I'm So Proud of Myself!

I have known how to copy and paste for awhile, but today I tackled a picture using those same skills. It isn't much, but who knows what will come next.I did tinker with my latest blog picture, and I think I did a fairly decent job,so maybe there is hope.Everything I have learned to do on the computer, I either learned at work during the last year or so before I retired,or I have learned by trial and error. I had hoped to make my blog really cute like some of the others I have been following, but I am too frugal (around here they call it tight or chincy)to spend the money on any of the programs that offer that type of help.I may break over soon, if I don't see results in my present plan. I spent an hour or so taking pictures of lots of pretty pieces of fabric that I have in my collection. I have filed them all as backgrounds 1 through 42.I may save more as time goes by. Depending on whether my plan works out. Hopefully, you can see how I will be using some of them in my up coming posts.The rooster picture was compiled from several blocks of varying size of my fabric photos.I am sure there are lots of beautiful variations, if only I can learn a few more tricks.

Sorry,I'm So Wishy Washy.....

......but the birds are back. I think I'll quit posting about the Martins for awhile. It only makes me look silly, worrying whether they are coming or going.I'll spend my time doing a little more research on them. Stay tuned for further updates a little later in the season.(Unless they stay long enough to produce new babies, then I'll just have to tell about that.)

Oh Where,Oh Where Have the Little Birds Gone?

I suppose it's possible the oil spill in the Gulf has affected the birds migration pattern, even here. That has to be the reason so many of my hummingbirds have not returned. And my 2 Purple Martins. They have not been seen for 3 days.I was so sure the one pair that had visited for 3 days and nights, were here to stay,but no.They are nowhere to be seen.What could I possibly be doing wrong. I guess I want them so badly, it's kinda like getting pregnant or warts. If I would simply forget about it completely, it will happen.Stress affects a lot of things.Maybe the birds can sense my stress.I know dogs can do such things.If we only knew the secret to solving all the problems in the world, I doubt we would be using it on such trivial things as birds.(Sorry,little birds.I don't really think you are trivial, but in the grand scheme of things, others might think so.) I do love my birds.I think it might be a age thing.Bird watching just seems to go hand in hand with sitting on the front porch swing with a morning or evening cup of coffee.

Trying a New Picture for my Blog

As you can see, I am experimenting with a few new things. I have played around with a site or two hoping to learn how to cutesy up my home page a little, like some of the other bloggers, even though I don't have the technical knowledge and I hate to spend too much money on unnecessary classes.Hope you like my new opening page. It shows a few bits and pieces from various aspects my life.

I'm One Happy Lady today!

It's nearing bedtime at our house, and one of the Purple Martins are still resting near the gourd, hopefully where the mate is beginning the process of setting up housekeeping. I hope that is what's happening anyway.
I took a chance and went out to see if I could get a picture of him resting above the nest, and lo and behold, he signaled a few notes to her, and she poked her head out to see what was up. I got a great shot of them both.I am so proud to have my first pair of Purple Martins to move in today.If they only knew how welcome they are and how happy they have made me.

Please,Please,Please! Let It Be True!

I hope I am not jumping the gun or jinxing myself by telling you this, but I don't think Terry is the only family moving into a new home. I think I have Purple Martins moving into their new home. HERE AT MY HOUSE!I have been working in the yard for a few hours early this morning, while it was cool enough to get your breath,and the Martins were busily checking out my gourds. Most days, they visit for about 5 minutes, but this morning, they have stayed. I went inside to cool off and get some Gatorade to replenish my electrolytes, and post a few stories on my blog, and behold, when I went back out, around noon or so, they were still there. By golly, I think they're here to stay this time. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed though. They are a strange lot.

