Category Archives: Gardening

An Alamo, quilt shops and Ducks

It seems like the days are passing so quickly. We loved Fredricksburg, Texas. It’s a great shopping experience, but there is much more to it than that. David and I like to get off the beaten track and see things most of the tourists never go see.

One of those sights was Cross Mountain. Years ago a huge metal cross was erected on top of a mountain outside of Fredricksburg. You can walk up to it and that is what David and I decided to do. Now I had been having leg pains, but nothing was stopping me from going up this mountain. The path was relatively easy and was not straight up, but meandered around the mountain. It was a misty day, but we said we would never get this chance again, so up we went.

Even though it was cloudy and misting, the views were beautiful.

Yes, my hair was wet, but there was only me and David there, so, who cares?

Even though it looks like my head has been impaled, it isn’t too bad of a picture.

We like to drive around towns we are in and find things that are different from the general touristy things. We drove out to Lady Byrd Johnson’s Park south of town. For those of you who may not know, Lady Byrd Johnson was the wife of one of our presidents, Lyndon Johnson. Lady Byrd started the wild flower project where wild flowers were planted along Texas highways. Anyway, it is a nice park. We saw a river and stopped by it and before we knew it, we had company.

Oh, did I have any food for them? I keep crackers that I get at restaurants in the glove compartment of our car. I tell David it’s so if we are ever in the middle of nowhere and are starving, we’ll have crackers. Well, these quackers wanted crackers! I dug out several packages and fed them. Reminded me of when I raised ducks when I was a girl and how they would follow me everywhere because I was the first thing they saw when they hatched.

They were so cute. I want to raise ducks now. I could, you know. Look how snowy white they are and so mannerly waiting for some crackers.

Then I ran out of crackers and they started getting demanding. They followed me to the car and I had to jump in and we sped off before they got inside!

Next we went to the Lady Byrd Johnson pollinator garden. It was so pretty. I want my gardens to look like this.

Perovskia. I do raise this and plan to plant a lot more next Spring. One of my favorite flowers. I spread this in the chicken house to make it smell good.

My sweetie in the garden.

And we found a rare specimen in this garden. One we have never seen before.

The Red Capped Americus Siticus Snoreius. Uncommonly found in gardens of the pollinating kind. He never moved the entire time we were in the garden. We tried not to disturb as we didn’t know what he would do.

If you are ever in Fredricksburg, Texas, take a little trip to this park. It’s a nice little place away from all the tourists.

We drove around town some more and I saw the library. I love libraries though I must admit I have not been in one for years since I found Amazon.com and can order Kindle books so easily. This library made me wish I was a little girl being taken on her first library visit. I could imagine curling up with a good book here and spending the day.

Little lights all around the roof.

Chandeliers in the windows. It was wonderful. I wanted to go in and spend a few hours, but it was closed for the day. So we went to eat at a German restaurant we had seen downtown. We were walking along just fine and all of a sudden, I felt something snap behind my knee and I had to immediately sit down. I could barely walk. We managed to get to the restaurant and had a delicious meal. I had three kinds of sausages, a salad and German potato salad . It was all so good, but way too much to be able to eat it all. Really enjoyed that meal, but then I had to try to walk out of the restaurant. David went to get the car and he drove up right in front of a big puddle and I had to leap across it to get to the car which really hurt, but I made it. I hobbled around the rest of the day holding on to things as I walked. It’s strange, because this was my left leg and the same thing happened to my right leg about a year ago and it took a few days to get better. I knew I probably shouldn’t have climbed that mountain, but, hey, I like a challenge.

This morning I was still hobbling, worried that I wouldn’t be able to walk around the Alamo, but I did. I will write about that in my next post.

Here’s to ducks, German food and out of the way parks. Bye.

Boys, Bibles and Backwoods

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The days have been busy and yet enjoyable. Enough happening to keep from getting bored and not too much that I feel overwhelmed. I have learned to say no to many things. I know that I can do one or two things well at a time, but if things start piling up, I get stressed out. Right now everything is going in a steady, easy flow and I am enjoying the days.

I had the grandboys for a weekend. It was a fun weekend of playing, swimming, eating out and just being together.

We went to Rural King and let the boys pick out some toys. One picked a bag full of army soldiers and tanks. The other picked a bag of Revolutionary war soldiers and their horses and cannons.

Armies were set up on the living room floor. Revolutionaries against modern military.

Battles ensued.

Strategizing where to put the soldiers and tanks and cannons. I had to watch where I was walking with bare feet as those little soldiers were sharp when you stepped on them. Ouch!

Guess who I was watching as they played? Pioneer Woman. The boys seemed interested too.

Especially when Ree’s sons were on the screen.

I relaxed in my new pajamas I bought from Sam’s club. They are really soft and comfortable.

