Busted!!!

How many times have I told you to stay off the furniture??

It wasn't my fault, he made me do it. No, she was up here first, it's her fault! You know I would not do anything to upset you Mom. I love you!


Hide me Elvira, Mom's mad!


I keep telling people that having Charlie and Molly around is like having a couple of two year olds. I rest my case.



While out in the yard earlier Charlie found a box he would not leave alone. Turns out there was an opossum in it, great. So we go in and I hope the creature will go away. No such luck, we go out again and he manages to shake it out of the box. I run over to drag him away and there lies the possum, first time I have seen one play dead. Later on go out again and it is gone, Charlie wanted to go and hunt it up, I nixed that idea real fast.

This is a new morning glory I planted this year, they called it a double? I was hoping it would open up a little more but this seems to be as good as it gets.
It has been downright chilly in the mornings here, was 46 yesterday. It is only up to 73 so far today and it is 2:30. I like Fall but it is the thought of Winter following close on it's heels that does not make me real thrilled. It seems about the time you get the garden looking good, Mother Nature freezes it. Well, at least you have Spring to look forward too,lol.

The best to you, Barbara

A request

Happy Monday, today is another beautiful day cool, sunny and little breeze. I was disconcerting to realize it was on 46 this morning, fall is on the way. This weather is great for working in the yard, but bad for the crops as we could sure use some rain.

I recieved an email today with a request for a little help, nothing bad. My husband's nephew Paul has a band megaphone and he and his band are in a contest. The contest is being run like American Idol so all the votes count and the band that wins gets some nice prizes. So, my friends if you have the time they would appreciate your help in the form of a vote. You need to go to this site www.makerockhistory.com, go to the bottom of the page and sign up as a fan. The site will send you an email showing you have registered, you follow the link back to makerockhistory and in the search area type in megaphone. You will then see a vido of the boys playing one of their songs, Paul is the one with the Abe Lincoln beard and his brother Scott is on the drums. I really appreciate your taking the time to do this for the guys, they are a nice group and I hope we can help them out.

That is my good deed for the day, so thank you for helping.
The best to you, Barbara

Happy Saturday

About 6:30 stumbled down the stair to take the dogs out, opened the door and had to dash back upstairs to get my camera. I thought the sky looked so cool, the sun is still below the horizon but the sky was so blue. The dogs milled around on the front porch wondering what the heck I was up to now!! As I wandered around taking pictures they were happy, they got to stay out longer and chase bugs and eat grass. They found the scent of someone who had wandered through the flower bed. My tallest sunflowers are starting to open finally. Sunflowers seem so happy and friendly, I am so lucky to have enough space to plant as many as I want. I think by next year I should have enough space cleared to plant many more.Blogger is just not being nice to me lately, will not let me move my pictures around like I want. Oh, well, minor glitch. The white flowers are cleones or spider flowers and they are doing great, hopefully more will come up next year. Can you see how dry it is, I water the flowers but not the grass, what passes for grass is now brown.

Then we checked out the gourds which have spread all over and now there are lots and lots of baby gourds. There are still many flowers on the vines, this gives me hope that if I get them planted earlier next year I should have a bumper crop. Found that the morning glories are blooming now also. I made a rustic entry to the garden area and planted morning glory and moon flower vine seeds. The morning glories have been slow to bloom this year, along with so much else.




The dogs carefully explored all the nooks and crannies and flushed out lots of frogs. I am hoping that all these frogs mean they are eating lots of bugs and my plants will be bug free.
By now the sun was coming up and time for us to head inside and get ready for the day. Lots to do and hopefully I can get a decent amount done. Have a wonderful weekend, thank you so much for stopping by. As I have mentioned in the past, reading your comments brings smiles to my day. Best to you, Barbara

Mother Nature fooled me again!

Well, she got me again. I mentioned before that I did not think there would be any gourds, or watermelons as they got a late start. When I went into the garden on the weekend, lo and behold I have a gourd almost full size. Later in the day I found 3 baby watermelons plus a cucumber. She is an amazing lady and I need to have more faith. I may not get a huge crop but there will some gourds and other goodies. I also found some almost ripe tomatoes which I picked and they are now sitting on the window sill getting ready to be my BLT. Miss blog here is giving me fits and won't let me put my pictures or words where I want. So today's will be short.
Catch ya later.

Be on the look out for

I'm not sure where it is headed, but the summer squash is on the move again. Last seen heading over the fence into the strawberry patch. Approach with caution as we are not sure of it's powers, we think it may be trying to link up with the zucchini. The zucchini seems to have tapped into a secret source of nutrition as they are reaching monstrous proportions. The tomatoes seem to be sharing the same source as they are also exceeding all expectations. I know it is hard to tell from the pictures but the zucchini is about the length of my forearm. With the tomatoes think the largest beefeater type and that is where they are. I tried lifting the branches and gave up as the weight is so much I thought the branch would probably break. My mouth is watering for a good BLT. The zucchini amaze me with the speed with which they grow. The gourd plants are spreading like mad and covered with flowers, but I am afraid it is too late in the year for me to expect any gourds. I talked to a lady in the hardware store and she said hers do not even have flowers yet. The cold wet spring coupled with low temps over the summer has slowed the growth in many plants. I am just going to have to plan more carefully next year and start everything much earlier inside. I need to make lists and timetables so I can keep myself on track with all these projects.