First Moon Flower of the Season

I figure it opened about 8 p.m. last night, but we were too busy to notice.That's really sad when you consider the fact that we are both retired. We are busy people. Always something going on at this house. Not a lot of time for birdwatching or flower watching, either, for that matter, but we do slip in a few minutes on occasion. We built a porch around 3 sides of our house, just so we can watch such things. The garden grow, the deer graze with their young, the turkeys passing through with their new babies, an occasional coyote,a squirrel pillaging grain from the hen house,a rare glimpse of a bobcat. No bear yet, but they're in Ky., so maybe that's just around the corner.Some mornings we get to see the fog roll in or the sun rise, or set.The grandson and I set out lots of evenings when he is staying over, just to see all the airplanes and jets passing overhead after dark. He loves finding a moving light in the sky at night.That's how he knows it's not a star, but an aircraft.We usually take our 'blankies' and our hot chocolate and sit out on the porch swing until we decide it's bedtime.It's turned into a routine with him. Pop says it's a ploy to avoid bedtime, and I figure he's right, but it's "our special thing to do together". John's sister is 5 years older, and he's heard her tell stories of "the special things we do together", so I think he just wants something special to do with Meemaw when he's here.The time is coming when they will be too old to spend"special time with Meemaw and Pop".They will have their friends who will monopolize their time doing teen ager things with them.Then they'll start driving, and be gone to whereever teen agers hang out,showing off their parents wheels.Then they be off to a job,we hope, then off to college.So maybe we are be too busy to catch the eight o'clock showing of the opening of the first moon flower of the season, but I'm sure there will be plenty of others to follow. Maybe we'll get lucky and catch a few of them.

This is A Sad Day, with no undoing!

(http://lifeisshortsawn61.blogspot.com/2010/03/so-what-is-that-in-people-years.html)
This is the link to the post where I wrote about our dog "Dixie". Well, today is a sad day here at the Nugent household.I won't be able to come back tomorrow and say that we have changed our minds and decided to keep her a little longer, as I did with the goats, when we intended to sell them to the neighbor, but went and retrieved them the following day. Our trusted friend has left us.We have never really figured out her age, but a close guess is 20-24, and we are pretty sure it's closer to 24. Maybe someday we will figure it a little closer, but nevertheless, she has been the most wonderful pet for ever how long it was. She use to be our house dog.She was an excellent house dog. She was so meticulous with her grooming. Many a night we would awake to see her lying on the sofa, grooming her fur from one end to the other. She never cared for water, but when we would go to the lake on our pontoon, she would be frightened when getting on it and getting off,(we would have to pick her up and put her on and off) but she loved riding it way up in the front with the wind and the mist from the lake hitting her, ever so gently, in the face.She was our guard dog and she was exceptional at her job. She would lie in the yard or on the porch and watch our five acres from one end to the other. If so much as a crow would light, she was after it.We have another dog, that Dixie trained, I suppose, just by her watching, to do the same thing. As Dixie grew older, she became jealous of the new dog to a point. I guess it's like anyone who knows the day will come when the job will no longer be yours, but the new trainee, and that is a hard pill to swallow sometimes. She has trained Bear well though, and I am sure Bear will do just as good a job as Dixie has done for all these years.I'm sure I could write pages of stories of moments we've had with Dixie, but tonight, we'll just hope to find comfort in remembering every one of them.Farewell, our Faithful Friend.You have been an excellent friend and companion, for our entire family and to many friends and neighbors who loved you as we did.

Getting Ready for The Big Move

I am getting behind on my blogging. I had wanted to post some pictures of the mother wren while she was raising her babies, but things get so busy around here this time of the year. Hopefully, I will get the story about the wrens posted later. Stacey(my baby sister) has gone to work for Walmart. She is helping with all the rearranging and remodeling the store is doing.I think their goal is to finish off making us all crazier than we already are. Like we needed any help. But now that she(mom's usual right hand man)is tied up,we all need to help out a little more.I went to Mom's to lend a hand where ever needed, but today Mom and I went to help out my older sister, Mary,wash down the walls of a mobile home that one of our brothers and his new family will be moving into on Friday of this week. He will be purchasing the mobile home and moving his new family to Ky. from West Virginia. He has not lived in Ky., since 1972.He just turned 53 and he has not lived here since he was about 15, so we are so happy to have him home,even though we are sorry he did have to make some major changes in his life to get here.So Welcome Home to Terry, Kim, Dakota, and Mikiah.(I think Mary got a snapshot or two of some of the work we were doing, but I didn't get to see any of the shots, so I'm dreading seeing what she posts, when or if she does.)(The pictures are of Terry, one of a set of twins, and his new wife,Kim, and the other is of Kim and her two boys working on a craft while visiting our home.)

Have I Gone Bird Crazy?

