or not he looks pretty good and a happy roo !!!!

Kids can play in the log home.

Ducks on the pond,

Walking around the pond to the island,

Island, great place to just relax,

Kids can throw in a line or two and try some fishing out, maybe a whole bunch of lines, yikes !!!!

If kids weren't in school they would be fishing , heres the school house.

Inside the class room, winter time I would make sure I had my desk close to the stove. Oh that teacher looks pretty strick to me :P, fishin time!!!!

Go grab another cup of tea or coffee, bathroom time too, another group of pictures, lets meet back in a bit : ).

Ok welcome back:

Here was a cool place to store corn, up on the walls of the huge barn.

Just outside the barn is a big windmill, I love windmills. This happens to be a working one.

Can't have a farm without cow bells,

Back in the barn they have a theater for kids , the seats are made from tractor seats, what a hoot!!!!!

And being as we are going on a trip in a couple of weeks and sleep in tipis this was really cool to see.

You can go in the tipis. They had a huge home that is tent like but has earth on top, made for several family members, big thing with lots of Native American artifacts, gosh I can't think of the name of the structure, but I could live in it in a heartbeat. Lots of room with a fire pit in the middle, dirt floors, no sweeping : ) Heres another old tipi.

Heres a birdhouse gourd growing on a fence, I wish mine was that big, at the rate mine is growing it will be a house for a moth or fly :/

Come on over here and wash up , good thing after petting all those animals , the water is nice and cold. You ever use one of these pumps before, gotta prime it first. Always keep a jar of water next to the pump for the prime : )

And more on old time ways how about this old wringer washer, I love it, I use to use one of these , it was a little better shape but not much.

Ahhhh a sittin place , plenty of room on this big swing, lets sit a spell.

Well we sure had fun today and always fun to look at pictures. You know this place didn't cost anything to get in. You can buy food and you can pay for riding the ponies, buy food to feed the animals and hay rides but you can do a whole bunch of stuff without any cost. Thats hard to find those kind of places these days. I know you will enjoy the real thing so if you ever get to Kansas check out this farmstead.

All take good care, glad we had a good walk , but boy am I tired, until later have a good one.

Blessings
linda

JULY 19,2007

Field of Sunshine

You just never know when you take the back roads to a destination what you might find. Alto sis and I take this road quite often when heading into town/city, we never thought we would see what we did last friday on our way!!!!!!

I have been keeping my eye on this group of sun flowers and last friday was the day of their beautiful showing. Oh there was so many, and all facing the same direction to let their faces get warm from the sun. Heading home they were all facing the east and as we were heading east it was neat to even see the back side of them. All waiting for the dawn to appear.

Now as I was on the road taking pic's , my sister took the truck up the road to turn around, well I waited and waited. Oh brother I thought, do I have to hike down that road and see what's takin her so long, I can see her but shes not moving.

She finally starts heading towards me and I can see her arms and mouth going ninety miles an hour, oh what is up, I thought maybe a bee was in the truck, thank goodness not, she would have ran me over if there was one in there with her. Better yet it was a farm down the road and she was taking pictures as well. It was a must see, so taking me there boy was I surprised.

A farmstead with all kinds of animals. Miniature mules/donkeys. emu, lamas, Ok that's not to big of a deal if your in the country but wait, They had an island, and on this island was, ok your not going to believe this , and this is right in front of their yard, an Island with monkeys on it, OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!! Monkeys !!!!!!

Apparently these monkeys don't swim. They made their island look like Jarassic Park , with a big dinosaur , trees and jungle gym for the monkeys to hang out on. There looks to be a coati there to, unless its a striped tail money as well.

Heres some pictures. We were so surprised to see something like this. I do love the back roads, always something new to see.

Notice the llama laying down to the right and geese in the background

Cute monkey!!!!

Theres a coati, I think under the dinosaur back side. They did a good job on their island. Dino looks a little on the thin side, look out monkeys

Homestead update:

Been paintin my workshop. The flood has moved me to cleaning big time. Move least ye rust !!!!!

Looks like its going to be a warm week. Beans will need to be picked, and I planted Yard Long Cucumbers, they have hit the 25"mark so maybe they'll keep growing, Try packin a whole yard long pickle in a jar, ain't gona happen.

Todays update: Oh boy, had to go downtown KC to get supplies and I stopped at Planters Seed company

The Planters Seed and Spice Company Home Page , Its been in business for over 70 years!!!

OHhhhh the smells of spices , bags filled with all kinds of stuff, beans ,flour etc. A must go again type of store. I couldn't stay long, we had to head back.

I was on a mission to find local flour there, but they had none in the radius I need for my One Local Summer challenge. But the man did tell me that I might find some at the Farmers Market on Saturdays. It's the City Market

http://www.kc-citymarket.com/ down by the River Front area and It looked so festive. I do want to go , maybe this coming Saturday. DH and I haven't had a road trip in a while so this could be fun.

