This morning, Hubby and I went to the Farmer's Market. It's sort of a date thing with us. We go to the Farmer's Market most Saturday mornings, and then shopping at Winco. Everybody does that, right?? Ahh, true love. It pretty much goes like this: All of a sudden, there we were, alone in a 32,000 square foot building with 25 foot ceilings. Me, totally smitten by this gorgeous hunk of a man, as I was pushing the cart somewhere between the feminine hygiene isle and the 5 lb. bricks of 73% lean ground beef. Him, wielding the shopping list with such keen authority, no wasted motion as he made crucial decisions in mere nano seconds, not unlike a lion chasing his prey on the Serengeti.
Yep, folks. That's us. Each weekend. Anyway, as if that wasn't enough excitement, on our way back, we were looking at the birds in the rice fields. I love this time of year. The rice farmers around us flood the fields as soon as the rice is harvested to give the migrating birds a place to rest, eat and play a little poker when no one is looking. I thought you might like to see a few pictures I took. Here they are, just chillin'.
A few more in the air, but still taking a break.
I think their break is over! There they go!
T urkey. The noble bird.
H ubby. He's my one and only. The love of my life.
A mazing. My life.
N ana. I miss her lots, and think of her often.
K ids. My adult children. I love them like crazy. Cuz they are!
S ister. She's pretty crazy sometimes, too!
G randparents. They're part of who we are.
I n-laws. Mine are pretty cool!
V isitors. Company at our table is the best!
I ndulge. Sometimes too much!
N ap. To settle the turkey and stuffing!
G obble gobble. Or maybe gastronomy?
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
I've been MIA for the past few months. I won't bore you with the details, but I think I'm ready to get back into the groove of things. You know, things like life. Things like work, which means sweet little kids as high as my hip. Things like after school projects! Which brings me to my newest, latest and greatest project. I've been working really hard, only occasionally needing the assistance of either my youngest son or my dear darling hubby. Not that my son isn't dear and darling, but I don't think he really wants to think of himself as that. Anyway, back to my project. My poor chickens were complaining about yet another wet winter in their old coop. They hate wet feet when it's cold and windy. I even heard rumblings of an egg strike if nothing was done! So, I agreed to make them a new coop. They requested a movable coop, so they can have fresh grass and dry feet. I went to work, and.......Ta Da! Here's what I came up with!
David and I had moved it around so hubby could hook onto the lawn tractor and drag it into the pasture.
Umm, yea. That took a little thought and a change of plans.
If we're anything, we're stubborn and persistent. If it doesn't work the first time, try a different approach!
Here it is, on its way down the driveway, ready to make the turn into our pasture. The perfect spot for chickens!
And here they are, in their new home. Ready for winter, ready for a fresh supply of grass, seeds, and bugs! Whew! Strike averted!
I was looking through some pictures of mine, and I thought you might like to see, too! This is a family ranch, where we sometimes go on vacation. We camp, work, and putter. The guys hunt, and I cook. Oh, do I cook! The evenings are cool, and I have a real stove and oven. It's pretty cool. Anyway, last year, Michael and I went up for a long weekend. Michael is our oldest, and he and I had a few things to do. I took the camera, and shot a few pictures. This first one is on the road up to our camp. It's one of the fields next to a fallen down shed. It was made of hand hewn lumber. So cool.
This is the meadow that our camp looks out on. This is seriously cool. Prettiest place on earth. Just ask me. I'll tell you!!
And here's my boy! Kicking back in camp, after a hard day's work.
Yeah, he's back to driving!! Hmmm, I wonder how many miles per gallon this thing gets, and can he go to town and back??? Ha! Anyway, here is my hubby, after a bit of a forced, "relaxation." He decided the pasture was high enough, and it needed mowing.
We even took some of the clippings to my chickens that were moved to a new spot under the trees. They loved it!
I have a question. A bean question. Or, rather, a question about beans. I got home today after a lengthy (for me) absence from home. Can you guess what I did as soon as I got home? I ran (well, more like sauntered) out to my garden to look things over. Among other things, my green beans are producing. And I guess they've been producing for what looks like almost the entire time (3 weeks) I've been gone. There are beans of all maturity, but lots of older ones. Could I use just plain old green beans as dried beans? Could I pick the older ones, dry them, and cook them up later instead of throwing them into the compost heap? Would it be worth the work, or would I be better off to use them as compost, and try a true dried bean variety next season? I've never grown dried beans before, and now am at a total loss as to what to do with this multitude of old beans.
Thank you for any and all help you can give me. Oh, and I know that was more than one question, but I was sort of on a roll. Besides, it's been a long day, and maybe, I might kind of be suffering from the effects of 2 bowls of mint chocolate chip ice cream. I sort of didn't stop after the first one. True story.