Time was spent climbing trees and picking crabapples to make “stew.” I cooked the crabapples for them and after they cooled we put them under the bird feeders. Something ate them. We don’t know what.

I spent a lot of time last week doing this. We have been going through a dry spell. Nothing like California is going through, but everything needed watering.

My zinnia bed alongside the house is so pretty. The butterflies and hummingbirds love the flowers. Next year I plan to double its size. Less grass to mow that way.

Next to peonies, zinnias are my favorite flower. So easy to grow and so many different colors. Plus, you can collect their seeds and grow them again next year.

We went off to the woods again.

The for sale sign…..

Was taken down. We may have to put up a no trespassing sign as someone has cut down some trees in the past in this woods and we definitely do not want that happening.

We walked down to the creek which is quite a steep walk and I saw this toadstool.

It was huge and stood all alone in the woods.

Once you are back in the woods, it is so quiet, you cannot hear anything but the birds in the trees. We got down to the creek and as it was almost dry, we walked along it. Lots of flagstones, perfect for paths and fireplaces, lay in the creek bed. We may have to bring some up the hill one day.

We had some excitement on our road. A pedestrian was hit by a car and there were police cars all over and the lifeline helicopter came to pick up the person.

A police car was across the road right by our house. David was talking to the policeman about what had happened. We never heard how that pedestrian turned out. Hope he or she was all right.

Finally, I had a Beth Moore simulcast Bible Study at my house Saturday. Several ladies joined me to watch.

Such a great group of ladies and we enjoyed fun, fellowship, good food and Bible study. It lasted all day and we laughed and talked and just enjoyed being together.

I am mentoring a senior girl for her senior class project. She wanted to make quilts for the Riley Children’s hospital in Indianapolis. We are busy making quilts to cover the baby incubators. Then the parents can take a quilt home for their baby. I will show you the quilts and write about the senior girl later.

Hope your days are equal part busy and restful. Bye.

Another Summer Day

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I have so been enjoying this Summer. It is going way too fast. In another week, many children will be going back to school. I find that kind of sad. I remember when Summers were long and lasted for months. My grandson told me he was kind of glad to be going back to school which made me happy. If he is glad about it, then it’s okay with me.

I can’t tell you it’s been an eventful Summer. One lazy day has melted into another. David and I have been busy at many things and yet, it seems we have done nothing. Many of our days include this….

Someone is almost asleep on the turtle raft behind us.

Someone told us once that it was like swimming in the Garden of Eden in our pool. I guess it kind of is. Flowers, birds and butterflies surround us as we swim.

Belle enjoys being in the garden although she and Bonnie spend most of the hot days under the deck where it is cooler.

We watched this while swimming the other day.

The most beautiful butterfly with a large wingspan. We didn’t know what kind it was. Maybe someone who knows could leave a comment.

It flitted from flower to flower all afternoon. David and my daughter chased it with their cameras trying to get some good pictures.

I post all these flower pictures because I know that before we know it there will be two feet of snow in our yard and I will think we will never have beautiful flowers again.

David and I did manage to do some antiquing a couple of weeks ago. We found this really eclectic antique store in northern Indiana. It had just about everything you would want to see or buy.

Inside these doors is a wonderland of antiques and fun objects. I could have stocked up on so much chicken paraphernalia. We almost missed this place as we thought it was in town, but it was off the beaten path and we just happened to see a sign for it outside of town.

This giant tin man stood sentinel out in front of the store.

I baked again. I love baking fresh bread. It is so much better than store bought. My favorite sandwich is a hamburger on fresh, homemade bread. Can’t do that too often, but once in a while it is a treat. We are getting tomatoes out of the garden now and that just adds to the lusciousness of a hamburger sandwich. There is nothing better than a slice of a fresh tomato with a little salt sprinkled on.

Made some potato soup. I think I am getting hungry writing this blog right now. Unfortunately, the soup is all gone.

The last fresh rhubarb crunch of the season. I froze a few packages of rhubarb and this winter we will have some more of this.

David and I have done something I never thought we would be able to do. I can’t tell you what it is yet, but soon I will be able to write about it. I am so excited that we have done this. And no, I am not pregnant again!! Impossible!

I will leave you with a couple of selfies I tried to take with Molly Marshmallow. Let’s just say, she made it difficult as she kept licking my face. Love that dog.

Here’s to Summer, pups and beautiful butterflies. Bye.

Summer Fun

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Summer. Lazy days when you lie around and do nothing, read a book by the pool and just have some time to daydream. Oh, is that how your Summer is going? That’s nice. Mine has been less than relaxing. There is so much to do. So little time. We mixed Grandma’s Camp with a weekend in Cincinnati at the Creation Museum and going to a lacrosse game our grandson was playing in.

