Category Archives: Pets I love

Having Fun With the New Additions

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Well, we’ve had the puppies for a week now and they are settling in and we are getting use to  what amounts to watching two toddlers keep  from hurting themselves or falling into the pool.  It’s been a fun experience, but also a very tiring one.

From getting use to their new collars to learning to play with Molly, it’s been a busy week for Lucy and Sugar.

Roughhousing with Molly, we’ve had to teach her to be more gentle with the little dogs.

There’s been lots of discoveries and chewing up flowers and sticks. My poor flower beds have been flattened. Glad it’s the end of the season.

Some lap sitting although they are fast becoming too big for the lap.

Those green eyes are so pretty/

There is time out for a quick meal before going back to play and explore.

Lots of naps in between. I’m so glad we got two puppies. They have had each other and the move to a new home seems to have been easy for them both.  They even know my voice now and come running when I call them, ears flopping.  So darn cute.

Molly certainly has become use to them quickly.

It’s getting to be Fall like weather here now. The fires out west have made a layer of haze over parts of our state.  We need rain badly and outside burning is prohibited.  Cold temperatures are coming next week. Down in the forties at night. I can’t say I’m sad to see the hot weather go.  I sleep so much better with the windows open and the cool night air coming in rather than having the air conditioner running.   I also love Fall clothes better.

How about you? Are you ready for Fall?  We are going to look for mums and pumpkins tomorrow to decorate the porch.  I’ve gotten all my Autumn pillows and quilts out and the house looks so cozy.  What do you do to get ready to change the season?

Here’s to fun times with  puppies and cool Autumn weather. Bye.

Trick question?   What is this?

A correct guess will get you nothing, but the satisfaction of being right.

 

 

 

 

 

Entertaining Myself

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I read a blog the other day, Yarn Harlot, where she told how when she and her siblings were young, her mother would tell them to entertain themselves. They came up with some very inventive ways to entertain each other.  I had to laugh because my mother was the same way except she told us if we couldn’t find anything to do, she’d find something for us to do which usually meant “work!”  I would hide out and read or play with the kittens in the barn or do anything to keep out of the house.

So during the quarantine days I have found many ways to entertain myself.  One day I made some blueberry pancakes which David loved and I didn’t and I decided to feed mine to the chickens and Molly.  I wanted to see how they all would react to the pancakes. First the chickens.

These two are the “bosses” of the chicken yard and think they will get the most if they stand the closest, but it doesn’t always happen that way.

So once a piece is thrown, the running and grabbing begins. Every chicken manages to get at least one little piece. Even the younger ones who are still learning the rules of the chicken yard.

It’s really a free for all, but I try to throw the pancake to every chicken so each one gets a little piece. They love blueberry pancakes!

Now Molly gets a pancake.

Here it comes, Molly.

Closer, closer. She stays seated like the good girl she is.

Take a bite. Now Labradors have a soft mouth which means they don’t bite down hard on anything unless they are actually eating. It was bred into them so they would not chew up game after it has been shot and they bring it to the hunter.  Molly forgets that I am not a hunter and she really can eat this thing.   She won’t bite it.

“Well, am I going to get to eat that thing?”

Chomp. She took it.

And she chewed it all up and wanted more, but I only had the one pancake for her. Sorry, Molly.

Well, that was entertainment for about ten minutes.  So I still have to fill the days with other things and surprisingly, I have no problem doing that.

This is one thing I am working on, but I can’t show you much of it as it will be a gift, maybe.

I made a pair of socks with left over yarn and I love how these turned out. I’m trying to use up some of my yarn before I buy more.  It’s fun trying to match up yarns that will look good together.

I’ve finished this pair and am on to another.

There is always bird watching.

“What is down there?”

Frankenbird is still around. He/she is growing, but still no feathers on that head.

We are getting so many tomatoes off my four plants. There are about twenty here now. I try to eat a lot of salad with tomatoes, but I think I will have to make some tomato juice before they rot.

We had this vine grow up on our porch steps. We thought it was a morning glory, but the flowers on it are tiny white ones so I’m not sure.

We have this Autumn Clematis coming up in very strange places where I know I haven’t planted it. We think the birds must have done some planting themselves.

Just a picture of the sweetest dog in the world.

The garden by our back door is flourishing and we’ve had some bird families in the birdhouses. Molly torn down a wren house we had on the fence. Thankfully, the wrens had already hatched and flew away, so David put the house back up, only higher so hopefully the wrens will come back and nest again.

David and I took a very exciting trip today.  I have a wonderful surprise to tell you in my next blog.  Hope to see you then.  Have a happy Autumn. It’s here, whether we are ready or not. Bye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why I Will Never Be a Wildlife Photographer and Other Things

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Before I get into my story, I have to add something to my last blog I forgot to tell.  You know, the wedding blog.  Well, we got married in July and that September I went back to college. I was taking a finance course and we had a paper to hand in. The next day the professor got up in front of the class and said, ” I have a paper from a Kate Pentecost, but I have no student by that name.”  He looked around the room. I looked at the boy next to me and said in a whisper, “That’s me, but I got married.”  My face was bright red, I’m sure. I slowly raised my hand and said, “That’s me. I got married this Summer and my name was changed.”   The whole class laughed and the professor handed me my paper, which had my pre- married name on it and it had a good grade on it, by the way. I never forgot again.

