Posted in In My Garden
Hope you like sunflowers, got a few pictures of them to share. They are pretty again this year and I have different types.
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, who can resist that. 
. So I'll have to think of somethin' else for eats. I don't want to take an hour drive to get a hotdog :P, steak maybe but not a hot dog!!! 
Posted in In My Garden
"Crocus" Gentle Crocus, neath the sod, Placed there by the hand of God. To spring up, when we are weary, Of this long cold winter dreary. Yes dear Crocus, we remember, You've been thought of since November. We know all through Winter harsh, You'll spring up again in March. E.H. Coe 1973
It won't be long before we see these little guys popping up all over. They can come up through snow. Always checking to see but they must do it when I'm not looking. I'm getting my spring fever up with our warm temps off and on. Today is a mix of everything. This morn was a real nice thunder storm, felt like spring for sure. It sounded so good. Watched the birds on the deck eating the bird seed I put out for them. I think they loved it, many birds showed up. Got my bird book close at hand to ID them. Then the rain came, all took cover, then hail , oh my whats next. Been organizing my seeds and ordering them. And working on my winter sowing. The group I'm on in Dave's Garden , a member sent me a great collection of flowers, 35 different seeds packages, oh it felt like Christmas seeing seeds and names I havn't grown before. Lots of studing to see when and were I will plant them. I always did vegetables so this new world of flowers will be a fun challenge for me. But the best part is bringing the butterflies and hummers and bees to the gardens. And also meeting others that enjoy gardening. Check out DG if you love to garden, bird watch, grow butterflies, thats right learn how to grow butterflies!!!!!!. Dave's Garden has everything for everyone that loves nature and wants to do better on your own homestead and surrounding areas. Busy week coming up , working in the work shop and going into town to meet up with clients. Breaks will be planting seeds in either milk jugs for winter sowing or in flats for inside growing. Its on forward in the gardening and no let up. Plans for growing enough plants for the Farmers Market , but this may not happen until next year, saving seeds and having plenty to share and grow plants for family and friends first. Joined in my very first COOP , this was in my DG group. It was a fast one and many plants, Tall Phlox were bought. The more that was bought the less we had to pay for each plant. It went down to 89 cents for each plant. I bought 40 plants with 4 different varieties, can't wait to see them growing, great for the hummers and butterflies. I'm going to be a seed savin garden lady this coming Autumn and well love the part when I can give back what I have been given. I'll be making a seed sharing list with seeds that I'll have for fall for next years season. I sure love snow but I'm so ready for spring : ) Blessings linda
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Posted in In My Garden
That's what I have been doing this afternoon. Planting my tomato's ,cabbage,herbs and flowers out in containers and tossing them outside to brave the rest of winter. Its hard to believe that many gardeners start their seeds this way with great success. With lows in the negatives and just a little container , these plants do better then starting them inside. My choice of containers to start with is the milk jug, many use these. I had a couple but had to go for search. And the best place to look was over at Moms. Sure enough she had some but they were old and even had some with a pretty Patina look to them. But cleaning was not so pretty, old sour milk, pheweee Heres a pic before the seeds. With drainage holes and watered down. I'm sorta messy. The seeds will be next step
Here they are to spend the rest of winter, thaw,freeze, frozen and snow these jugs will stay put until I see green and ready to plant in the garden. Fancy right, doesn't matter, I'm after plants
They are numbered and I have a journal sheet that has all the info to keep track of each container. I will be using some of my 200+ free buckets from the bakery for Winter Sowing. Theres many more seeds to plant but this is a start. I will be using several types of starting seeds this winter, WS, flates inside by the window and under grow lights. It should be fun to see which is better, but on the garden forums I'm on this winter sowing seems to be the hit. Heres the link to Winter Sowing give it a try this winter Skating update: Granny On Wheels Body feels like jello I have to use hands to lift legs so I can cross them I fell only a couple of times :/ I was laugh at many times I did the limbo, oh my back, oh my body Danced with dh, I had to lead, my backward skating is not to good My twrills were ok , I needed to put WD40 on my wheels I went real fast that my bun in my hair came undone,whooppeeee Hit the wall only once, well twice, ok I lost count Could not walk after I took skates off I'll probably be worst tomorrow Next time I go skating I hope for a better report say in another 50 , 60 years. All have a great week Blessing Overflowing linda
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Posted in In My Garden
It wanted to rain today off and on, a little shower and that was it. Maybe tomorrow and the next day.