Got to spend some time with the grandkids which is something I always love. They are growing so fast that soon I will be having Great-Grandma’s Camp!

The Creation Museum is just outside Cincinnati in Kentucky. There is so much to see and do there. It all centers around God’s creation and Noah’s Ark. There are vignettes all around like this with scenes from the Bible. This is Adam naming the animals.

This was Cain after he slew Abel. The first murder. Mankind didn’t take much time in starting to do criminal activity. This is where the famous quote, “Am I my brother’s keeper,” came from.

There were dinosaurs there.

Don’t throw him to the dinosaur!

After Adam and Eve were sent from the garden where they had everything they needed, they had to learn to till the land and raise their own food. Why did Eve let satan talk her into eating that apple and why did Adam join her?

The tree of life. “Don’t eat of the fruit of this tree, ” God told Adam and Eve, but they were tempted by satan and sinned against God and mankind has lived in a fallen state ever since.

There was a petting zoo where we laughed at a guinea hen chasing a peacock around and around the pen until the peacock finally flew out. There were camel rides and all the grandkids rode a camel. I told them that now if anyone ever asked them if they had ever rode a camel they could say, “yes.” One of my grandsons asked me, ” When do you think that question would ever come up?” “You never know, ” I answered.

They are building the exact size replica of Noah’s ark on the grounds. You can take a drive out to see the process, but we just ran out of time. I guess we will have to go back some time. It was a fun day. The next day we watched a lacrosse game. Our grandson’s team lost their first game, but won the second. He was in a tournament and had three or four more games to play, but we needed to head home. First, we had lunch with our son who lives in Cincinnati. He gave our grandsons some money to go play games while we waited for our meal. They were so happy.

Back home it was pool time. We had bought a big blow up turtle and it was enjoyed by the grandboys.

Molly enjoyed the boys being there. They are making friends although I do have to watch her because she can get a little rowdy.

She and Foster are becoming good buddies.

She spent most of the time just watching. Hard to believe just about a year ago, she was a tiny puppy. Time goes so fast.

The three “boys” had a great time in the pool. It was really hot so the water felt especially good.

We watched a mother bird feeding her babies next to the pool area.

“Where’s the food, Mama?” Almost big enough to leave the nest.

I will leave you with a walk through my garden. It’s in its yellow period now.

Yarrow.

Hollyhock.

Coreopsis.

Hollyhock. I made a quilt called Hollyhocks Around the Barn and this color was in the quilt.

Asiatic lilies. They are so beautiful and so easy to grow.

I just planted this Rudbeckia. It is different from my other Rudbeckias.

More Asiatic lilies with Autumn Sedum Tapblow Blue behind them.

We have Stella de Oro all over the garden. They multiply and it looks like this bunch is ready to be separated.

Hope you enjoyed the walk and hope your Summer is wonderful. Bye.

Rhubarb, textiles and a Really Cute Quilt Book

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Enjoying your Summer? I am enjoying it so much, except for the really hot days that seem to sap all my energy. We are going to be in the nineties for the next few days and I am not looking forward to it. That is possibly why I love Alaska so much. I was never hot while I was up there.

We have had a bumper crop of rhubarb this year. For years I tried growing it, but never seemed to be able to until the last three or four years and now it is growing very well indeed. We had rainy, cool weather earlier, which rhubarb loves, and it grew and grew. I think all the chicken poo and composted cow manure I put on it last fall helped too. I have made rhubarb pies before, but this year I tried something different. Rhubarb and strawberry crunch. I have used this recipe for years to make apple crunch. Now it is David’s and my favorite way to eat rhubarb. Here is how you make it.

First you go out in your garden and cut several stalks of rhubarb.

Wash it well and then cut it up into small pieces.

Doesn’t look like much after this, does it? But then you do this.

You get these luscious strawberries that your husband found at Aldis and wash and quarter them.

You mix them all together with sugar. I used one and a half cups for two pies.

I also mixed in about a half cup of flour to thicken it because rhubarb makes a lot of juice when it is cooking. I think I could have added just a little more, but David says he likes the juice.

Then you get out your pfaltzgraf? pie plates. Don’t have any? Well, just any ol’ pie plate will do. I spray canola oil in them, but you can butter them if you want to add even more calories.

Now for the crunch part.

Mix one and 1/2 half cups of flour, 3/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 tsp. of salt, one tsp. of baking powder together.

Take two of your disproportionate eggs that you found under your free range chickens. Don’t have chickens? Any chicken eggs will do. Break them into the flour mixture and stir with a fork until well mixed. Then add 1/2 cup of canola oil. (Do not use olive oil in this.) I have always used canola oil so that is the only thing I can tell you will work.

Your dough will cling together which is exactly what you want it to do.