If we are living in crazy times, I haven’t had much time to notice.  I can’t believe how fast the time is passing and how much we have done this Summer.

We’ve had kids swimming in our pool.

Had seven boys one day.  They had a ball.

David took a week off for our anniversary and we did things close to home.

We took a drive one day.

Just have to say I love Indiana in the Summer.  I sometimes wonder why we ever want to go someplace else when it’s so wonderful here.

Southern Indiana is full of vistas like this.  Lazy rivers and woods.  Once you get away from the cities and towns, most of Indiana is like this.

Cornfields growing high. They did get knee-high by the 4th of July this year.  We’ve been blessed with plenty of rain.

Wildflowers growing beside the roads.

Old church yards with graves behind them.  Whoever cares for this graveyard has a talent.

Someone carved a chair from a tree stump.  It even has a footrest.

There are a lot of old, abandoned houses spotting the landscape all over Indiana. People just up and leave and the houses go back into the earth.

We ate out about every day, but I have to say something about all this cleaning for the Corona Virus.  In one restaurant, my arms stuck to the table and David said it’s the cleaning supplies they are using.  After eating there, I got sick to my stomach.

We went to another restaurant later in the week and the disinfectant smell was so strong, I once again got sick to my stomach and could not eat.  So now I’m wondering if the cleaning for the Corona Virus is worst than the virus.  It can’t be healthy eating and smelling all the disinfectant and now I’m wondering how much of the disinfectants are getting into the food.  I think I’d rather take my chances with the virus.

So on to my photography. I have taken so many pictures the past few weeks.   One day I sat out on my shop porch swing and tried to get some pictures of the birds eating at our feeders.  This is why I will never be a wildlife photographer.  Let me entertain you with my wonderful pictures.

This guy was wondering what in the heck I was doing.

 

He/she kept looking at me suspiciously.

Molly was curious about what I was trying to do.

Finally I got a bird shot.

And another.

Then papa cardinal arrived with one of his babies.

You can see the topknot on this baby bird.

This is what a baby cardinal should look like, but…….

We have a visitor to our birdfeeders that we have named Frankenbird.  Poor thing, I don’t know whether it’s just a young Cardinal or an anomaly, but he comes regularly and doesn’t seem to be afraid of us.

No topknot and very few feathers.  Almost the size of an adult Cardinal.

We will watch him and see if he transforms into a beautiful Cardinal.

You know how life has its ups and downs and you never know when either will come?  I had some really deep downs this Summer when I lost our dog, Belle.  I have to spell her name in front of Molly because when she hears Belle’s name, she starts looking for her. How do you explain to a dog that her friend has died?   I keep telling Molly we are looking for a new friend for her and we have been.  We’ve lost the chance on two litters of Labradors the past couple of weeks.  We didn’t get in soon enough in being a pick which is your number that you get to pick a puppy from the litter because we didn’t know about it.  We tried getting a Silver Lab, but they were all sold before we even got our name in. The second litter was sold quickly also, so when David found a breeder in northern Indiana he got our name in right away and guess what?  We have first pick of the puppies!   They aren’t even born yet. That is how popular Labrador Retrievers are right now.  They will be born next week and six weeks later we can go see them.  I’m sooooo excited.  They will be either black or brown. I don’t care, we have had both and they were great dogs.  I also have someone who will care for our dogs if anything ever happens to David and me.  I hope I have dogs until the day I die, but I want to know they will be cared for.

I’ve outlived too many dogs. This is Belle’s pawprint. It still makes me sad to see it.

And this is the Rainbow Bridge poem that I still cannot read because I know it will make me cry.

But joy comes in the morning and I know getting a new puppy will bring joy to our house so I’m looking forward to it.

I’m watching America’s Got Talent right now. They are having to watch the acts on video which makes it very interesting. One woman sang opera while sitting on her horse in Oregon.   If nothing else, this virus has made people very inventive.

This weekend we will celebrate our oldest grandson’s graduation from high school. We don’t get to go to the graduation which I think stinks, but we will see him at his party.  We are so proud of him.

Here’s to joy in the morning. Bye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Fourth of July

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The fourth of July is going to be a big Phsttttttt this year.  No fireworks displays. No congregating with like minded people to watch explosions go off in the air. No hearing the national anthem, which, by the way, is the only national anthem of our country.   David is working so I will be home alone. I wonder if I could be like Kevin in the movie. Eat ice cream in bed, watch old movies, and plan a way to stop the bad guys from getting in the house. That last part I really hope never happens.  But you can bet I will be busy doing something or just laying out by the pool, whichever suits me.