I picked a few potatoes , picked them up is more like it. I just pull the wheat straw back and there they are. I think I'm going to go with digging a ditch and tossing soil on the taters as they grow next year, along with on top of the ground growing, with straw tossed on as potato plants grow. Even though we got more potatoes then we can eat , it still was not the yield it should have been. Theres many more potatoes to pick up but they are kinda small with a few larger ones throughout the tater patches. Some of them had bad spots so I'll cut those off before eating. Look I got a tiny Bird House Gourd growing. I may just have a few gourd birdhouses ready to put out for spring next year. I was wondering if the plant was going to produce anything other then a pretty flower. Theres more little ones and they are growing on the gazebo. Should look pretty cool hanging on their vines this fall.  I went for a walk this morning with my lab on the trails and this little guy greeted me on the way, He really doesn't look to happy , maybe to early for him, or maybe I was just to close. Look at his eyes, does he not have the look of "Don't Bother Me". I was really surprised he didn't tuck in his head. The other picture is the back of his shell, isn't it beautiful!!!!! Now I say he but it could very well be a she, I did not turn him over, not to be funny here but a male turtle will have a concave underside and I think females have red eyes, not sure on that one tho. Need to brush up on my box turtles. He/she was a pretty good size box turtle, haven't seen one that big for awhile.   Light rain coming down this evening and so nice, that makes for good sleepin. Got to get a good nights rest cuz its pushin it in the workshop tomorrow. So got in all my breaks today, even looked through a new magazine while swinging on the hammock. Oh it was like a fall day today. I got inspired by an article in the Better Homes and Gardens ( Garden Ideas) about making your own paper, using herbs and flowers from your gardens. I want to extend that to flowers and plants found in the woods. The grand girls will be staying over Sunday afternoon and I think this would be fun to make paper with them. We'll go gather the flowers and different natural thing that will work. Have a picnic and then make our paper. Should be lots of fun. I may get everyone involved : ). My DD was doing a craft in Sunday school a couple of years back and it was making paper. One member suggest using lint out of the clothes dryer, oh did the church group bring in the lint, trouble tho , there was a lot of hair in the lint, all kinds of body hair if you know what I mean. Not cool when you want to make pretty paper : P. Now that's recycling and I like the idea but I have done this with dryer lint, idea shared by someone else. Take an egg carton, the cardboard kind only, fill the lint in all the egg holders. Now you know all those candles that are pretty much spent but still have a little left, melt that down and pour that in the egg cartons over the lint. Tear off egg blocks from the carton, you now have some scented fire starters. Great for the fireplace and make starting a fire that much easier. And it doesn't really matter how much hair is in the lint. Its simple but its recycling and I like that. I'll have to start making a few of those for this winter. So if our paper turns out good I'll post a few sheets , whoa, maybe I can take pictures of it and use as background wallpaper for my blog. I'll have to check into that, providing we make some pretty paper that is. : ) I'm going to head off and go visiting this evening in blog town, always something good to read and learn. Have a good evening and a good one tomorrow Blessings linda Sept.10, 2007 Oh the weather was perfect today, and better this evening, down right cool. Sweatshirt type weather. My favorite : ).