Funny how sisters think so much alike. Especially when they were not raised together(except for 6 years),and have always lived so far apart, but we think and do things so much alike.Vicki Lynn of "My Favorite Things", wrote about the birds just today. I have been wrestling with my bird situation around my home for weeks. I normally have lots of hummingbirds, but this year I have maybe 2. That is very strange.We have had as many as 15 at a time buzzing around my flowers and feeders.Can't imagine why they are not coming this year.
Then there are the Purple Martins I have been trying to attract to my home for 3o years to no avail.I have built Bluebird boxes off and on for years, only to have the cats to eat the babies as soon as they hatch and their feet hit the ground.We no longer keep a cat for that very reason(and that they get run over by speeding traffic through our little road, which is a cut through road to the lake.}
Now I have taken up watching the little house wrens. They build close to the house in any little nook and cranny they can find. We've had them to build in a busted out headlight of a bush buggy that wasn't moved that much. They have built in boots, in hats, in hanging flower baskets, in half open drawers. I love finding their nests in unusual places and watching them raise their young. But now we have Sarah.She is a dog that thinks she needs to hunt down and kill every living thing that moves. A cute little wild rabbit, a squirrel sneaking corn from the hen house, a ground squirrel scurrying from my flowerbed to his hole,any pretty song producing bird,a pesty mole, baby chickens,nor a dreaded mouse.None of these things have a fighting chance with her around. My grandson,John, has mentioned taking Sarah,our dog, to the dog pound, and exchanging her for a chihuahua.He wants a chihuahua so bad, since he saw one and learned that they stay little their entire lives. He loves little animals of all kinds.Back to the birds. I was stacking our winter's wood yesterday, and I heard the worst rippet coming from my pergola. I glanced up just in time to see a darn starling coming out of one of my wrens homes, with something in it's mouth. I had heard that they destroy other birds nests and break their eggs, but I had never witnessed it first hand. That done it. I HATE STARLINGS MORE THAN EVER.I pulled up a few sites and did some reading on the dreadful bird, and it seems Europe has programs trying to eradicate the pesty starlings. I will gladly join them in their venture now. I have tried to keep them out of my Martin housing, at least until they come, if they ever do come,but now I am declaring war on them whether I get Martins or not. I'll not have them messing with my wrens.Sarah is giving me fits trying to keep her from them.She and I have war over this daily.I agree with Vicki. Watching and listening to the birds is, indeed, a soothing,calming, peace inducing hobby when you can find a few quiet minutes to enjoy it.A rare commodity here, but cherished when I can find it.(Sorry, no pictures with this blog.I have been to Louisville today, visiting a friend who had serious back surgery, and am a little too tired to wrestle with the pictures.Maybe I will insert a few at a later time.)Hope you've had a good day where you are.We are experiencing another good rain at our house.

Look What I Found!

I found this giant strawberry(the real one in the front of the dish) this morning amongst my flowers. I guess that all the Miracle Grow I have put on this bed since last season paid off. If only I hadn't chopped out all the rest of the strawberries.I have never had much luck with growing big strawberries. Big enough to worry with anyway.
I grow lots of small ones around the yard for the kids to pick and eat , but I get my freezer jam berries from the Amish.Dumb, I know. but it is more work than I care to put into them, since I have so much to do otherwise.These are the size I usually fine in the yard. I did find enough today for Pop and I to laddle over the Strawberry cake(with a huge dollop of whipped cream) that, our grand daughter, Leah, made Sunday while she was here. Since finding this one huge berry, though, I may try one more time. I have already transplanted a bed of about 25 berries this spring in hopes of trying once more. This just convinces me for sure to give it another try. I'll just use more Miracle Grow, more often on the berries throughout the entire season.I read somewhere, sometime ago, that 25 plants would bear enough berries to feed a family of two.I'll see if that's true, if all goes well.If I post this goal for myself, maybe I will come closer to attaining it.
(P.S. Vicki, those blooms are from Dad's Peony in Mom's front yard.They were beautiful again this year.)

What Once Was Old,Is Made New Again!