We have had several people swimming in our pool. Our daughter brings her friend, her kids and her friend’s kids and sometimes friends of the friends.  I say the pool is there and it needs to be used, so they have been using it often. I’ve been in the pool once this Summer. The water has to be like bath water for me to get in it.  I like sitting out and watching the kids have fun.  One day they swam for six hours. They all are as brown as nuts.  I tell them that and they laugh because they’ve never heard that before.

I still miss Belle.  Molly still looks for her. I feel sad when I see her bowl I never have to fill and her bed in my shop where she will never lay again. The vet sent us a sympathy card and it made me cry.   She was such a good dog.  But I am looking for a Lab puppy.  The only way to fill the empty space is to fill it with a puppy.  Belle can never be replaced, but a puppy will help heal the sadness. I found a breeder who has three day old Labs and I’ve given him our phone number in hopes he will get in touch with us. I told him we were seriously looking for another Lab.   I sometimes think I am a glutton for punishment by taking on the care and training of yet another puppy. Molly tried our souls. She really did, but she has turned into the sweetest, most loving dog, but she still will chew anything left out in the yard. Our daughter called and said she left her Boes  music box outside by the pool. I immediately felt my stomach drop wondering if Molly had already discovered it and done her work, but fortunately for our daughter, it was still in one piece.  Once the man who mowed our lawn left headphones out in the yard and Molly made mincemeat of them.  So this is what I want to take on once again with a new puppy.

So much has gone on this Summer and so much will be going on so I’m thinking this will be the fastest Summer to pass in decades. We all will certainly remember this Summer, if not this year as the time of the Virus when we were held hostage by a bug that they know very little about and have no cure for and yet we have to work around it somehow and make our country work.  My grandsons will have to wear masks all day at school this Fall.  I feel for them. I’ve worn a mask two times and both times were at the doctors’ offices where they handed me a mask to wear. I really feel claustrophobic with a mask on so I go nowhere where I have to wear one.  I need to get my hair cut, but they require their patrons to wear masks so my hair will be very long before I make an appointment.  I’m getting use to having long hair although it is a pain to take care of and keep the tangles out.

I hope you all are having a good Summer.  It’s a wonderful time to read a book, lay in the sun and just enjoy the lazy days.   I’ve been reading some really good books on my Kindle.  On one blog she has people send in the names of books they recommend. So many books. So little time.

I also have been having fun with my new pastime, painting by numbers. These are not like the old paint by numbers we use to paint. These are very intricate paintings where you really have to pay attention to detail.  I finished one of a flower in a vase and now I’m working on one of all colors of roses. David ordered some frames for them.  It’s very calming to sit and paint.  I think about the masters like Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso and even Norman Rockwell who painted pictures for the front of magazines.  Now they didn’t need numbers and they really had to pay attention to detail, but I bet they got the same relaxing feelings I get when I paint.  I feel at one with them.   I can even order Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh to paint if I so wish. If you are interested, just check out paint by numbers and you will find several companies that produce them. Just know, at this time they are being overwhelmed with orders because of the virus and it takes a month or more to get your set, but if you are patient, it will come in time. My first ones took three months to get here and I have another picture I ordered over a month ago. But they are worth it.

So Happy 4th of July. God bless our country and protect it from those who would destroy it.  May we continue to live in peace.  Bye.

 

My New Sweet Tweets

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I talked myself into getting chicks this week.  I know they are something else I will have to take care of, but since my flock is slowly diminishing, I decided it was time to add a few so the egg supply will continue next year.  I had certain kinds I wanted to get, but when I got to Rural King I saw that they didn’t have the ones I wanted so I chose two new kinds.  I got three Blue Barred Rocks and three Buff Orpingtons that are not buff colored, but will be black when they are grown. I looked them up and they look like they will be big, fluffy birds and good layers.  The Buff Orpingtons I have now are yellow and fluffy and good layers.

So then I had to name them, of course. My last six were named after ladies in my Sunday School class and this bunch are named after more ladies in my church and one is the name of another friend.  They will be Miss Wilma, Miss Shawna, Miss Nancy, Miss Erika, Miss Lori, and Miss Mary.   Now I have to decide who is who.

Before I introduce you to my new birds I have to tell you how much fun it is to have chickens.  After you’ve had them for a while, they get to know you and mine meet me at the gate every day and I have one that’s a real talker and will talk her head off until I get them some chicken scratch. She seems to be the spokes chicken of the bunch.  She also is demanding. She will jump up and peck the bowl with the scratch in it or grab hold of my coat sleeve in order to get to the scratch.  I believe she is hooked on scratch.  It’s like crack for chickens.   Which is why they only get a little of it every day.   Chickens can be as friendly as you want them to be, but you have to work at it because they usually are, well, chicken.   I don’t pick up the chicks too much because I don’t think it’s good for them, but you do have to handle the chickens a bit to get them use to you and to not run from you. I find that once I’ve caught a chicken and held her and stroked her feathers for a little bit, when I put her down she seems negligent in wanting to run away from me. I think they like being petted even though they fight it at first.