Now here is the tricky part.(Or not, but you may think it is.)

After filling your pie plate. And I mean full, you pat the dough all over the top of it with your bare hands. Try to cover everything. You will think you don’t have enough dough, but it will cover it all if you work at it.

Now it is ready to bake. Wait a minute. I like to sprinkle sugar over the top as this is not sweet enough yet. When I make apple crunch, I sprinkle both sugar and cinnamon on the top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 to 45 minutes or until top is golden brown and dry to touch.

Now I doubled this recipe because I had enough rhubarb to make two pies. Doesn’t this look yummy? Sorry, both of these are gone already. We had company and someone really loved this enough to eat two helpings. It’s really so good.

If you have been reading my blog for even a short time, you know I love fabrics. I have been in love with textiles ever since I was a girl when I sewed my first doll from an old sock my mother gave me. I have been in search of fabrics and things to make with it ever since.

I also love ironing. I was cleaning out a dresser this week and found some old handkerchiefs I forgot I had. I have collected old handkerchiefs for years and have a lot of them.

I washed them and ironed them. I love to iron. Yes, I know, I am a throwback, a crazy woman, someone you must think has too much time on her hands. There is just something about taking a wrinkled piece of cloth and making it smooth.

How could I have forgotten these beautiful handkerchiefs? How could women blow their noses on them? They use to, you know.

Also found some curtains I bought at an auction years ago. I think I will hang these in my shop.

I washed and ironed this fabric I have had for years that we sold in our quilt shop years ago. I am working on doll quilts and this will be the backing for some.

I am using a lot of 2 and 1/2 inch blocks for these doll quilts.

I got this perfectly darling, wonderful quilt book in the mail the other day. I have been looking at it a lot the past few days. There are so many wonderful projects in it.

It is written by this very talented lady. I have been reading her blog for years and she has written some of the cutest quilt patterns and designed some really pretty fabric. She is a farm girl like me and her book is right down my alley.

Sorry for the poor quality of my pictures, but if you can see, this is a really, really cute barn quilt. Inside each block is another smaller block where the barn door should be. I am loving this.

This is another version and this is the one I am working on now.

This is one of the six inch blocks that go in the barn block.

This is another one. There are many quilt blocks to make. Boy, am I going to have fun.

This is my attempt at my first barn quilt block. A lot of tiny pieces. This is going to be FUN. Did I already say that? You are probably thinking, this girl needs to get out more. No, I just love quilting and cute patterns like this.

Oh, oh, oh, look at this darling chick quilt made with one of the six inch block patterns. What a cute baby quilt this would be.

This pattern was worth the entire cost of the book for me. A chicken quilt. I have made a chicken quilt before, but this one in pastels is just so, so, have I said cute enough? This one will get made by me.

Here are a lot of 1and 1/2 inch squares cut ready to make this six inch block.

Inserted into a barn block this will be, well, CUTE!! Have I gushed enough about this book and the cute patterns? I am just so glad I decided to buy this pattern book. It has already given me hours of happiness.

Now to the garden. My vegetable garden already looks like a weed patch although you can see the tomatoes, pumpkins and sunflowers above the weeds. I go out occasionally and pull a few weeds and a few hundred more grow up to take their place. I have never seen weeds come up and grow so fast before.

My flower gardens give me so much pleasure. In my little kitchen garden(kitchen garden used loosely as the only edible plants growing in it is the rhubarb.)

I am not sure what this is called anymore, but I know it just keeps spreading more each year.

Hiding among the foliage I found this lily reaching for the sun. Behind it is perovskia and love in the mist. This garden holds mostly blue flowers and this lily stands out like a sore, but pretty, thumb.

Here’s to rhubarb crunch, textiles and a quilt book that sends me over the moon. Bye.

Flowing Along

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My very favorite month, April, came and went so quickly I hardly had time to turn around. I wait for twelve whole months for the flowering crabapple to bloom and the lilacs to come out and now they are all almost gone.

Now it’s time for peonies,

and irises,

and snowball bushes. I have planted three more of these. This one came from David’s grandmother’s garden years ago.

Right outside our back door so we can see it as soon as we get up in the morning.

The garden is almost all planted. Pumpkins, Indian corn, sunflowers are planted and tomato plants and cucumbers will be planted today. I have cut back on vegetables and added more flowers.

Our little patch of rhubarb has provided us plenty for pies.

So yummy.

I made this sponge cake for the Bible study that meets at my house. It took eight eggs which made me thankful we raise chickens. One of my friends made cucumber and egg salad sandwiches so I said we were having high tea. It was all good.

Speaking of eggs, or, rather those that lay them.

The hens give me endless entertainment. Abigail is looking at me as if to say, “Why does Colonel Sanders get away with murdering all those chickens?” Shhh, don’t tell her I love Colonel Sander’s fried chicken.