It seemed later then it was because of the dark clouds, maybe rain tonight. But with this cool crisp air I wanted some outdoor coffee, cowboy coffee I call it. Out on the campfire. So after a fun morning with the grandkids riding out on the trails, dh and I had a relaxing evening by the fire. I kept moving closer to the fire as the temperature dropped. Then I was thinking how the weather will be in a couple of weeks when we go out on our float trip and sleep out in the tent, kkkkkkkkkold, lol . I'm bringing my long-johns just in case and my wool socks too. The last couple of days have been great, celebrated my birthday with the family here on the homestead. Had a cookout and had this great tasting cake. It had all the fall colors but not enough candles. Lets see, needs 45 more : ).  DH took everyone for a wagon ride on the trails Sunday and then it was playin in the water, still warm enough to do that. Hanging the water hose up over a tree limb made a nice water spray to run through. Kids picked out their pumpkins , a little early but the squash bugs where having a feast, so everyone got to have their own pumpkin to take home. The kids climbed , well tried to climb the tree, we had to help them up. They had fun playing and checking out the chickens. Just simple fun stuff, kids have a ball with things nature has to offer. And a learning experience as well. Along with caring for all critters. The youngest gdaughter, 4 yrs went running in the field and yelling, "a butterfly, a butterfly, I need it for my insect project" We cracked up. She needs a live butterfly for a class that the girls are in, once a week for 8 weeks. This week it's insects, They built their bug cages and when they get their collections they need to let them go. They are to get nice bugs : ). Heres a picture of our grandson who loves to swing on the little cabin playhouse and a picture of the youngest who takes his thumb very seriously   The grand girls stayed overnight and we made paper , its still drying, I think maybe a little to thick, maybe it will be good cardstock. If your a scrapper you know what I mean. We / I cut out paperdolls and they played with them for a bit, well I got tired of cutting all those little clothes and accessories out. I need a day and a year for that project. Maybe wait tell they can cut their own paper dolls out, lol. We pulled the mattress out in the living room and watch DVD until late at night. We didn't tell mommy how late. Grandmas can get by with stuff like that, lol. I was thinkin they would sleep in late but nooooo, they were up real early and hungry to. Pancakes they hollered , pancakes. Why make pancakes when theres some wonderful b-day cake left. So cake it was and then the 5 yr old wanted some more of my homemade veggie soup, What soup in the morning, she chowed it down. I made some good veggie soup this time, added some homemade Tuscan tomato sauce. I think I will add that from now on. Still got a little left so I think I'll grab some warm socks and fuzzy blanket. Heat up a cup of soup and read blogs tonight with the doors wide open and let that cold air come in. Love it!!!!!! It was a great weekend and birthday and this Monday topped it off. Thanks for coming over and visiting, have a great week Blessings linda Sept 5, 2007
We had our cookout by the camp site this weekend. The day was hot but toward evening it was just perfect weather.
I took my sister and ggirls for a wagon ride while the rest stayed my the campfire. I wasn't judging the daylight left to well cuz our ride back was in the dark. and no lights on the mower : (. The shadows of the deep parts of the woods gave depth so it helped along with the setting sun casting a little light through the trees. The wagon ride is fun but you sure can't hear the night sounds, and I do like that part about the woods and walking through them. The little guys earlier were playin hide and seek, and our 2 yr old gson said , "Ready or not here I come", it was so cute, he was so excited about playing the game. When they get older we'll have a flashlight hide and seek on the trails. We have done a treasure hunt on the trails for the older kids and that's fun. The 4 and 5 yr old loved roasting marshmallows, One didn't like to eat them just like making them everyone,lol. My sister is the story teller but tends to get a bit scary so when the kids are older she will be spinning the yarn. She makes the trails fun for the holidays. I like to call it the fall harvest party with all the decorations and then Christmas time, sis likes to go all out. I like the luminaries so that's my job while she is stringing up things that will pop down on you or jump out. She makes it sweet and semi scary, lol. Kids love it. I'm not much in that ,but I do like Christmas on the trails. And luminaries inside a big ice cube made from water that is frozen in a bucket and dumped out, it holds a candle, it is so pretty. When our kids where in High School we hosted their Fellowship of Christian Athletics for Christmas for a few years. It was fun to see 50 to 60 young people enjoying our woods with a cookout and running around. We would get many pizzas and they loved the hot cocoa and cider. Gag gifts where exchanged , but before that they would all wrap gifts from when they went shopping that day for families that needed some Christmas Spirit. They would do the wrapping in the house and then hit the trails later that evening. It was a