I'm not much for downtown city stuff, maybe because I lived there for a while when I was a kid, it always seemed gray and dull & lifeless. But my eyes must have changed or maybe the city has, it was colorful, happy healthy people, way different then when I was a kid. The old buildings looked good and inviting. Even though I'm sold on the country a visit to the city won't be half bad.

I'm glad my eyes see differently now, I could have missed out.

All have a great week, oh stay cool, it is toasty out there.

Blessing to ya
linda

Meet Uncle Bert

Isn't he a character. Uncle Bert sits in the front sun room of one of my clients with a magazine in his lap, content as all get out. To look at him at first glance you would claim a real person for sure. No ones going to bust into her home with Uncle Bert keeping a sharp look out.

He's made of paper mache and his unusual art work is outstanding. To make something look so life like and has one step back and take notice. He would never blend in a crowd. Talk about charisma, Uncle Bert's got it !!!!!

He totes several hats, guess like many he likes a different look now and then. I thought you might like to see this. And was wondering , would you have an Uncle Bert sitting in your home? OH my gosh that sounds like a poll to me, poll time.

Have a good Uncle Bert day.

Blessings
linda

Would you have a paper mache,like Uncle Bert staying in your home?

Well ya, he looks harmless: 1
No Way, to creepy: 3
We do have but he's a real person, doesn't move either: 1
Only if he can cook and clean, just sitting and reading the paper doesn't cut it.: 2
I got my paper and paints ready to whip up an Uncle Bert right now.: 1
We have a male dog thats not house trained , Uncle Bert would melt.: 1
We could share hats: 1
He would be great in car pooling: 1

• Comments (0) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Fastest Float Ever

Posted in Family Trips

WE got back from our float trip on Niangua River . The weather was wonderful. We got a great place to camp out in a pasture butt up against the woods with a little shelter w/ table , even had electricity, but noooooo outhouses,none, zip. If you had to go , it was either in the rough woods, or out in the open pasture or climb or drive about 3/4 of a mile up the big hill side. Showers up there too : ).

We had our coffee on the campfire , we were going to have steak but had tube steak instead, HOTDOGS!!!! I'm kinda sick of hot dogs for awhile :p.

We put up the ten man tent in nothing flat, had to cuz the sun was going down fast and we ended up having to use the lamp sis brought to see what we were doing. OH that was fancy a lamp w/ a lampshade, Up town camping I tell ya.

Ok the night was nice . I had to go down to the river and see the moon shiny on the creek and see if there was any fog on the river yet. It was all perfect, just what I wanted to see. Heard coyotes and a hoot owl at night, and a wild turkey in the morning.

I just couldn't sleep, laying down I had my cot next to the window, we couldn't take the top off the tent for a sky view cuz the dew was heavy and everything would have been wet, but I just had to see the woods and any critters that might pass by. Ok it was drop drop drop, the sound of dew dropping off leaves on our side of the tent, and just when I would finally go to sleep, ping, right on the forehead or in my eye with a dew drop. So a rough night and a little cool toward the early morning. I'm thinkin a little more covers for a winter stay next time and an umbrella.

There was a total of three campers where we were and later about 1 or 2:00 am ,another camper showed up in the more primitive part of the campgrounds, they acted primitive too. Could hear them all over the place. One good thing was no loud music, well no music at all in fact. We didn't bring our banjos, lol.

Its fun to watch others set up camp, we had to hold down our laughter , but I'm sure others have laughed at us as we go about thinking we know what we're doing.

That morning sis and I went down to the river to see the fog before it lifted off the river, it was just wonderful.

We got our rubber raft and was shuttle up river. They gave us a brand new 8 man rubber raft, it was bright yellow, felt like we were going down the river in a big banana boat. We were told it will take us about 7 hours to reach our take out point. Ok that's a good float. The float was beautiful but super fast, We think sis's hubby wanted to go water skiing or something. We had a 7 hour float done in 3 hours, we made record of the fastest float ever. That meant that we had to wait 4 more hours at the pick up point :(

Not wanting to wait 4 hours we called and called on the cells phone, you ain't gona get out on a cell with all these mountains around, we barely get out as it is at home on our cells. So sis and I track up a mountain, well really its a hill compared to real mountains , but it felt like a mountain. We huffed and puffed.

My survival mode kicked in and I was glad I wasn't carrying my BOB (bug out bag). The bottled water was enough to haul up. I was looking for lizards to eat if we had to. Up there in the mountains you begin to think if your ever gong to see your family again. Sis was really pooping out on me and I was ready to roll her down the hill and get back to finding help.

You see floating back on the river wasn't an option for us, hummm , we didn't want to pay the extra fee for not stopping at the designated stop point (bunch of cheapos). Anyway walking was much better then sitting and staring and wondering for 4 hours, at least I felt we were doing something.

Ok all was good , we seen life before I had to roll sis. They said we were at the wrong spot, hummm , that it was further down river that we needed to go, ok so down the mountain we went, so much easier going down. Your wondering why we didn't hitch a ride from the advisers, have you ever seen Deliverence : (. We walked.