This is chicken scratch, or as I like to call it, chicken crack. The hens are addicted to this stuff. They recognize the bowl in which I bring it to them.

See, they are all crammed against the gate waiting for the crack.

I set the bowl on top of their nesting boxes and first one hopped up.

Then two. Beatrice and Dorcas are always first in line.

Then there were three. Abigail came up for her fix.

Then Ada says, “Where’s mine?” It was getting crowded so I began to throw it all over their pen. Chickens are funny. They can be eating in one place with plenty of food, but if they see another one eating at a different place, they all run there. I like to play games with them.

First here.

Then there.

Then all in one place for a short while.

Ada was not happy with me taking pictures.

She disappeared behind the door. She is so pretty. She should be posing.

Teal feathers are really standing out. From afar she looks all black and then you see these feathers.

Abigail has such pretty markings too. There are so many kinds of chickens and I wish I could have one of each, but my little plot of land could not sustain them.

Speaking of dogs. Oh, I wasn’t? I saw in the paper that there were chocolate lab puppies for sale. David thought I was just kidding when I told him and told him I wanted one. But, alas, I cannot have a fourth puppy.

We are still trying to raise this little lady to be a good, well behaved dog.

What is this, you are asking? This is a clean, fresh t-shirt that I put on one morning and went outside to start the day. What you are seeing is Molly’s paw print, in perfect outline, smack dab in the middle of my nice clean shirt. Such is life when you have a puppy. I have taken to wearing aprons when I go outside to protect my clean clothes.

Here’s to crack eating chickens and dog printed t-shirts. Bye.

One Day at a Time

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You just have to take one day at a time or things get out of hand. If I take the time to think about tomorrow, I start getting tired because today is not finished yet. One day passes after another and suddenly you look up and a week, a month, a year has passed and you wonder where it went. Time is going faster. I truly believe it is. What do you think?

I am blessed that my days are full. I have something to look forward to and work to accomplish. What would life be without work? Work is invigorating. I love work. I learned a good work ethic from my mother and father who were certainly not afraid to work.

We are having more new windows installed this Spring. Today the contractor came and nothing was happening so I went outside and the contractor was looking at windows that were not going to fit. I felt for him. His day was not starting out very well, but I just knew it would all work out. They were special order windows, too, so he was worried that the lumberyard would not take them back. I told him I would pray for him. He left and later in the morning he came back with a smile upon his face. The lumberyard had taken them back and ordered the larger windows and gave us the discount we had gotten on the first windows. Anyway, we got one window replaced in our livingroom and tomorrow they are replacing one in my shop. We only have seven more windows to replace. Next year. This old house may get done one day. I tell David we are sure making a nice house for the next owners.

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This is the first sunrise I have seen in a long time. I am a late sleeper and miss these beautiful scenes. I had to get up to let the contractors in so up I got.

Remember last post I told about the lady who sent me all the material? There were pieces like this already made for a large Dresden Plate.

Piles of pieces for Dresden Plate blocks.

Such cute fabric.

This fabric had chickens on it. Yay. I will cut some of my fabric and put it with her fabric and make a Dresden Plate quilt. But first, I have three other quilts I have to finish. I am trying to get some of my quilts done. Quilts that have been laying around for months and some even years. I also am making doll quilts to use up my little pieces of fabric. I may sell some, I don’t know. Just love piecing them and all the cute fabrics I am using in them.

The garden is looking so pretty. Every morning there are new surprises.

The flowering crabapple is glorious.

I can see it from my front window.

Or sitting on my front porch. See the lilac bush? It is loaded with lilacs and smells heavenly.

A new snowball bush I planted on the north side of the porch.

Planted three azaleas like these.

I looked out my back door and saw what looked like a little tree, but it’s really a columbine. Don’t know how it grew like this, but it is interesting.

Can’t you almost smell these right from the screen?

I bring in big bouquets of these and the house smells so good!

The azalea that I didn’t think would grow here.

Isn’t God good? Look at this beautiful bunch of lilacs.

This little solar hen lights the garden at night.

Meanwhile, Molly sits in her chair and guards the backyard.

No one gets this seat but her. I love this dog. She is getting sweeter every day. Not as many Tasmanian Devil antics where she would suddenly start biting. She loves being with me. And I love being with her. I love just sitting and petting her. I knew she would make a good companion. David and I saw a huge Mastiff at Rural King yesterday. I just saw it out of the corner of my eye and jumped and David laughed. I thought someone was leading a pony through Rural King. I pet her and she was so gentle. “This is my next dog,” I told David who I had told only a few months ago that Molly would be our last big dog. Ha. I knew that wouldn’t last long.