Blessing to see how excited the kids would get and knowing how their gifts that they choose will make some children very happy. My favorite part is very early in the morn when it is foggy sometimes, its just beautiful. Now I went out one evening a couple of years ago and found myself in the middle of the woods and it was getting real dark and no flashlight, I must say I was a bit on edge at that time. We have cougar and all I could think of was think big,be big, think aggressive , move linda ,move. I scooted through the woods in a flash!!!!! I have confronted a cougar twice, once when coming up from the creek and he/she was looking at me on top of the hill. I don't think I was looking big at that time. I froze. No one believed me, so it wasn't until we heard this hair raising cry and our horse was attacked on the rear end that we knew we had something big in our woods. Then it happen again, we were cooking outside and the cougar just strolled by without a care,15ft away from us. This time Mom and I both seen it. Then my sister seen it on the pond dam a week or so later. So now there were believers. Conservation denied cougar at that time, now they are saying we do have cougar. We have had cougar for many years. When confronted you are to stand tall as you can, put your arms in the air and make your self look bigger. We just froze again. Seem like the cougar was not into frozen people and rather had something we were cooking. Just the other night while I was on the computer, I had the deck doors open to hear the night sounds. With the woods just right by my door I can hear things go crunch crunch , or something playing in the pond. But that night I heard a very strange sound, the kind that does make you have the hair stand on the back of your neck. It was close to. I turned on the lights and went out on the deck but I was kinda uncomfortable. Our lab was silent along with other night sounds, it was creepy feeling. I was looking over the ledge and trying to see in the dark and then all of a sudden something jumps on the porch rail by me and I scream, its our cat, oh for heaven sakes, scared the pa-gee-bers out of me. That sound was not a cat, or a night bird, it was big and loud. I will be mindful of the woods. So walking the woods with a large stick is in order when walking alone. And I use to take naps in the woods , find a nice soft place on the ground and take a few zzzzzz's. I'm ready for the weeks work after having a nice couple of days with cookout , trail walking and riding fun. Hope you had a good one too and a good week coming up . Take good care Blessings linda |
Posted in In My Garden
Aug 24, 2007 And you will find the summers bounty, tomatoes, peppers, squash, herbs , many things to pick and still growing. I'm going to head out in a little bit and start a garden clean up. Storms are to the north of us so I'll be able to go out.
I'm very happy with the garden this year compared to last year. Everything did very good and still growing. We did have rains but also the heavy dews have kept things growing well. The weeds have helped to with shade. I have started the fall garden and beans are up about 3 inches. I need to get turnips and other cold crops out as well. Picture is one of the many pumpkins that grew , but the little strawberry popcorn is one of two that grew, so not so good on the corn this year. Heres another picture of the strawberry popcorn on a cut off stump on the ground. I just like the looks of it so had to show.  I don't think I'll pop this corn and just use for fall decoration . I plan to plant more next spring, so hope I will have a better crop. My grandpa use to grow the little red corns and grandma would make popcorn for us when we stayed over night. Gramps would also grow loofa/luffa plants. I always forget to get seeds to grow some of those natural sponges. I'll be making my list of new things to get for next year. That's a winter fun thing to do , make your garden list and look through all the seed catalogues This next picture is a simple garden zinnia,  they brighten up the garden and planted in between the long rows of beans, they give a little break in just green everywhere. I dead head the flowers and keep the seeds. One could have a huge collection of flower seed from just a few Zinnia, that also goes for Marigolds. Zinnia is the kind of flower that you can have orange and pink, to deep red and all the in between colors and make a pretty bouquet for the table. Every color goes when it comes to Zinnias. I got to fix up the pumpkin patch for the kids. Make it look all fallish with straw bales and corn stalks and put Scary Harry (scarecrow) out by the patch. We may have to pick early because the pumpkins are very orange now. Well I'm heading out before it gets dark and see what I can do to make the garden look better. All have a great weekend. Hope your clear of the storms. Blessings linda July 31
Aug 6, 2007
July 11, 2007 How neat is this , my first tomato is shaped liked a heart. I took it over to Moms to show and eat but they were to full from their dinner. Sis was there to. We always share the first tomato of the season, no matter how small it is , it gets cut into equal portions for who ever is there to have a bite of garden fresh mater. We use to when we first had our garden, Dad, Mom , Sis and I would all stand around and watch our Dad meticulously cut the first warm tomato. Dad could make foods look so good to eat.