Having chickens means you have to get out of the house and take care of them which is good during this quarantine time.  It’s nice to get out in the fresh air and walk to the chicken yard and see my girls all waiting for me.   I like watching them as they scratch and peck around.  Free range chickens have to be the happiest creatures alive. They only live for that next bug, piece of bread(which they love also) or handful of scratch. They haven’t a care in the world unless a predator, like a hawk, comes around.   They are on a time clock with the sun, out at dawn and in by  dusk.  Anyone who thinks chickens are hard to care for aren’t doing it right or have never had chickens. Other than cats, they are the easiest pet of them all. They just need feed and water, don’t have to be walked or played with and will supply you with all the eggs you need.  Mine have never had any health issues except for one lame one I had who lived a happy life despite her handicap.   Sadly, I think a hawk got her or the other hens had a pecking party, I will never know for sure.  And yes, chickens can be vicious to other chickens especially if one has something that makes it weak in the eyes of the others.  I’ve never had that problem before to my knowledge.

So, anyway, here’s my new babies. Snug in their dog crate coop until they are big enough to go in with the other big girls.

I guess I’ll never get over how cute baby chicks are.  My daddy raised chickens on the farm and every Spring, we’d drive to the post office and pick up two boxes full of fifty chicks each and carry them home in the car listening to their peeps all the way. I loved getting chicks day.  We’d take them out to the brooder house, a little building specifically for keeping baby chicks, where there was a big heat lamp in the center of the ceiling. We’d let the yellow chicks out and they’d all rush under the lamp in one big clump. Daddy would fill their water jars and their feeders and then leave them to settle down.  I would go out to the brooder house several times a day just to look at all those baby chicks.  Sometimes I was naughty and would try to scare them and laugh when they’d all run in the one big clump to the other side of the room. My daddy would not have been happy if he knew I did that.  Baby chicks can trample each other if there are enough of them.  But they grew and grew and one day sprouted feathers and then were allowed outside with the older chickens and there were no more baby chicks until the next Spring.

This is a Blue Barred Rock. At least that’s what the sign read on the trough the chicks were in.  It doesn’t look blue to me right now, but maybe it will change.

They’ve got little fluffy white bottoms and white chests.

The lighter ones are the Buff Orpingtons, but again I’m not sure what these will look like or whether they will turn darker.  Sometimes it’s a mystery what you are getting from Rural King.

So now I begin the adventure of raising new chickens again. They will be in this crate for a couple of months at least until they are large enough to make it with the big ladies.

Molly sits outdoor of the cabin where we are keeping the chicks and whines while I’m in there wondering what I’m doing and not including her.

Belle could not care less.

Have to show you what one of my sons sent to me for Mother’s Day.

Good with a nice cup of coffee.

He’s a good son. I’ll keep him.

Here’s to baby chicks. Everyone should have some, sometime. Bye.

 

 

 

Good-Bye March, Hello April

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Saying good-bye to March was bitter sweet. I always look forward to the month because it’s my birthday month and I celebrate all month, but this March, well, it sure wasn’t the usual March.  It started okay. We did the usual birthday stuff, eating out, cake, shopping, antiquing. But then everything seemed to go downhill fast.  The corona virus attacked and people went into hibernation, stores closed, people were out of work, people were getting sick and some were dying.  Not what I envisioned for the month of March.

David and I have adjusted to him being off work. Other than a short retirement right after  he left the military, he has never been home this much.  He’s always worked at a job somewhere, Sometimes two or three jobs. Now he has all kinds of time, is sleeping in past 5:30 in the morning and even has breakfast sometimes.   When he’s home I tell him I have to work harder because he’s always doing something and I can’t allow him to outdo me.

Here are some of the things I’ve been doing.

Surprise, I’ve been quilting. This is a small quilt I started January 2019 and I’m just finishing it up today.

 

 

Planting seeds. I’m wondering when the nurseries will be open or if they will be and if I can get some more plants this year. I’ve order two lilac bushes so I can plant something.  These seeds are cucumbers and phlox.  I’ve never tried raising phlox from seed before so we shall see how this turns out.

Decorating for Easter. Our younger grandsons asked us the other day if we are still having our annual Easter egg hunt. I told them we didn’t know yet.  It’s hard to plan things when you don’t know what’s going to happen. They’ve cancelled all the egg hunts around here.

The sky was so blue this day and the bush cherry I planted years ago was the tallest it’s ever been.  When the man next door cut down all his trees, our bushes and tree got a whole lot more sunlight and are growing taller now. I don’t remember this bush flowering like this before, but it was so pretty.

Our neighbor’s Bradford pear is just gorgeous. It fills my kitchen window with its beauty. We are going to get new neighbors over there as our neighbor has moved. It’s always a little worrisome getting new neighbors. You hope they are nice and you get along with them.  We’ve been pretty fortunate with most of our neighbors over the years.

Our little mulberry is full of bloom this year. ( This is not a mulberry tree. It’s a magnolia. I know that just didn’t have my brain in gear while typing.)  I’ve always dreamed of having a mulberry, (magnolia again)now I do.