Here’s to new windows, quilting, Spring bouquets and sweet dogs. Bye.

What’s new?

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We are in between the glorious springing of Spring and the last gasping breath of cold, dark Winter. Old Man Winter just does not want to leave yet. We had a beautiful day of temperatures in the seventies, then today it is cold and windy. Ugh. Don’t toy with me Mother Nature. The flowers raise their little heads timidly from the cold soil looking for a spot of sunshine. Buds on the trees are holding themselves all ready for the first sign that Spring is actually here. Don’t come out too soon, buds, or you will get burned.

Despite the gloomy weather, things brightened up the other day when the phone rang. I answered it and the voice on the other end said that I had won a prize from the shop hop we took part in a few weeks ago. Wait, no, the voice was saying DAVID had won a prize. A gift certificate worth fifty dollars and a bag of goodies. After all, he had purchased a ticket for the shop hop also. I just never expected him to be the one to win. I ran to the back door and yelled at the top of my voice, “David, you won a prize from the shop hop!”

So, a couple of day later we took a drive up to Greenwood to the Back Door to get the prize. And here is what was in the bag….

A layer cake of bright fabrics. Enough to make a quilt.

A stack of fat quarters. More bright, colorful fabrics.

This bag held everything. So cute.

It already looks embroidered, but also in the bag was….

A kit of embroidery floss should I wish to embroider the bag.

Such luscious colors.

The kit even included the needles needed.

There was also a pattern included. With the fifty dollar certificate it all added up to about one hundred dollars worth of prizes. Since David has no use for any of these things, he gifted them to me. Or I just took them. Ha. I cannot say I have never won anything. I have been pretty lucky about winning things. I have won hamburgers from a hamburger stand, a bicycle, a contest our newspaper held one year where they asked the contestants to write about their valentine. I, of course, wrote about David and he got all kinds of prizes to include a massage(which he never used) a jacket and several other things. I won another shop hop contest a year or so ago. No, I am one who can never say I have never won anything. But this prize was really nice even though I wasn’t the one who won.

This time of year the soil gets pretty muddy when it warms up and since I wear Crocs around the yard all the time, I find they are not the best to keep my feet clean and dry so I looked for some new boots. I haven’t bought outside boots for years. I always had boots when I was a little girl. I love wearing boots even though my feet cry, “Uncle!” sometimes when I wear them. I found a pair of boots I thought I would like. They needed to be easy to get on.

These are Bogs. They are ankle length and have tabs to use to pull them on. I put them on and they were so comfortable and warm also. After a while they started to feel hot so I tried to pull them off and I couldn’t. I had to wait all day until David came home to pull them off me. Our contractor had been here in the afternoon measuring for new windows and I thought about asking him to pull them off of me, but I thought he’d think I was a little weird so I didn’t. Now I will have to practice putting them on and off so that I can do it myself. Anyway, these boots should keep my feet dry and comfortable when I walk out in the mud.

I planted some flowers in a couple of hanging baskets the other day. I am so looking forward to growing things again and being outdoors most of the day. I am hoping to take up walking again as I have really let that slide this winter and my legs tell me that every time I do walk. They ache like crazy. I plan to walk an MS walk in May, so I have got to get cracking.

Hope you are seeing some Spring in your neck of the woods. Bye.

Almost Spring

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David and I made a trip to Petco and Rural King today. I must say that Rural King is one of my very favorite stores, especially this time of year. They are putting out all their garden decors, lawn fertilizers, compost, seeds, and other paraphernalia that a gardener needs. I was in seventh heaven. I found some seeds that looked interesting, we bought bedding for the chooks and the dogs and we found some compost manure for the rhubarb. Rhubarb is a heavy feeder and needs to be fertilized heavily to produce good plants. I am looking forward to some fresh rhubarb pie unlike the rhubarb pie I baked the other day from frozen rhubarb we bought at Appleworks.

It was a good, flaky crusted pie, but the rhubarb was cut into bigger pieces and didn’t smoosh down like my rhubarb does. David liked it, though, and has eaten the whole pie himself, plus the little cinnamon rolls I made from the dough.

David does have a sweet tooth(that is if they were his real teeth!)

But back to Rural King. We went to get the chicken coop bedding and they had the bedding stacked so high we couldn’t reach the top. David said we could play Jenga and hope the rest of the bags don’t come tumbling down on our heads. We found a clerk who climbed up and got two bags for us. Why do they do that?

Here are the seeds I found.

Nasturtiums or as I like to call them Nasty Turtians. Nasturtiums are edible although I have never eaten any.

Cucumbers are a must. David loves fresh from the garden cucumbers. I could take them or leave them, but I like to make him happy.

Pumpkins. Last year we grew giant pumpkins, enough to give all the grandchildren one and have a few ourselves. I’m hoping we will have good ones again this year. The chickens have been fertilizing the garden all winter.