Well I do have to say its not hard to make a tomato look good but it was the way he would prepare the foods. My sisters the same way. She can make a non banana eater want a banana by the way she cuts it. She made a banana eater out of our cousin, from just cutting the banana in thin slices. I'd do that and nobody would notice and it would turn brown from lack of interest. Same with a lemon, think about eating a lemon, is your mouth going crazy right now, are you making faces? Well if you seen how sis cuts a lemon, you'll want one , oh yes you will !!!!! Now I did watch Bizarre Foods over at Moms on her satellite program, and ohhhhh my , the stuff people eat around the world, stuff you would never know is even on the earth. nd I think they do eat the squeal of a pig!!!! But I do have to say they sure made some of that weird food look pretty good. So theres an art to food preparation and making a plain dish pleasing to the eye, its well worth the the effort, gosh I'm sounding like Emily Post and her etiquette writings. Ok lets get to garden talk: That big juicy tomato is a heirloom, Mortgage Lifter. Theres other big ones on the vine that are better tomato shape, I will save the seeds on those. Unless theres a call for heart shape maters, I might save the seeds on this one,lol I wonder if that works,hummm, lab coat time, I'll have to check that out. Mowed the garden paths today. The rains really makes that grass grow heavy and fast. The weather was perfect, nice cooler day , stayed in the 70's. So push mowing was not bad Picked okra and little cucumbers are loaded on the vines. Pictures down below is the pumpkin patch, theres lots of little pumpkins on the vines that has taken over. My sister and I are having a pumpkin contest, who can grow the biggest one, lol so far so good, : )   The last two pictures are Hibiscus flowers , they are so big , I took some night shots of them but they closed up, sleepy I guess.   Settling down for the evening: I'm sitting here next to the door which opens to the deck that over looks the woods, and boy are the critters singing tonight. Theres a cool chill and I'm going to make a cup of hot cocoa, and read some blogs and gardening info before I call it a night. I'm sleepin with the windows wide open and fall asleep to the serenade of the wild. Oh how I love the summer evenings. This weeks movin out fast, we'll be in August before ya know it, then school we'll be starting and then Autumn, my favorite time, then Oh my , the holidays. So while I drink my hot cocoa I'll think of snow and winter and how I love that time of year as well. Not ready to build a fire in the fireplace yet, but its cleaned out and ready just incase ; ). Hope I got some marshmallows , yum. Hey thanks for stopping by, hope you like maters cuz it looks like a good year for em. take good care, and Blessings always linda |
Posted in In My Garden
Its sittin under a tree time of year, when the days get toasty and the shade of a tree is always welcome. Along with a big glass of ice tea, what more could you want. Ok a good book to read is good to. Picture was taken earlier this spring, the carpet of grass is more plush now, nice to take off the shoes and feel the grass. Old glider doesn't glide anymore but its still a comfortabe place to sit. It over looks the garden and a great place to snap beans or shell out peas. And an even better place to hold the grandbabies when their Mom goes out and pick some goodies from the garden. We've been fairly nice with the summer weather so far in MO, zone 5/6. It will be up in the ninety's this week, so that means staying in the workshop and get some projects done. The evenings and early mornings are good to trip to the garden and see whats ripe, (tomatoes One Local Summer talk: I preparded my One Local Summer meal today. I have it posted on my other blog, links to it and the other meals are on my side bar. Theres also a link to others who took on the challenge to fix a meal once a week from local foods within a certain radius, I chose 100 miles, but I have been able to stay under 50 to 60 miles at the most. Things like salt ,pepper, oil can be used. I'm having a hard time finding local flour. I plan to get to 100% local, that will be a challenge. I have found myself going to the store less and when I do just a couple of small bags once a week. I would be happy not going to