Signed,
Just One Simple Human Bean
I've been visiting here at a hospital, and some of the patients have mentioned there's alot of turkey served at meal time. Turkey meat is healthy! It has less fat than beef. It's very versatile, and it tastes good! Hmmmm, but perhaps that's not the only reason???? Look what was crossing the road right in front of my car this morning! I stopped and waited while they walked on by. Whoever said beef is what's for dinner, hasn't spent much time here!
I have been out of town and staying with a friend for the past few days. I needed to leave for awhile this morning to do a few things, and she wanted to send me off with something to eat. You know, so I wouldn't have to even think about what to have, or where to go for a snack or lunch. I tried to tell her I was fine, and she didn't have to worry, but she wasn't having any part of that. What a sweetie! Check out what she packed for me. Oh, and she added in a bottle of water, a bottle of tea, 3 small ice packs, napkins, and silverware!
Today, I put together a quick take-along project, and needed a few things I thought were in my sewing basket. After shuffling through the all the stuff I had squirreled away, I finally found what I was looking for. But before then? What a mess! Just look at it!
This is what I found........ the case I keep my rotary cutter and machine quilting stuff in. Not too bad, huh?? Those white quilting gloves were lost for about a month. Then my niece returned them. I had loaned them to her while she was finishing a quilt. I really like them. Good thing for me she's very honest!!
A cookbook. My sewing basket is the perfect place for a cookbook. I would hate to think it was on a shelf somewhere, mixed in with other cookbooks.
Needles and safety pins. That makes sense!
Uhhhhh, I don't even remember why this one is in my basket. It's a ratchet strap for cinching down things in the back of our truck. They're great for just about everything, but I can't see that they would be good for sewing.
And of course, the ever-present odds and ends in the bottom. There's an incredibly tiny pink knitted hat with a cute pom-pom, eye drops that have never been used, lots of thread, pens, pencils, fabric, a cardboard quilting template, and a paintbrush. Please tell me I'm not the only one that does this. Please???
We have some friends that live right under the flight path of the local Air Force base. Each year during the air show, our friends put on a major soiree and invite all their friends and family. It's quite the big doin's! It's also lots of fun. Anyway, when we were waiting for the planes to show up, a few of the kids kept busy by riding the horses. I thought maybe you'd like to see how these folks can dismount. Pretty cool!!
First, Michelle showed the kids how it's done. See her daughter right behind her? "Don't worry Mom, I've got your back!"
Uhhh, Step 1: Sit sideways and hitch up your britches!
Then, you simply grab both the front and back of the saddle, lean over backwards, look at the ground, flip your feet over your head and...........
land on the ground!! Yeah, I was quite happy to just take pictures.
So then, Michelle had her first victim, um, I mean student. "Hop on up, my young padewan learner!"
"Uh, Mom, are you sure about this??"
"Don't worry, I've got your back.... " Scooch forward..... hang on........
And, lean back.......
Like, waaaay back!!
Look at the ground, girlfriend!!!
Feet up.......
Flip those feet!
and over!!!!
Dismount!! A perfect 10, wouldn't you say??
Then, not to be outdone by the girls.....
Look at that smile, folks! He's on top of the world.... well, ok, he's on top of a horse, but you know what I mean!
He knows what to do. Sit sideways, scooch forward, grab both sides........
"Uhhh, Mom? Hello? You there???"
Yeah, ok. Lean waaaaay back!
Hang on!! Legs up!! Look at the ground!!
And then??? Aggghhhh!! I ran out of space on my card. Can you believe it??? But he did a great dismount! It was awesome!
P.S. Thank you, Red, for being the most patient, awesomest horse ever! And, not to forget the human, too! Kylee spent the better part of her "off time" that day with many kids, giving many rides. To say nothing of saddling and then unsaddling more than one critter. She was so patient, and so considerate of each and every person she took out. I think she made the day for more than just the kids.
I thought you might like to see what I use to pick algae out of my little pond. Nothing fancy, but it sure does the trick. Cost me all of about $4, too! I probably could have made it for even less if I had gotten the brush at the dollar store, but I was at the hardware store, and didn't want to make another stop. I was being lazy. Anyway, here's the little gem at work:
Pretty sweet, huh?? I was able to pick up that clump of algae all at once, and go on about my business. Here's a closeup of the business end of the whole thing. Maybe you recognize it???
If you have a pond and are having a hard time grabbing the clumps of algae, these are easy to make. All you need is a NEW toilet brush with the extra little brush pokey-out thing, a few zip ties, and a stick/pole/handle. My handle was from a painting brush, probably 4-5 feet long. It could be an old broom, mop, or whatever you might have laying around that hasn't made it to the garbage yet. Zip tie the brush to the end of the handle, and away you go! Here's mine. Uh, maybe I should cut the zip ties?? Yea, I'll get right on that.
Speaking of ponds, I've got some flowers in mine!
And a few visitors at night! Guess I'd better put the new food somewhere else.