This is not a new idea, but one that crossed my mine again today. I just finished my 2 latest quilts for the great nephews, so my hands were idle, and you know me and idle hands. They don't mix.I had stopped for a break from all my doings, and Pop and Howie were wanting coffee in the "pouting room", so I fixed a pot at the house and took it down to them.Pop always asks me to sit and visit with them a spell, but they spend so much time sitting, it's more than I can stand, so after a few minutes with them,I'll go on with whatever I was doing.Well today, I went down there prepared. I had laid up a serving tray that went through the fire,for a future project.It was a nice tray in the beginning, although it was not real silver.I use a lot of different trays, since we serve so much coffee to company around here.I just like having different trays to use for such. Most of them are usually basket trays, or wood trays, or whatever cute tray I might have picked up at a yard sale for a song. Well, this old tray had been used under a flower pot for a few years, and a hole or 2 had rusted through, but I still felt it was salvageable.I hate to throw anything away, that can be used in any other way. I never think to take a before picture until I'm well into a project, but this tray was ready for the dump. Most folks would not have hesitated to send it on it's way with out a second thought.I cannot bare to part with what has once been mine, no matter how bad it gets. It is a sickness, I have come to realize, but I accept the fact that I have this problem and wish that others could except it, too.I usually end up with several tiny scraps of fabric when I quilt, and I do mean a few, because I don't waste much.I save them for projects such as this. I have used the scraps to decoupage cardboard boxes,wooden boxes,pint jars,and other things,too. I think I have posted several of those projects earlier in my blog.The glue is not quite dry yet, so I won't be using it for a few days, but I am anxious to try it out on the next bunch of coffee drinkers.

There are Good and Bad Bacteria (Could the bad be winning?)

The story on the E.Coli in our laundry caught my attention as it did many others, I'm sure.They are literally scaring us to death with these stories of E. Coli lurking under our nails, in our clean laundry, in the mint bowl at local restaurants.Evidently, it is everywhere. Even on some of the produce we get from the markets. Now I know, some germs are really bad. But I do think we have brought a lot of this on to ourselves by using so much anti bacterial soap on everything we touch.There are good bacteria, as well as bad, and we are disrupting their balance by using these products so extensively.I plan to do a little more research on this topic to help myself and my family. Pop has had a bout with the MRSA bacteria, and I am convinced that I did too, although I did not think about asking the doctor to test in my case, for MRSA until Pop showed up with a similar sore a little later.I had just recovered from a group of what we thought were boils, on my hip(too close for comfort to other delicate body parts).I was fortunate to have my Mother staying with me at the time, recovering from eye surgery. I would not allow anyone else to change my bandages in that area as often as she did for me. The doctor lanced and packed the carbuncles or boils or whatever they were, and had to repack them every other day. In the meantime, Mom would change the bandages and wash the area as good as possible for me 2 and 3 times a day.Thank God for Mothers!I think the MRSA is a staph infection. I am not a medical student, but do know that staph and E.Coli are both BAD.I'd like to avoid getting either of them at all costs, if possible. I know that E.Coli comes from fecal matter, and everyone has staph in their own body.It is my understanding that the staph that is harmful to us is the staph of others.Our own does not harm us.Hospitals and other medical people, and now we know the same goes for manicurist and the like,can spread these germs by not sterilizing their instruments properly.Anytime the same instruments are used to treat several individuals, the possibility is present for spreading these types of germs.
The article I read said the water temperature in our washing machines, in most cases, was not hot enough to kill these bacteria,and bleach is not effective when used with hot water.You cannot use regular bleach anyway, on colored clothing.They also said the temperatures in our dryers was not hot enough to kill the bacteria.They recommended running the washer empty on occasion with bleach and cold water to sterilize it, but I can't believe that would help that much. The article said that each piece of underwear had the equivalency of a quarter of a peanut of feces on it. They recommended washing the underwear separate using bleach. That could help to a point.A lot more research would be necessary in educating ourselves on this topic for our own and our family's safety, but I believe the key to a lot of it is keeping our immune systems as healthy as possible. That also, will require a lot of research on things to do to achieve that, but the time has come for us to take our health concerns more into our own hands. We have access to all the knowledge in the world right at our fingertips. Now we must learn how to find it and weed out what we feel is best for our own self and our families and work on it.It's never too late to start helping ourselves to live a healthier life.