Checking out all the perennials that are coming up. This is Dame’s Rocket. It came in a packet of wildflower seeds and reseeded itself and there are several more all around it, but this is the biggest one.  I love flowers that reseed themselves and don’t need much care.  It will be tall with pretty blue flowers.  Last year I had to protect it from the contractor’s builders as they were working around it, but it made it through.

Everywhere I look there are flowers coming up.

These big planes fly over us once in a while. They are from Camp Atterbury and the pilots practice their touch and takeoffs at the local airport.  I love seeing them. Our son flew in something similar when he was in the Air Force.

I’ve gotten a pair of socks finished.  And started another pair.  I love knitting socks. So relaxing.

I baked cupcakes, some of which I took to our daughter for her birthday.   Today I baked an orange chiffon cake.  David and I are going to have to loosen the elastic on our pants,

A friend asked me the other day if I had any eggs she could have. Do I have eggs?? At one time I had nine dozen in the refrigerator and couldn’t give them away. Then we took some to our daughter and then this friend got some.  She brought something to trade even though I didn’t expect her to.

Toilet paper!  She wrote on it, “Don’t hurry, don’t worry. Do your best and flush the rest!”  We got a good laugh out of that.  Now we are set on toilet paper for a while. I’ve got good friends.

So how are you coping with this enforced isolation?  We do get out and get takeout and ride around. We took a long ride Sunday through Brown Country down roads we’ve never been on before.  Took a ride through Brown County State Park which waived its entrance fee for the duration. There were a lot of people enjoying being out and exercising.   I try to get outside as much as possible and breath fresh air and play with the dogs.  My daily routine hasn’t really been different other than having David home all day.

When this whole enforced quarantine is over are we all going to come out of our houses like groundhogs on a bright Spring day?  Hopefully we’ll not see our shadows and won’t have to go back in.

Some of you are finding our what retirement is like except without all the fun because you can’t go anywhere. Believe me, retirement is a lot more fun than this.

This quarantine has made a lot of us think about our freedom and how wonderful it is to be able to go anywhere you want and not be impeded.  Right now it’s the grocery store or feed store to feed the animals and people and to the pharmacy to get meds.

This is giving our young people something to tell their grandchildren one day, about the great quarantine when the world almost came to a stop.  How they couldn’t go to school and had to learn at home.

Are you catching up on all that sleep you said you’d get once you didn’t have to work any longer? I know I am and I’m retired!  Between the quarantine and the cloudy, rainy days we have had and it still feeling cold to me, I want to sleep all the time.

Molly and Belle don’t know there’s a quarantine.

They just know David is around a whole lot more.  They like that he’s outside with them working around the yard.

Well, it looks like at least another month of this, so I will continue to look for projects. David is building a new fence along the back of our property so that will keep him busy for a while.  Hope you have something to do that you enjoy.  This time is really a blessing.  Really, it is.  And one day it will be over. Bye.

 

Twelve More Days

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I looked at the calendar today and realized there are only twelve more days until Christmas. I have been busy making gifts and ordering gifts. Thank goodness for the internet. I really don’t like shopping and we haven’t had a whole lot of time to shop this year, so most of my gift buying has been on the computer.   You can buy just about anything there nowadays.  And it’s brought right to your door.  I have heard that some people have been having trouble with people stealing their boxes from their doorsteps. I’m usually at home when the mail or the UPS  man comes so I get my boxes inside right away.  Besides that, I have dogs who alert me.

Speaking of dogs, I babysat two of our daughter’s dogs recently.  She won tickets from Sirius Radio to go see one of her favorite groups, Phish, at the Met in Philadelphia.   She is always winning tickets, but this was a big one. It was a closed group with only ticket winners going to the show. So she and her husband got sitters for their boys and dogs and had someone come and feed and water their chickens and they took off for Philadelphia.  They had a wonderful time and we got to have our grandpets for a few days.

Remember Oliver who got his leg trapped in a trap and had to have it amputated?

Here he is still going strong and getting around quite well on three legs. But he was homesick for his buddies, I could tell. He was not at all happy to be here even though I fed him treats and gave him attention, I knew he was kind of depressed. He looks sad in this picture.  One day I thought he had died, but he just was feeling sad and wouldn’t eat.  When they came to pick him up, he was like a whole different dog. So happy and jumping up and down. So when people say dogs don’t have feelings, don’t believe them. They do and they miss their families when they are separated from them.

All the dogs sat outside the door and stared in whenever I was inside.   All these dogs are people dogs.  That’s Molly in front, Farley behind her and Belle is laying down.  That’s what she does most of the time anymore as she is twelve years old.

We bought a new fake tree this year. We have been using the same tree for several years, but it takes so much time putting it up, every branch having to be  put in place, so we decided to get an easier one. This one comes in three pieces and sets up in minutes.

 

I put the flags on in honor of our military men and women who are stationed all over the world and won’t be with their families this year.  A friend’s son is in Korea and his wife is expecting a baby this Spring so it’s hard for them to be apart.

David and I took a day trip to Frankfort where the candy factory is.  Last time we took our grandsons with us to pick out candy, but this time we picked it out ourselves.  It was fun looking at all the candy and the grandchildren will be happy this Christmas when they open one of their boxes.