the store at all. Although we eat mostly out of the garden , theres still a greater awareness of foods we buy, I now ask for local things where I shop and if they don't have it I ask where I can find it. I'm getting more picky at what I buy and how far it had to travel to get to my dinner table. So this challenge has been a great thing for me. And plus my family and friends seem to be more observant how they shop as well. Around the homestead talk: Sense our flood, its been cleaning and more cleaning. Every room will need to be painted and flooring. So I have been painting this weekend, I don't care to paint cuz I get more on me then I do the walls. But the good part every inch of our home is going to be organized, something that I have been wanting to do for a very long time, ahhhh like 17 years, it took a flood to get me going. better late then never. The cool thing I have been working on is my quilt and knitting space in my workshop, oh its lookin good and when done I'll post some pictures, it will have the spinning wheel and all the stuff to make Christmas gifts that I should be doing but I'm painting instead . Did I say this Christmas, oh no I meant next Christmas on those socks, Garden talk: Pumpkins are getting bigger , I need to put straw under so they don't rot. I do hope they hold out for Autumn, but the way they are growing, I don't know . Got Yard Long Cucumbers growing and they seem to be hitting that mark, i'll have to take pics of those if they do reach the yard long length, hope they taste good. Picked green beans today for the OLS dinner, made green bean bundles that were so good. I plan to make more of those. Right now talk: I'm over at Moms blogging tonight, havin a cup of coffee and watching the weather channel. Their headlines say "Heat Is On", so find yourself a shade tree and a nice comfortable chair, glass of ice tea and a good book and just set back and let the summer roll on through cuz that nice fall weather will be here before ya know it. Keep cool and drink lots of water when your out and about. Take breaks from time to time. This heat can get to ya. H Have a great week , thanks for stopping by. I'll blog when I can over here ,but blog everyday on my other blog , so come and visit when you can. Many Blessings to you linda
July 21, 2007 Oh its getting wild to go to the garden each time now, more things to pick, instead of the small basket , its the big baskets and the wheelbarrow.
The page first pic is a basket of goodies that I will be using for tomorrow's OLS, One Local Summer, challenge. This next picture is the Yard Long Cumumber, It measures 24 1/2". I went ahead and picked it for fear it was going to go bad. I'm not sure if these are to turn white. The little ones are a pale green so maybe thats the color of them. Taste will tell tomorrow.  This is a picture of a Spaghetti Squash that was hanging on the fence, it is so heavy, I thought I'd go ahead and pick, let the energy go into the plant w/ many more S. squashes that are on it.  Basket of veggies, oh its a good season!!!!!!  Blackeye Susans, I just let them grow in the garden where ever they feel like it. Love em  This is a birdhouse gourd flower, it is sooooo pretty, I have this growing on the gazebo, I do hope I get the gourds.  Little Zinnia's are so sweet in the garden, a must in the gardens  Its always great pleasure to go out to your garden and find such beautiful veggies and flowers. Last year was not so good, bugs and heat took its toll. There seems to be a lack of , yet I do see them and take care of the bad ones, but its been way down. I still need to get the fall planting going, ASAP. This coming week for sure. Here its 70* and I have the deck doors open and listening to the night critters. A cool breeze comes in once in awhile. Its a lovely evening. Guess I'll go hunting tonight, dh said he seen a little mouse run by downstairs  . A hunting I will go!!!!! Have a good one and always thanks for stopping by, dear friends. Blessings linda
July 11, 2007 It might not look like much,that old barn that's ready to fall with a few more winds to help. Tin roof that's rusted from time, patched up doors , weeds growing all over. Petina color covering the wood and giving that beautiful antique look. Yeah its old all right , maybe holding some old things in it too. But at one time that barn had much goings on in it.