Compost-A Gardener's Best Friend

I am a gardener of sorts. I don't do a lot of typical gardening, but I love plants of all kinds whether it be edible or ornamental, and I love being able to improve my plants health and appearance by adjusting the soil.There are times when I can't decide which I love the most.The plants or the work with the soil. My father worked with dirt his entire working career, until he retired, then he worked with some gardening, as a hobby.I love turning the soil and mixing it with better components to make it better, in hopes of having a better plant, and eventually better produce.I have read a little of several blogs who do composting, but cannot say that I have found one who uses my method of composting. I could be wrong, and possibly have not read the right blog just yet, but hopefully, I can use my idea to help others cut out the daily or weekly drudgery of turning the compost heap or tumbler, which ever method they may be using, and save their backs.I have chickens ,as do many of the bloggers I follow. Most are multitasking, as am I, so I would hope they would do as I have done, and let the chickens help with the composting.My chickens are kept in a pen for the most part. Sometimes we let them out when there is no garden, and when I am here to make sure they stay out of my flower beds. When they scratch my mulch out of my beds and into the grass,I really get upset.Our five acres and acres and acres of neighboring woods around the back of our lot, and they choose to scratch up my flowerbeds.Go figure!Nevertheless, I have expanded their pen this year, so they can have more clover to eat, and thus,less mowing for me.I have started putting some of the "wild mulch"(from the tree trimmers)in their pen to give them something to scratch around for bugs. After it lays for awhile, the earthworms begin to move in under it.I have tried introducing night crawlers to our five acres to no avail. That is another thing I have on my list of failed ventures.So far, I can't get Purple Martins to take up residence here, or night crawlers, or the cleome flower, or the bleeding heart, or the money plant. I keep trying. I will not be defeated.But back to the composting, I take my leaf rake, and go into the older part of the chicken pen and find a corner where the soil is as dark as I can find and start scratching.Sometimes I take a spade in the pen and turn some ground for them to look for worms and bugs. The chickens all come running to my feet when I am in there, looking for a quick treat.Most of their droppings are inside the hen house.That is a good fertilizer, but very hot and strong. Pop says when he was young, his grandparents would make manure tea. They'd put it in a grass sack, tie it up, and place it in a barrel of water. That would keep out all the weed seeds from getting back into the garden. Then they would use the water to fertilize their garden plants. I use it sparingly and/or mix it lightly with my composted dirt.Sometimes I even pitch some soil into the chicken house, so they can mix it with the droppings.I am forever taking up sod from areas where I want to plant something. I use a lot of it to rework areas of the yard that are missing grass, but some of it, I toss into the chicken pen for their pleasure of getting out the bugs and worms.The remainder goes into the composting heap which they will scratch around day after day looking for more insects.I have made myself a couple of sifter strainers for my compost. It's a square box, made of 2X4's and a small piece of mesh screen tacked to one side. I sift the compost through it, separating the wonderful loose black soil from the larger components, which I toss back into the pile to be broken down more, or toss them in a gully to slow erosion in areas where needed.Dirt is a precious commodity around here. We don't have much of it, amongst all our rock, so we do what we can to keep it from washing away to Mammoth Cave.If you haven't used my composting method, I hope you will give it a try. It's quite wet here today,after having a day or so of heavy rain,wind and hail, but I hope you are having a Good Day where you are. Later!

A Good Job is Hard to Find

I find myself having trouble falling to sleep tonight, so I decided to write a little story about something my husband told me today.I spent the day with Mom, and he went to an auction right down the road from our home. The auction had been getting a lot of publicity around our home and I think a lot of folks went out of curiosity. From some of the stories that were circulating, I was a little fearful for Pop to go, but he felt confident all would go well,so that was settled. He went.When we both returned home later in the day, he told me about meeting a fellow at the auction, that lives only 3 miles from us, whom he had never seen before. That was really strange, since we are both retired, and having lived here for 32 years, we know most of the folks in our area. But this one Pop had never met. The auctioneer pointed out this fellow and introduced him to the crowd, at the regular nightly auction, which Pop also attended later in the evening.Pop, being really hard of hearing, he didn't quite hear what this fellow's occupation was,so he struck up a conversation with him, on his own.He explained to the man that he was hard of hearing, but he thought Damon, the auctioneer, had introduced him as the only person he knew that made a living picking up "poop".Sure enough, that was exactly what he said. As it turns out, this man had moved down to our area, and bought a small place we were both familiar with, right up the road about 3 miles from us.He said he worked in Louisville, so between work and raising a couple of kids alone, he didn't have time to get out and meet folks.Evidently, this was one of the few things he had done for relaxation in a couple of years.Nevertheless, he explained his business to Pop. He said he has more customers than one man can really handle, but he tried paying folks $15.and hour, and in cash, and still couldn't keep help.He said he had his business laid out in a chart, on the computer, listing all his customers, how many dogs each has, and where they live. He has it set up to where the computer charts his route each day,and how many homes he can cover in a days time, depending on how close together the homes are. Occasionally, he can walk from home to home.He charges a set amount for 1 dog, and an additional amount for each additional dog.It seems he said he has about 85 regular customers, that he cleans up for each week.He said he had devised an apparatus to pick up the "dog poop"that never requires him to bend over, and he has also learned that he could compost "it" and make excellent fertilizer for his yard and plants. I, too, would have enjoyed hearing him tell of his operation. If one can make a good living out of something that simple,yet unappealing, which is so needed by millions of folks nowadays,that is amazing. Who would have thought there was such a demand for that.But when you think about it,folks have gone all out these for their dogs and their yards.Smart Man! He may be extremely wealthy, one day when he gets all the kinks ironed out of his little business.Good for him. I wish him all the luck in the world.Someone has to do it.