We use to call this Indian corn, but the PC police don’t want us to use that any more so it’s called ornamental corn. If I were an Indian, I would be proud to have it called Indian corn because it is so unique and pretty, but that’s just me.

When I saw that I could grow pumpkins on a stick, well, I just had to have these seeds. I am looking forward to seeing how these turn out.

Another thing I love about Spring coming is all the seed catalogs and Spring magazines that arrive in the mail.

One of my favorite magazines. We actually took a trip and stayed at a bed and breakfast that was featured in this magazine. It was a really nice bed and breakfast, but David and I decided it wasn’t for us as the owners kept visiting with us and asking us to eat at tables with strangers who we had nothing in common with and besides we wanted to have some time to ourselves and the worst part is we were told what time to eat breakfast. We don’t like to arrange our time around someone else’s schedule when we are on vacation. Sometimes we don’t feel like eating at 8:45 or whenever we were told to eat. We did love the geese that came to the pond right outside our bedroom window and the paths through meadows we walked while we were there. I would recommend it to those who love bed and breakfasts. We are not a schedule following couple while on vacation.

One of my favorite catalogs. We have purchased several things from this company to include wind spinners. They have really nice wind spinners made of heavy duty metal. I bought a clunker of a wind spinner from Rural King last year. It doesn’t spin very well unless you have hurricane force winds.

I have my eye on these curtains for the dining room. We are replacing more windows this year in the dining room. After we get them in, I plan to repaint the room, put up new curtains as we have had the same curtains in there for over twenty years and I have my eye on this rug.

We shall see how it all comes together or if it will. Plans are made to be broken or life gets in the way. I love making plans though.

I celebrated a birthday this last week. David bought me an ice cream cake from the Dairy Queen. I was so happy. He said, “I didn’t know if you would like it or not.” Me, not like ice cream and cake? What was he thinking? I have wanted one of these for years. I told him this is exactly what I want every year from now on. I still have a piece waiting for me in the freezer. I almost hate to eat it because I will have to wait a whole year before I get another one!

One of the catalogs I get is from Yankee Candle. It’s really like a little present in the mail because several of the candles they show are scratch and sniff. Look at this chocolate bunny candle. How cute.

Marshmallow chicks candle. It’s a scratch and sniff.

Bunny cake. I am in love.

Jelly bean candle. Okay, this one is getting ordered. It smells just like jelly beans. How do they do that? Get those scents in the candles? If you come into my house, don’t be surprised to smell jelly beans soon.

Yankee candle has so many cute things. Good thing I have will power. I don’t know where I would put anything else anyway. I am not being paid to advertise Yankee Candle, I just love the company and its products.

Wildseed Farms. A company based out of Fredericksburg, Texas. They sell seed by the pound. As you can see, I have already ordered some seed from them. Laura Bush self-seeding petunias. I am going to give them a try this Summer.

A pound of zinnia seeds. Thousands of seeds that will go all over our property. You really get your money’s worth buying seed this way. This many seeds would probably cost a hundred dollars if you bought them in little packets.

I also bought an ounce of foxglove seeds. Foxgloves are biennials so I may not see flowers this year, I don’t know. Thousands of seeds in one ounce so I should have a few flowers from it.

I planted a little mini garden in a broken coffee cup. Grass seed and little birds and a bird feeder. I am loving it as it makes me know that Spring and green growing things are coming soon. Winter never lasts forever although sometimes it seems to.

I have put out my Easter bunnies early this year so that I could enjoy them longer. Easter is early this year.

I love Easter. It means so much more than bunnies and chickens at our house. We celebrate the risen Savior, Jesus Christ on that day. He died for everyone, you know. Not just Christians.

I have been studying First and Second Thessalonians in the Bible. Paul wrote to this church about many things to include the rapture. I love these two books and how they deal with sexual purity and how important it is for everyone. After all, our bodies are our temples and if God indwells within us, we should keep our bodies pure from sexual sin. I don’t think the world looks at it the same way, but it makes sense to me. There is no mincing words about it from Paul, however. Paul, who persecuted the early Christians became a different man once confronted with Jesus Christ. From that day forward he was a follower and told many thousands about the hope that is in Jesus Christ. I believe as Paul did, that Jesus is the son of God, came to earth to preach, teach and heal, died on the cross for everyone’s sins, took them upon himself. He rose the third day. Thousands saw him and after forty days he went to heaven where he is waiting for his father’s cue to come gather His church together in the clouds where we will live eternally with Him in heaven. I truly believe this with all my heart, soul and body. It makes much more sense to me than just living a few years on this planet and dying and that’s all. Life means much more than that and we all have spirits that have to go someplace.