I was looking at the Atlas as we drove. I always have an Atlas in the car even though we have GPS because I like to know where we’ve been and where we are going.  Anyway, I saw we were near Rockville, Indiana where they have the covered bridge festival in October every year and thought it would be fun to go there off season.  So off we drove. It was a beautiful late Autumn day. The sky was so blue and it wasn’t too cold out.  During the covered bridge festival it is bumper to bumper cars and the crowds are so thick, it’s hard to get around. We went one year when it was like that. There are flea markets and craft booths set up everywhere then with all kinds of things to sell. The smell of caramel corn and sorghum is in the air. It really is fun, but it’s nice to go there when there aren’t crowds.

Some places were like a ghost town with the stores boarded up and no people around. This is a whole little town that’s been closed up for the season.

I guess you better not go play on the dam.

And old mill not in operation at the moment.

One of the covered bridges that goes over this dam.

There were a lot of places with the name Raccoon around these parts. Raccoon hunting must have been popular back in the day. There was big Raccoon Creek and Small Raccoon Creek and Raccoon Road, etc.

No cars were allowed on any of the covered bridges, but you could walk across them.

In Bridgeton there is an old mill that has been restored and still grinds grain.  We visited it years ago when this man and his family had bought the mill to restore it. They’ve done a good job. There were different kinds of ground grain to buy and I bought some pancake mix that had been ground there.  Notice to self…..although it sounds good, old fashion type pancake mix is not made from the regular refined grains in mixes like Aunt Jemima.  I made pancakes from this mix and did not like them at all.  Sorry. My tastebuds lean more toward the refined grains.  But I did buy some maple syrup made right here in Indiana and it was delicious.  Very different from your store bought syrups, but very good.  The man who bought the mill was still working there.  I bought some things just to help him out a little.  He had lots of things for sale besides all the packages of mixes he had ground.  I try to help small businesses when I can since David and I ran a small business for twenty years and one of our competitors was Wal-mart.  It’s not easy to keep a small business going under those circumstances so we were happy to have loyal customers who would come in and buy from us. Keep that in mind when you are shopping this Christmas.

I wanted to take some pictures of some of the things I have made this year. This is just a few of the quilts and pillows I have made.

The small quilts are patterns I got from Kathleen Tracy’s blog. She gives out free patterns every month or so, plus sells quilt books, some of which I’ve purchased.  Her quilts are fast and easy to make. Sometimes it’s nice to make a quick project. I have been  working on some larger quilts that I cannot show right now as they may or may not be gifts sometime.

Well, I hope you are looking forward to Christmas and are getting as ready for it as you want to be.  There is a man who has built a small village in Canada who posts  pictures of the village and writes a story about each building that brings back memories of a quieter, more peaceful time. I think he must have grown up like I did, in the country, with simple pleasures and close family ties.  That is the kind of Christmas I would like to have.  One of peace, with simple things being the best and being with family around the table. I wish that for all of you. Peace, love and Joy. And remember that Jesus is the center of it all.  Bye.

 

June?!

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I guess it’s June and almost Summer, but how did we get here so quickly?  I’m still back in May when Spring was new and the flowers were just opening up and the weather was almost nice except for all the rain.  And guess what?  June is becoming a very rainy month also. I feel so sorry for the guys who have been working on our house. They have actually worked outside in the rain, getting drenched and never complaining. At least I never hear them complain. Today is a beautiful day and they are working inside, of course.

The porch is more or less done. They will give the floor a second coat of stain and put up the screen doors after they are done working on our bathroom/laundry room.   Right now the place is all torn out and we have to run upstairs to use the bathroom. I can’t believe we lived like this for years with three children and one bathroom, but we did.  Now I look back at how we lived and I sound like an old pioneer woman when I tell our children how fortunate they are to have two or three bathrooms and Pampers.  I use to rinse all the cloth diapers in the toilet and wring them our WITH MY BARE HANDS and take them to the laundromat because as a pioneer woman, I had no washer and dryer at the time.  But I loved how fluffy and soft the diapers were after they were cleaned and I don’t regret it at all that I had to do all that. Now it’s  flip, a tape and a throw away and you are done with a diaper. Can’t help thinking how many landfills are full of those things.

But back to the bathroom/laundry. I can’t believe all the decisions one has to make about one little room.  Where to place the toilet and sink.  What kind of tile for the floor and shower.  What kind of faucets. What kind of lights. What color paint for walls, ceiling and woodwork.  I had no problem picking out the new washer and dryer. We have Maytags right now and they have been the best.  I could have probably used them for several more years, but me being only five foot one inches tall, it is becoming harder for me to reach clear down into the bottom of the top load washer to get all the clothes out, so we bought a front loader washer and dryer with stands so I think it will be easier to load and unload as I keep going into my tottering old age. Anyway, I hope it will be easier.  And they have a ten year warranty which is just about the time my warranty is up, so it’s all good.