Touche,Julie!

Julie, I didn't ask permission, but I hope you don't mind me using your picture on my blog today.


No, that is not my French Word for the Day, although it could be added to my list. (At least,I'm pretty sure it's a French word.)It is a word I am using today directed toward Julie of Newcastle,Australia.I have been reading more and more of her posts here lately, and am convinced that she and I think a lot alike. She seems to be, or if she wasn't at first, she is now, well educated in Getting Back to the Simple 'Unrefined' Way of Life.She does a lot of research(one of my first loves)on whatever she chooses to use and improve in her life, and shares it with those of us who wish to read her blog.I don't know her profession, other than being a Mother to three lovely children, and a wife, but she could be a professor from all the knowledge she uses in her posts.Here is the link to her post"About Me"that tells of her life and her mission with her blog. I follow her blog on a regular basis, and try to incorporate some of her knowledge and ideas into my way of living. She is an amazing lady.Drop by and check out her life and endeavors in Newcastle,Australia.


http://www.towards-sustainability.com/

Mother Hen and Her Five Baby Chicks

This is not a very good shot of the chicks, but the mother hen and our dog,Sarah, were both getting so agitated over us trying to get a better picture of the little ones, we got this quick shot and decided to call it quits.Just wanted to let everyone know that the one we worked with last night, survived, and seems no more the weaker for his rough entry into the world.I only wish we had thought and got it at all different stages of the delivery from the shell to it's present state.That would have been neat for all to see. Especially those who don't have any exposure to farm life and the like.

(The one in the front with the spots of white on it, is the one we worked with.)

Helping Another Mother

Today being Mother's Day, I had to offer a helping hand to another mother. I feel she could handle things on her own, but Pop didn't think so. With him having a weak stomach,and I mean 'really weak', I was elected to help.The Mother Hen already had 4 healthy chicks, and another peeking through the shell. Well, you would think, with Pop growing up on a farm, as he did, he wouldn't have thought a thing about that.But he was worried, the newest chick might be having trouble getting out of the shell.The Mother Hen is a really vicious hen, anytime she is disturbed.Whether it be sitting on the nest, while laying an egg each day, or setting on eggs to be hatched. She is bad. I had to adorn myself with a pair of heavy leather gloves to move her to the coup she's in now, away from the other chickens. Nevertheless, I took the partially hatched chick out of the coup and to the house to work with it.Both grandchildren watching my every move and popping every imaginable question during the process. I slowly picked the shell off the chick, leaving a small portion for it to continue feeding on, just in case.We gathered some dried fresh cut grass from yesterday's mowing, and put it in a little wooden box, and turned a lamp on over the chick.We'd cup it in our hands occasionally, and rub it's down with the grass, trying to be gentle, but yet drying it's down to a fluff.It was beginning to look more like a new chick. I hope we did it no harm, by doing this. We chose to put it back with it's mother, hoping she could handle it from there.There is no guarantee it will make it,but we tried.I'll try to post an update on the new baby chicks.I have 2 batches now. Five from the flea market, and so far five from our hen, if all goes well.The grandchildren are loving every minute of it.But then, that why we do these kinds of things.For them to enjoy and be exposed to the farm life just a bit.