My Gramps built it for his team of horses. He would go around and plow his own and neighbors gardens with the horse team and a big old plow. Mom was a rider and she had her favorite horses that she would groom and ready for the days ride after her hard day of working , get a ride in before she would go night hunting with gramps. Well the use didn't stop there. After Mom had left home and got married my grandparents had a little baby girl a year before I was born, she being my aunt was a year older and then my sister came along after me. We all were like stair steps growing up. Sis and I were consider city slickers (even though we lived on a couple of farms) and they were the country kids (small town) Aunt and the rest of the siblings , Grandpa and Grandma had 10 kids , they lost three at birth. So when we came to the small town to see our aunt whom we adored, we thought she was so worldly, heck she never left the small town. She just had cool stuff, being the baby of the family (spoiled). Every time we seen each other we would all squeal, and jump up and down with excitement. Our aunt would have our weekend plan if we got to stay over, oh what fun. And the old barn was part of the fun. She had made it into a cool playhouse in the loft of the barn, great hide out and only for girls. We played dress up, have plays, sing and dance. If our little cousins came around and wanted to join in we all would yell out that top door of the barn, oh what is that called?? NO BOYS ALLOWED !!!!! We had strict rules. We would ride my aunts bikes to town to the soda fountain, buy one grilled cheese sandwich, split it three ways, and one fountain cola with three straws. The reason why, MONEY, we didn't have much and if we spent it all on sandwiches and cola there would be none left for candy. Our really main reason to go to town. Candy and oh yes pea shooters, hard pea like things that you popped in your mouth and shot them out through a straw ( ya know you could put someones eye out with those), :/ . Now the old bikes were newer to older and you can guess who got the newer one, I got the next best and my little sister got the bike that almost had 2 wheels on it, lol she did a lot of walking. oh my , Kids!!!!! Aunt had a horse to, now that was over the top for us. We all would jump on the horse bareback and ride in the pastures (which are cover with houses now) and even ride up to the Dog & Suds (remember those). Drink our root beers and off we would ride. We liked to play in the grave yard too. People would throw away flowers from the grave sites and when no one was looking we would dig in the trash cans , pull out the old plactic flowers and put them back on the graves , we thought we were doing a good deed. Last time we did that there was something weird in the trash can, it looked like an arm,we screamed then looked again it was a big skinned fish someone tossed in :( that was the last time we snooped in the trash cans at the grave yard!!!! At night we would play badminton on the street in front of the old barn. I don't ever remember going in that barn at night, scared maybe. But I do remember Grandma would cook up homemade french fries piled sky high and us girls would say up late watching scary movies, black and white scary movies, ooohhhooooo. We would pour ketchup over the top of the fries and all share the platter , oh was Grandma a good cook. We would wake up to the smell of fried chicken cooking, she started her breakfast 4:00 in the morn and then have dinner ready by noon, cooked all the time, and chicken every Sunday. We use to bring up green apples in the barn loft and a salt shaker and eat apples tell our bellies hurt. Mason jars full of tea , I bet those jars are still up there. Now one thing I wish I could forget but glad it happen at the same time was when we got older, around 12 I guess, Aunt pulled out a cigarette and matches. Sis and I were in a state of shock. What should we do. Both of us knowin we would be skinned alive if our Dad found out. And I would not be here typing this if he did. Well being a stupid kid I took a puff, oh my goodness, I cough, I choked, I almost died. That was my first and last cig, so in a way that was a good thing. So my memories of the barn are lasting of fun times and lessons learned as a child. Now older and aging like the ol barn, not quite leaning like it does , but got bones that creak a little like opening of the old barn door, a few age spots on the arm like petina on the barn wood. And an old barn look that says , hey I'm still standin, : ). I thought I best get some pictures today of the barn, cuz everything around the area is changing to the modern and if it doesn't fall down, it will probably be torn down. Heres a few pics, I love barn wood and I hope the wood will be saved when its time for it to say good by. But mainly I hope your barn memories in life are still standing. And that they are filled with happyness and joy of childhood. You can make memories even today, for yourself and your love ones. The simple things in life are the ones that mean the most and grow to such joy.    Blessings all linda
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). I'm starting to save the seeds on some heirloom tomatoes. This coming weekend I need to start the fall garden, beans and cold crops will be planted. 
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Posted in In My Garden
Aug 20, 2007 I took the day off and just spent it outside. Upper 70's , what a great day. The pumpkin patch was in need of help today and that's what really started it, the weather was a bonus. Squash bugs , many, many was sucking the pumpkins . I got out the soap in a pan and started to swoop them in. Oh they are fast buggers, they see ya coming and they drop fast and scoot off in the grasses. It was war on squash bugs today. They were even on my pumpkin patch sign made of wood, what's up with that!!!!