I’ve been working on a patriotic wall hanging for the Fourth of July and onward. I get in the mood to sew and then something happens that I can’t get out into my shop and nothing gets done.  But here are some of the fabrics I am using.

 

Okay, this is how my fabric piles usually look when I am working on a quilt.

I really love this fabric and wish I had bought more of it.   This picture does not do it justice.

This is the pattern I am using. I got it over at Country Threads Chicken Scratch, Mary Etherington’s blog. I think you can still buy the pattern there until July 4th if you are interested. It’s a fun pattern, but I have to admit, it’s been a difficult one for me for some reason with all the pieces and my mind not quite on the job all the time with all that is going on.  But I have it pieced now and am starting to piece another one to go with it that I will show you when I’m done. It may be next July 4th, but be patient with me!

Here’s Uncle Sam’s legs. This is a long wall hanging which surprised me because I thought it would be little, but it’s not.  There is a pattern for a smaller one included which I may try sometime.

I did finish the quilting on a quilt I started last year.  A quilt I wanted to have for Autumn.

My apple quilt. I did a trash job of staging this quilt, didn’t I? Maybe when it’s done, I will show it off a little better. It deserves that.  But I do love it and will hang it up this Autumn. Maybe with a bowl of apples by it.

And I am still knitting socks. It’s really addictive and something I can do in the evening when I am watching my current favorite show, Wild At Heart, on Amazon Prime about a family that moves from Bristol, England to Africa. The father is a veterinarian and moves his family onto a game reserve and takes care of the animals. I really love this show. It’s family friendly. No cuss words.  No nudity. An old man in his underwear is as risqué as it gets which is fine with me. Too many shows now are so vulgar and going for shock value instead of a good story and good people.  Game of Thrones is one of them. So popular, but so vulgar.  I won’t be watching that one.  Not my cup of tea.  It’s getting harder and harder to find anything to watch on tv so I find myself watching it less and less which is probably a good thing actually.   I don’t even watch the news much any longer because it’s all so negative when I don’t think it needs to be.   Watch too much negative things and hateful things and you soon find yourself being negative and hateful.  And life is way too short to be negative and hateful.  I didn’t mean to get on a soapbox today.  Ignore me.

But, back to socks, I knit this pair and gave them to a friend who likes purple.

She had given me some flowers in a mason jar for Easter so I rolled these up and put them in the jar and tied a ribbon around it and gave them to her. Hope she likes them.

If you have been reading my blog, you know I have been having some health issues. I went to the doctor yesterday and he said it may not be my heart and was going to schedule a lung scan for blood clots. I really don’t think that’s what the matter is, but I’ll humor him and do the scan. Then the cardiologist set me up for a heart checkup where they go into your heart to see what the matter is and if they find something, he said they will fix it.  Still feeling breathless and faint at times even though I did plant twelve perennials this morning, but I find when I lean over and my head is below my knees, I don’t feel breathless or faint. Would be kind of hard to walk around like that for long though. Ha. Anyway, if you are a praying person, send up a prayer to My Father in Heaven because He knows exactly what is wrong.   But I don’t feel any fear about it all.

Enough about that.  Back to our new screened-in porch.  We had a gully washer of a rain the other day and we sat outside on it and didn’t get wet at all.

The wind was coming in at every direction and it was thundering and lightning.

Molly and Belle came running in and decided they really needed to rub against me!

Silly ol’ dogs.  And there’s David as close to the weather as he can get. He loves thunder and lightning.  I do, too, but at a safe distance and only if lightning doesn’t strike something.

Have a great day.  Hope the sun is shining down upon you. Bye.

 

 

 

 

Feeling Good?

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How are you feeling today?  Do you have some aches and pains that are bothering you?  Do you have something on your mind that causes you problems?  Do you have a physical impairment getting you down?   Whatever you have or are suffering, you are very probably not alone.  Health is a funny thing. When you have it, you don’t treasure it as you should and when you don’t have it, you despair of ever having it again.   And if you regain your health, you are happy for a time and then start taking it for granted again.

I try to never take good health for granted any longer.  For the past two years I have been battling something and no doctor seems to know exactly what. I’ve had just about every test conceivable for my heart and the doctors tell me my heart is healthy, although I do have some extra beats in one chamber.   I feel tired and breathless a lot of the time and I can drop asleep at the well, drop of a hat!   I can’t remember a day for a long time where I got up with a lot of energy and pep.   I do get a lot of things done most days, but it can be a real drag on occasion.   Maybe it’s these dark, rainy days we have had lately. Ever since the builders started work on our screened in porch, it’s rained almost every day. It’s raining right now. Is there a man named Noah building an ark somewhere? I am soaked from going out and feeding and watering all the chickens.  The chickens don’t seem to mind the rain at all.  The yard is green and the flowers are all in bloom, so they like it, too, but I sure could use a little sunshine right now.