When we reached our family other floaters where there and from the same camp as ours, : ) We were at the right place, we were told wrong, sure glad we didn't hitch a ride!!!!. Had those other floaters not shown up like they did we would have floated two more miles down the river and missed our shuttle , paid more for the float for not following the rules, or still be there. Ok the good news we were picked up. The owner said he couldn't believe we got down there so fast, he wasn't going to pick us up for another 4 hours, thank heavens for the other floaters that had a earlier pickup!!!!!. We even had people that we floated past ask can they hitch on to us, or wheres the fire!!!!

Our trip to Bennett Springs was even faster, it was just driving around the park, sis's hubby wanted to get home fast. This was the fastest float trip ever and was not very relaxing ,it was rush, rush ,rush.

I'm planning another trip down there in October to see the trees and all their glory, should be beautiful. Theres a camp that you can stay in tipis. This will be so much fun to take our grandkids . Their to little for a float but we can walk around Bennett Springs and really do some site seeing and not have to hurry.

Heres some pic's and a flick of some of the beautiful spots. The river was low and not a fast flowing river, safer for our Mom to be on.

Pictures of fishing in the spring at Bennett Springs. It was so peaceful to watch the fisherman/fisherwomen and those that just sat there and watch to. Even tho it was in the comfort of the truck. I so wanted to stop and walk around and take more pictures. Next trip we will be taking our time.

Wood ducks, we seen some really little ones but they shot into the weeds before I could get a pic.

Thanks for stopping by

Even tho we had a very short vacation it was wonderful with the beauty of nature, but mostly having our Mom along, who will be 81 yrs old , who wished she had brought her fishing pole along. Maybe when she is ninty : )

May your work days be short and your vacations long and relaxing. May you take the time to row slow and enjoy the beauty and forget the silly material things that will be there when you get back home.

Blessings
linda (who is already for another trip that will be a slower pace)

Sept 20 2007

Float Trip

We are gettin ready for our float trip in a rubber raft down the Niangua River this weekend. Weather looks good. We'll be camping out by the river and taking off on a day trip close to Bennett Springs State Park.

I love this picture of the fog on the river. That is what I'm going to like the most , fog on the river early in the morning. I also like to see the valleys with the mist rising in the Ozark Mountains. I think there will be no people where we are going to stay and sorta have the river to ourselves in the morning, we'll see.

Its going to be in the upper 80's and partly cloudy. The river is not to wild , dang it, but we are bringing our Mom who will be 81 yrs old next week. I told her to bring her harmonica and play us a few tunes as we float down stream. Sis and I will be taking pictures and our men folk will get to man the rubber ship.

We're getting a 6 man rubber raft as oppose to a 10 man raft. Wow that would be stretchin out room on that one. We can just lay back and float along and not worry about tipping over like we have done many times in a canoe, but then we where on a rougher river then this will be.

Sis is bringing her 10 man tent with a top that opens up to the sky view, that is screened. Hope the stars will be out.

We'll be pitching tent at night with a pot of hot coffee going and float Saturday morning. Then its breakfast , bacon & eggs and coffee. I'm heading to the river with my coffee and watch the fog and see if I can see any trout. I like to fly fish but I don't think I'll fish this time. This is mostly a laid back and float the river and take pictures.

Last canoe trip we went on sis went along, she and I were learning the banjo and we got a couple of numbers down pretty good. We were at our camp playin a tune when we heard clapping and play more, play more. Wow we were so happy that strangers wanted to hear us play, so we played another tune, then another, We only had three songs that we knew so we kept playin those.

Well we were prompted by the other campers in another tent area, to keep playin, then all of a sudden after playin the same songs at least three time each, we heard a "shut Up" oh boy we blew it , it was an over kill, we should have piped down when it was good. We over extended our welcome , poor campers, we felt bad and embarrassed. Good thing it was night cuz they didn't know who was playin those same three songs when everyone was up an-at-em the next morning. Another lesson learn : /. That's what I meant a few blogs back, when you make a swish in the basket ball hoop, just smile and don't shoot another, you might not make it next time, get while the gettins good. Just walk away. We should have put those banjos up after our second round of OLD JOE CLARK.

Now Mom plays a mean harmonica, well she did when I last heard her play, so we'll brings our spoons and a wash board and get that rubber raft a rockin down the river, should be a hoot.
Sporten jean cutoffs, bandanas , and popin a Pepsi, we'll look like hillbillies for sure ; )

It will be a short vacation and not to far from home. So looking forward to a weekend trip that won't be to tiring getting there.

I am going to miss my computer and all the blogs tho. I'll be catching up when I return.

I'll be thinking of you all on my trip and praying that all of you are having a great weekend , you'll be there in my heart and I will be sharing some pictures when I get back. Hope I get some good ones.

Until next time , take good care, hugs

Blessings
linda

• Comments (0) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Happy Thanksgiving

Wonderful Autumn On Our Homestead

Fall:

Garden Area

"Would a Mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry, Would a Doctor sit in comfort and let his patients die, Would a fireman site idle, let men burn and lend no hand, Can you sit at ease on Zion with the world around you damned...?" ~Leonard Ravenhill

Would you have a paper mache,like Uncle Bert staying in your home?