I didn’t mean for this to be a theology lesson. It’s just who I am and what makes me who I am.

This is the next quilt I will be hand quilting. I love the old fashioned look of it.

I hope you are anticipating Spring as much as I am. When you live in a climate that changes every season, you look forward to the warmth of Spring after a cold, snowy Winter. If you live in a constantly warm climate, how wonderful for you. You didn’t have to scrape ice off your wind shield or slip and slide on icy walkways. Here’s to warm, wonderful Spring. Bye.

Pups, Patterns, Planting and Pain

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What do all these have in common? Not much, except for the pup and pain bit. Let’s just say Molly Marshmallow and I have had a few altercations in the past few days. We are trying to teach her not to jump up on us and bite our heels as we walk and it has been a very slow process. Add to that that Molly simply loves to dash at the fence where the chickens are encaged and we are ripe for some excitement. Add to that that she slipped right by me when I opened the gate to where the chickens were and began chasing the chickens and all heck broke loose. I’m just saying. David was splitting wood up in the front yard and he said I yelled so loudly he thought I was right next to him! I mean the neighbors a quarter of a mile down the road probably heard me. Molly was dashing from chicken to chicken and she got either Penninah or Jemima down. I could just see chicken feathers, chicken heads and blood everywhere and that’s when I went into action. I happened to have a plastic bucket in my hand I was using to carry water to the chickens and I winged it at Molly with all my might. It knocked her for a loop and she went behind the compost pile to hide and that’s where David found us. Me holding Molly at bay and as I looked back, I saw the chickens nonchalantly sauntering into their other pen. I ran and shut the gate and that’s when Molly ran out. That’s also when I realize I had hurt myself somehow. I had pulled muscles in my right leg I didn’t know I had. I suddenly could barely walk or stand on my leg. I don’t remember falling ,stumbling or otherwise during the excitement, but I did something. David had to help me into the house. I was just getting over a pinched nerve I had at the back of my knee since Thanksgiving and now I am crippled again. The thing is, it feels better to walk than to sit down or lay down so maybe that is good. I will have to keep active.

Anyway, Molly seems to be a little more subdued these last couple of days. She actually sat beside me and allowed me to love on her and pet her all over without trying to bite. She really is a sweet dog and doesn’t mean any harm, but she needs to learn that her teeth are not for biting or eating chickens. And the chickens? Those dorks don’t have a care in the world and have forgotten all about it. Me, however. Pain city. This too shall pass.

” I didn’t mean to hurt you, Mom.”

Look at that sweet puppy. Wouldn’t hurt a flea. Ahem. All the dogs have learned to sit and wait for their dinner. No, they are not looking at David with adulation. They are looking at their food dishes and wishing he would hurry up and put them down. See how big Molly is getting? She is the one in the middle. I can hardly tell her from Belle from the back anymore.

The hens have been laying a little lazily lately. Alliteration. But, still, we have plenty of eggs. I made egg salad the other day. I don’t know why, but I use to think making egg salad would be hard. Here’s how easy it is.

First I boiled the eggs. Boiling eggs is easy. Let them come to a boil and then let them sit in the hot water for about twenty minutes or so. If you ever boil eggs and the yolks are green, it’s because you have boiled them too long. Put the eggs in cold water and peel them. Fresh eggs do not peel easily. If you want pretty deviled eggs, use older eggs. My eggs are always fresh. Since it didn’t matter how pretty the eggs were in this dish, I didn’t mind that they looked this way.

I take a potato masher and begin mashing.

Until the eggs are mashed finely. I add salt and pepper. Not much.

Then mix in mayonnaise(I use Miracle Whip). Stir thoroughly. I don’t like a lot of mayo in my egg salad. I want to taste the eggs. There’s a fine line between too dry egg salad and too wet egg salad, but that is up to you and what you like.

And there you have egg salad. It doesn’t last very long around here and I can go out and get fresh eggs any time and make it any time I want to. That’s the blessing of having your own chickens. I always tell people if you have chickens, you will never starve because you will always have eggs and if you raise chicks, you will always have chickens. I fixed chicken and noodles yesterday from chickens I did not know personally. My chooks will die of old age.(Or murder from a pup.)

Seed catalogs are coming in almost daily now. I’m pretty sure what I am going to plant this year. Pumpkins, tomatoes and flowers. I really don’t feel like having a big vegetable garden this year.

I get a lot of my seeds from Wildflower Farm. It’s based in Texas and sells seed by the pound. A pound of zinnia seeds goes a long way. I had zinnias planted everywhere last Summer. I also had lots of sunflowers which the goldfinches loved. I will probably plant some of those again.

I have been working on a new quilt top. I love the pattern in this one. I need to make forty-two squares. Here are just a few of them I have already made.