As for the screened in porch, it’s much bigger than I thought it would be.  We could hold a dance on it and have plenty of room. We have talked about David building a swing bed for it so we could sleep outdoors when we want.   I am so looking forward to decorating the porch with a rug, screens and lights.  Everyone tells us we are going to love our porch because the bugs won’t be able to get in and bother us and we can sit there even when it’s raining.   I’m sure we will enjoy it if it ever gets finished with all the rain we are having.  The roofer came and went yesterday and still no roof on it.   I should be out in my shop doing some quilting, but I’m no in the mood.   After sewing all those mug rugs for the women’s dinner at church, I felt a little burned out.  I’m wanting to get into the garden and transplant some flowers and I still have flower seeds to plant and a new bed to make for in front of the porch.

Finally got some pictures of the new porch to show you.

This was just the beginning.  Like I wrote, it’s rained every day since they started so the process has been slow.

Then the floor and the walls were built. See, the floor is wet from the rain!

Then the rafters. This is where it really begins to look like a porch.

The overseer says things are going as planned.  Poor Belle and Molly. They have been penned up for days because the workers have to leave the gate open to get in and out with things so the dogs are penned up while they are here. They will love it when the work is all done. They still have a bathroom to remodel. Thirty-six years ago this same contractor built our bathroom downstairs. Until that time, this old house had one bathroom for five people upstairs. Built in the 1950’s!   I know because when they tore out the old toilet that was the date on it.  We really needed a second bathroom then.  Now he is remodeling the one he built years ago.

Molly and Belle enjoying freedom for a time.

Roof is still not finished, but they may do it tomorrow, I’m told.

The porch is a whole lot bigger than I imagined it would be.

Other things have been happening.  The ladies at my church had a brunch last Saturday.  The theme was “Wonderfully Made by God.”  They used some of my quilts on the tables.

My chicken quilt. One of my favorites of all the ones I’ve made.

Tables were set with the church’s best china.  It was a pitch-in. I made cinnamon rolls.

The little mug rugs I made were placed under the coffee cups and everyone took one home.  I really had fun making these and have a few left. I made forty-two of them altogether. The speaker talked about how we are like unfinished quilts, but God has a plan for us and is making us into what he wants us to be if we let Him.  We may look unfinished to the world, but God has a plan and He’s working it all the time.

One of our grandsons had his Spring instrumental concert this past week.  All the fifth and sixth graders in all the elementary schools in their town gathered at one of the high schools to play a concert.

The gymnasium was full and parents and grandparents packed the seats.

I am so proud of this boy and am so glad he is taking an instrument.   Next year both he and his younger brother will be playing.

It takes concentration to play an instrument.   Makes me want to take up the violin again.

We thoroughly enjoyed being there and went out to eat afterward with them.

Here’s a picture of the little screen door I bought at the antique show a couple of weeks ago.

The real doors look exactly like this and I have a larger metal star just like the one on this door. It will hang on a wall in our new porch.

Hope you are feeling fine and having some sunshine where you are. I don’t remember what the sun looks like!  Ha.  Have a great weekend. David and I are having a Friday night date night. Something we haven’t done in a while. Dinner and a movie. Going to see Poms about older women who form a cheer leading squad. Should be funny.

Bye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sad Day

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I told you about my baby chicks in the last post and today I have a sad thing to tell you. My Auracanas did not make it.  They looked a little puny after a day and yesterday one of them just sat and did not do anything and this morning the second one looked unwell.  I knew it was just a matter of time.  David, as usual, took care of the bodies for me, like he’s done ever since we’ve been married and I have had pets.   He’s less attached than me.  Sometimes you get sickly animals when you least expect it.  We had a dog once who was always nervous. She was scared of her own shadow. When I’d walk her, she would shy away from  mailboxes. We always wondered if she had poor eyesight or some nerve condition.  And one day she just up and died. No warning or anything.

Growing up on a farm there was always the chance of an animal dying. We had cows, pigs, one sheep, a horse, chickens, ducks, guineas, rabbits, dogs and cats.  There was always the chance of one of them dying or being part of a, ahem, meal.  So we learned early not to get too attached to the animals that were our food.  We did have one bull calf we named Penny because he was a beautiful copper color.  I helped hand raise him and he grew up big and strong and lord over all the cows.  But he was destined to be meat for our table and one day, the man who did the butchering, came to our house and shot him and dressed him for my father.  I stayed in the house all day and cried.  I vowed I would never eat any meat my mother cooked from him.  Long story short, my appetite got the better of my sadness and I did help eat Penny. But I still remember how beautiful he was. If this disturbs some of you, just remember that was and is farm life.  Most people don’t get to see where their food comes from and vegans would never have eaten Penny, but I was not and have never been a vegan.  We raised our own vegetables also so I know where they come from, too.

Boy, did I get a long way from the death of my baby chicks.  I guess it’s to say, it’s the circle of life. Some live longer than others, just like we humans and we feel sad about it, but we go on and maybe I will get more baby chicks in the future. I still have four of them that are hale and hearty and I hope will grow up to be good layers. I just won’t have blue eggs like I was hoping for.

Maybe you have a sad tale about a pet or animal you loved.   If you grew up on a farm, like me, you probably have several tales to tell. Bye.