Sunday, May 16, 2010

My Relay For Life Weekend

Whew! I've been busy supporting our local American Cancer Society's Relay For Life event. I'm a, "co-team captain" for the team we have at work, and this weekend was the culmination of the better part of a year's worth of work. It was awesome. Our local color guards did a great job. I could tell they were well practiced. Nice job, boys!


Here we are, getting the whole thing started with the survivor lap!



Relay For Life is such a great cause. I don't know of anyone who hasn't been touched by cancer in one form or another. What better way to spend a weekend than by going out and walking to raise money? So we walked, and we walked, and we walked. And we cheered!


Relay For Life isn't known for: five star campsites.

Relay For Life isn't known for: five star sleeping accommodations.


Relay For Life is known for: celebrating the survivors of cancer.
Relay For Life is known for: remembering our loved ones who have lost the battle with cancer.
Relay For Life is known for: bringing much needed funds to the fight against cancer.
But most of all, Relay For Life is known for:

Thursday, May 13, 2010

My Kind Of Campaign Ad!

2 Advertising signs - $100
8 Bungee cords - $10
1 stock trailer - $0
Redneck advertising in almond orchard next to busy highway - Priceless!




Monday, May 10, 2010

Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

It was warm not very long ago. Now it's not, and I was cold today. After work, I started a fire in our wood stove when I got home. Tonight, I wanted something warm and toasty, sort of snuggly-ish, and I decided on hot chocolate. I like drinking hot chocolate in the winter, but didn't want to have to keep going to the store for the mix. Call it laziness, or me being a tightwad, but I started experimenting. After a few tries, I concocted this final, perfect recipe out of 3 different ones. Here it is, in all its glory. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Homemade Hot Chocolate

3 cups Nesquick
3 cups powdered milk
3/4 - 1 cup sugar, depending on how sweet you like it
1/2 cup cocoa (like the dry Hershey's cocoa)
1/2 cup powdered creamer

Mix in a large bowl to combine all ingredients. Blend well. Store tightly in a covered container. To serve: combine 1/4 to 1/3 cup of mix into 3/4 cup boiling water.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Mother's Day and Yard Pictures

Happy Mother's Day! We started a tradition with our kids on Mother's Day morning... maybe 10 or 15 years ago. We pack a picnic lunch, cold drinks, the fishing poles, sometimes the lawn chairs or floaty things, and away we go to have a quiet time with the family. After we come home, we work in the yard, or just kick back and enjoy the day. This Mother's Day will be a little too chilly to go fishing, so we are going rock hunting. But don't worry, no rocks will be harmed in the making of this trip!!

I thought I would show you some pictures of the yard that Hubby took this morning. This one is looking towards the garage, up the creek.


Same thing, only farther away.


Other direction, with his back to the garage.


Looking out to what used to be our pasture, and now is an extension of our yard.


"The Hill." This is out by the ditch. We had new leach lines put in years ago, and our backhoe driver had to dig up about 20-30 eucalyptus stumps. We told him to just pile them all up, and we would take care of them later. Hubby cut as much wood off that he could, and then we burned the rest of the pile. Then we burned them again. And then we burned them again. After that, we still had a huge pile of burned stumps that we didn't know what to do with. So, we piled up dirt, clippings, and prunings on top of it, then planted flowers, and Viola! "The Hill!" It's quite pretty now, especially considering how ugly it was for so long. It's not done yet, though. It will get a solar powered water feature, more trees, and who knows what else!! But not this year. Or next year. I'll have to get back to you on that.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

The Learning Curve!

Did you know that when you are typing the title on a post and you press, "Enter" it automatically publishes the post??? It's something I learned last night. Then I tried to finish the post, but things started happening, and I wasn't able to get back to it, and I'm sure you can guess the rest. Anyway, the post now has something on it, and life is grand. Meanwhile, outside, it's sunny and warm, with winds that will keep me from getting too hot, so I'm off to work in the yard. With some ice water. And my dog. And my drip hoses. But not necessarily in that order. Thank you for your patience.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Things Are Hopping!

Gardening is pretty simple, really. This.......


Plus this.......

And some of these.......

Add up to this!



I have lots of new raised beds. I helped put them up by holding the sides while hubby pounded them in the ground. It's just one of the many services I provide. I've hauled dirt, compost, and manure, and last night, I finished filling in the beds. This is a list of things I have planted: zucchini, yellow straight neck squash, scalloped squash mix, 4 different kinds of peppers, 6 different kinds of tomatoes, honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon and small, funky gourds. I still need to plant the cucumbers and beans, and more garlic. But now, I have some leftover tomato and squash plants. If I listen to my husband, I will take the plants to school and give them away. I don't always listen to my husband, though! Besides, I have people that will take the extra. Yes, that's right, I have friends! And, my eldest just told me I should let some of the zucchini get big, because they taste really good with pasta sauce, cheese, and shrimp, all wrapped up and barbecued. So maybe 4 zucchini plants isn't enough!

Anyway, I've been very busy taking care of my garden, putting in new stuff. We are waiting on an order to come for drip emitters to finish the first phase of the watering. Second phase will be to dig PVC pipe to each bed, put risers and a hose bib on, then a timer on each. That should be done within a month or so. Third phase will be to connect to electricity and put all of the garden on timers, without batteries! Oh, my goodness, but that won't be done for awhile. As in, maybe 5 years or more.

I'm counting down the days until the end of school so I can stay home and work here. 29 days to go! Wahoo!