So the pumpkin patch is no more, the pumpkins that I was able to save are in the wheel barrow, along with the wooden pumpkin and a sunflower that I will roast the seeds. Seems a bird has already taken a couple of seeds, but theres lots of sunflowers for the birds that are growing good this season. Why don't they like squash bugs ?????  My timing was off for a fall harvest pumpkin patch for the gkiddies, but I'll fix something up and they can still go pick out their pumpkins, they like those pumpkin seeds. I was in this challenge with my sister for the biggest pumpkin this year, it didn't happen cuz her plants didn't even grow :(. What fun is a contest if your the only contestant!!!!!! This reminds me when I first got married and we were out with some friends for dinner and dance. Now remember I have been in the sticks for under 10 years and no socializing, so going somewhere was a real treat, will I thought at the time it was. I met may dh in the woods, that's another blog story. So this city /country girl was going to town . It was an establishment, I call it a beer joint. There was dinning and dancing and there was also a radio station there too. They were havin a contest, a women's arm wrestling contest. Wow have I been in the woods for along time. Well my nature is to take a dare if its an ok dare (and I'm pretty sure I can win). My friends and hubby said show them what a farm girl can do. Ok my nerve was up and I signed in. The girl I was to compete with was friendly but look like she was in it for the win. You see the winning was a trip to Los Vegas. Oh brother, that wasn't my kind of fun, but still encouraged by my friends to take it on and deep down I wanted to prove myself to, oh its a women thing, lol. Anyway we tied the first to sets, I'll call them sets cuz I don't know what they call them, anyway we had to wait awhile tell it was our turn for a tie breaker. Ok your wondering now what in the world does this have to do with pumpkins,nothing but still hear me out. Ok we are set to go and we hang in there for a long time , I even have the radio station pulling for me. My arm vains are ready to burst. Then I look in her bloodshot eyes and think , this girl really wants to go to Vegas and I could care less about going. I believe the one that needs something the most should get it and I did prove I could pull the weight. I yielded, pooped but glad it was over. Hands patting my back and a hand shake from her was reward enough, but now they give me a red ribbon for second place, I GOT SECOND Place, OH My Goodness. You think I won first place, I was so excited. Then the radio dude said we were the only two light weights that were competing, WHAT!!!!! Just the two of us, oh brother. So this is what the pumpkin thing was like to me competing when there was really no competing. Winning a ribbon when I was the second person to win a second place ribbon. Now deep down I was going to throw that contest , I really was. But some say the margarita the other contestant gave me before the last round was what brought me down, (good plan on her part) but oh no . I'm a hard core Pepsi drinker and nothing can phase us Pepsi drinkers,nothing. : ) Making a muscle these days I have to push up the floppy skin on my under arms. I guess when I walk on the trails I should be swingin those dumb bells or what ever you call em. Got a whole set of them, color coded by weight. They sit in a milk bucket , have for years :/ But as I head for the old double nickle on age, I can still carry a 50lb bag of chicken feed on my shoulders, run hard when sis and I look at each other and try to get to the bathroom before she does when we get home from a long drive , only to get the both of us stuck in the doorway. Knock my big Lab over so I can give her a bath, we both get a bath. Help DH unload a AC unit off his truck so I can have air conditioning and strain my shoulder. Carry a couple of grandids around for just a bit, they can walk!!!!! Yep these ol muscles still got it, even tho their heading south. The only big life lesson I can share right now on such a blog as this , if you shoot for a basket and get it the first time and every one is awed by your shot , don't take another , make the swish and just walk away with a big grin. Take care , thanks for stopping by. I'm heading out on the trails tonight , its going to be very nice and cool, low 58* wow. Blessings linda MAY 9, 2007
June 18,2007
Well a few things have developed in the last couple of days. If gardening and working in the workshop is not enough, theres always something else around the corner. The Kansas City Star newspaper called me and they want to do a feature of my work. I shared some thing's about us and that we have been a family business for going on 55 years. The editor kept saying "oh this is good" . Do you shop at the Farmers Market?
May 20 2007  |