Oh Spring!

Oh Spring!
Why must you go so soon? How I would love for you to stay a little longer.The site of the fresh new growth of green grass;
The fruit trees all aglow with their blossoms, getting ready for another bountiful season of fruit;

The spring flowers wearing their best atire for all the passersby to admire;
The iris in every color, the peony,the primroses,the mock orange, the roses,the carnations, the phlox,the money plant, the tulips, the hyacinths,the columbine, the clematis,the illium,the yarrow to name a few;

They have waited a whole year to show their beautiful faces once more, if only for a little while.

Summer comes so quickly with it's long hot days. All the beautiful colors will be gone until another Spring.

If only you knew how much I will miss your beautiful colors all around me as I work in my yard all summer long.

Another Bucket of Dirt

I was so glad to hear that Mom had called saying she needed another bucket of dirt. That is a good sign. She must be getting back to her old self. She has been poorly for awhile. I think a lot of it was due to the season keeping her couped up in the house, that brought her down. When she can't be outside, she has so much extra time to worry about her aches and pains, which I know she is entitled to, at her age of 84,but it seems we all dwell on our aches and pains,when we're idle.Mom has never been one to mess with flowers or gardening. She did do a little gardening over her lifetime, but I truly think it was out of necessity. With 9 hungry kids to feed, you must do what you have to in order to keep them fed. And we never went hungry. Now that she is older, she tends to the yard and a few flowers out of necessity. She does a lot of what she does out of the need to stay active, not because she loves doing it. Mom has never been able to truly be herself and do what she wanted to do, for most of her life, and now that she has the opportunity to do so, her age and health, hold her back.Her church life is first and foremost in her activities, but even that has slowed, with the age of her group being a factor. That's why several of us daughters try to share the responsibility of keeping her busy, doing a few things she likes and wants to do.I guess we will be working in the flowers today, after her mammogram appointment.(A mammogram appointment at 84? I thought surely there was a cut off date for that)Well, I'm off to spend the day with Mom, and whatever that may bring. Have a Good Day!

Well, I spent the day with Mom. We stopped by the post office to mail a couple of her bills. She worries if she doesn't get them in the mail, the day after she gets the bill.Then off to the drug store to get a prescription filled. Then a quick stop at WalMart to pick up pictures of the Coke Museum.Couldn't wait till we went to do our shopping.Then to the hospital for her mammogram. Stopped by Captain D's for a quick lunch. Then back to WalMart to get our groceries.Then back to Mom's for our 1 hour nap.(Gee, that was a quick hour, but I heard her stirring after an hour, so I pretended I had enough of a nap and got ready to go again.)We ate a quick bowl of ice cream with a very tiny piece of pecan pie that we couldn't hold at lunch.Now for the heavy work. Mom has a Redbud tree that has dropped seeds in her flower bed, so she wanted it dug and replanted(here's where the dirt comes in)in an old decaying stump. I asked "Why there?" Her comment was, she liked to give folks something to talk and study about.Oh well, I try to comply with her wishes. She is 84, you know.We planted and watered the tree, then off to the tool shed. She has so many big gardening type tools in her teensy shed, she wanted them organized and hung on the wall, so my sister who does the mowing on a regular basis, would have better access and more area for storing her mower.That was a job in that hot little room, but after about an hour, we had it done. I had brought her a 4X8 sheet of plastic latis board that she had been wanting, so we proceeded to remove the old wooden latis board from her garbage storage area, and replace it with the new. That job completed,I filled 2 of her bird feeders with some of my birdseed I had just purchased for my birds. She likes watching the birds when she's idle and resting on the porch between jobs.There was one job left on her list for me to do, that I didn't get to. It was getting late and I really needed to get home.She wanted to cut the older latis sheet into 4 equal parts, and make a surround for her peony. That would keep it up off the ground to where Rita could mow up under it better, and keep them standing up pretty and tall when in bloom.

She didn't let on, but I left her home today, exhausted. I'll bet she went in for another quick nap after I left. I wouldn't blame her if she did. I could use another myself. And now, maybe you will believe me when I say she can still work circles around me.I am beat. My work at home will have to wait till another day.Later!

You're Never Too Old To Learn

These are a few of the quilts I have made in the last few years.
I usually end up giving them away sooner or later when good friends admire them and appreciate them.
Every now and then I will learn of someone who is in need of a quilt, and I donate one.
Then someone, like my great nephew, falls on a stroke of bad luck,like loosing his favorite blankie, and I just happen to have an extra quilt lying around waiting for a home.

I have admitted several times, that I am not a quilter. I love to dabble with making a quilts , now and then, but I'd rather be doing lots of other things. But the reason I even bring the subject up is, in looking at some of the pictures of some of the quilts I have been making, I wonder just how many quilters out there in blog world, notice how un even my blocks are on some of them. I did.I guess that is why I choose to make crazy type quilts. It doesn't matter if the squares are not lined up perfectly. I think, if I made quilts on a regular basis like most quilters do, I would have learned by now,to line things up a little better, but since most of my quilts go to those who do no quilting at all, they think they are Beautiful.I guess that's the way it is with any craft though. If you don't do that craft yourself, in most cases, you can not tell whether it was done right or not. I just thought it would be a good idea to let others know that I, too, am noticing my mistakes and will try to do a better job as I go along.(I have made a few others, but can't seem to find pictures of them at the moment.)

Another Day! Another Quilt!

I took the quilt I was working on for my four year old great-nephew, with me when we all went for our little outing to the museum Friday. When we returned to Mom's home later in the day, I proceeded to finish tacking it, in hopes of giving it to Richard that day(which didn't happen).As I was tacking it, we were telling him that this would be his quilt to replace the one the lady(the story is in one of my previous posts) had came by and picked up a few days ago. He had spent the last 4 years snuggling up on that quilt whenever it was nap time at his Grandmother's home. That, to him, was his quilt.And now it's gone.Well, he let me know real quick that he preferred his quilt to have more red in it, in place of the orange, I had used in the one I was tacking for him. After a little discussion with his Grandmother, we decided that we would give the quilt with the orange in it, to Richard's middle brother,DJ. He has never had a quilt made just for him. His older brother,Mikey, being the first born, had a quilt of his very own when he was very small. It has been added on to several times since he is now 18. We agreed that it was only fitting that DJ have his very own quilt,too. After all, he is now 12.Mom thought,perhaps, we were spoiling the kids a little too much,by giving in to his request to make him another quilt, but I need to move the material, and it gives me a little more incentive to put another quilt together, if I thought someone was out there, patiently waiting for "their own special quilt".It does my heart good to know that I have made something so special for one of the children in the family. Hopefully, Richard and DJ will cherish their quilts as much as their brother, Mikey, has.Both should be finished shortly.

Coca-Cola Anyone?

My Mother has been keeping in touch with a young friend she met when she first moved to St. Simon's Island, Georgia, nearly 40 years ago. She worked at the local school there for a short time, and got acquainted with a very young teacher, whom she still communicates with today. He went to work for the Coca-Cola Company shortly after that, and they have been sending each other Coke memorabilia ever since. Some old, some new, some very unusual and different. Any and everything with the Coca-Cola logo on it. Mom has saved most (maybe even all) of hers, and has always wanted to visit the Coca-Cola Museum in Elizabethtown to see if she had anything of great value.We finally took time out to make the trip.
It was very interesting. We were told that the building that houses the memorabilia at present is no where near big enough to hold all the pieces they own. They have several times that amount stored.
Mom wanted pictures and they gave us permission to take all the pictures we wanted, so I managed to take 52 for her. Not being real sure as to what she was interested in, I tried to get a variety of subjects. I sent them off to Walmart today and had her 52 4X6" copies made. I hope I captured something she likes.When she gets her mind set on something, you might as well, get to it, so we did.It was a nice day for the trip. The weather was nice.Mary, from "Nails in My Pocket" and her 4 year old grandson, Mom and myself. Mary bought our lunch at the newly reopened "Laker's" in Stephensburg.Then on to Mom's where we visited a little while longer before going our separate ways once more.We try to get a few of the siblings and Mom together on occasion and do something different now and then.
She use to go to various places like that,with her church group, The Silver Threads, but so many of them, like Mom are simply not able to get around so freely, like they once did.Several have gone to homes, or passed on, or are simply not able to make the trips any longer. I went with their group many times, and they always went to nice memorable places, usually places to eat. It was fun to be with all of them. They always made me feel like "one of the gang".