I guess now would also be a time to start on Christmas projects, I have not made my Angels for a few years. With all the upsets and changes my creative juices were at a trickle. Time to open the floodgates and get back at it. I also need to twink Jim's Santa suit, actually I think I may make a whole new one. We went with a soft fabric thinking the kids would like it, but I think it is too soft. I am thinking a stiffer fabric that will hold it's shape.

It was very misty this morning and I thought my roses looked so pretty like they were gem encrusted. I also finished a new project on Monday, an arch. When in Mankato for the dentist my friend Ellen spotted the arches on sale at Michael's. On Sunday I had finally decided where I wanted to put it and went to work. I was moving right along and feeling pleased with my efforts when it came to a screeching halt. There were not enough screws!! bummer!

Being Sunday nothing close was open so had to wait until Monday and then success. I was rather pleased with myself, not having to take it back apart because I had put something in the wrong place. I am the person who in home Ec had to take her shirt apart 3 times due to putting sleeve inside blouse, putting it on upside down and inside out. Takes me a bit to get it all together. So, wadda ya think?? I have a whole scenario planed with paths and lots of plants , then it will not look so lonely. I want to have climbing roses and clematis growing over it. I plan on making lots of stepping stones in different patterns and will use those. My goal is a cottage garden with little lawn and tons of perennials. Was pleased so many of the plants came up this Spring. The white flowers are Cleones or Spider flowers and the original plants were pink and white. The ones that came up are 99% white, hummm. Mother Nature likes to give me puzzles.

I have yammered on far too long here, thank you for coming to visit. Looking through and seeing who shared their time with me, I get joy and smiles from your visits. Best to all, Barbara

Is your hut on fire?

I was sent this in an email and thought how true. Some times what seems the worst opens a door to something better. Enjoy!

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, 'God! How could you do this to me?' Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! 'How did you know I was here? ' asked the weary man of his rescuers.
'We saw your smoke signal,' they replied.
The Moral of This Story
It's easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn't lose heart,
because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering.
Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground.
It just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God.

Warmish Sunday

Jim is on his way back to work, he was supposed to be home for 4 days but something broke at work . So, now he is on the way back and it will be two weeks before he is home again. This is always the part that bugs me the most and I have all the selfish whiny thoughts of I wish he were here. Yuck, do not like to be like that, should be sending lots of prayers up being thankful he has a job. He had a project this weekend that went well, got the item made and shipped. I am so proud of all his talents, just wish they would come together a little better for him.

Had to brag about one of my roses, I think it is so lovely the different hues. The bud it starts out with is perfect in shape and takes several days to open. In all we get to enjoy the rose for almost a week. The other roses are growing so fast, lots of buds so will have beauty and great scent for weeks. As I mentioned before the garden is going wild, so fun. In the foreground on the right is the ONE zucchini plant, on the left are the strawberries. Back right are tomato plants, middle are the monster yellow squash plants, left we have broccoli and cauliflower. Taking over the fence in the back are my gourd plants, this is a 5 foot fence to give you some prospective. Now you see why I am revising my garden plans for next year, much more room. So lucky to have so much space to spread out and plant to my hearts content.

Wanted to show of the terrible twosome, Molly is really growing fast. She gives Charlie a work out, fearless little thing. Charlie is changing color, my theory is that since he was always tied out he got bleached. Now that new hair is growing in he is a wonderful shade of chocolate. I am also showing off several more of our projects as in painting house a better color, putting down a real porch floor rather then sheets of plywood. I have a new storm door picked out. The current one is bent on the left side where it was pried open when they broke in and stole our woodwork and appliances, plus it is uuugly. The upside is that we can't sit around and moan we are bored or have nothing to do. It will be fun to post pictures showing the afters as we get them done.

Going and reading others blogs is a pleasant way to spend a few hours, so much diversity, but so much the same. We all have joys, sorrows, challenges and successes. How we meet the hurdles and clear them gives us different slants on life. I learn so much from you all and enjoy your visits and comments. Thank you for sharing, Barbara

Soothing Saturday

The weatherman predicted hot, hot, hot for the last several days, thank goodness he was wrong.
Noon time and it is 75 with a nice breeze, I have about 4 loads of wash on the line and have been playing in my flowers. The government is urging us to hang out our wash to save fuel so I am being good and doing my part. I also enjoy it and figure that walking up and down the stairs and toting the laundry baskets is good exercise. As often happens when I am doing something that does not require my full attention, my mind wanders off the beaten track. I was thinking how we are so dependent on machines and end up running from dawn to dusk. While I am saving fuel and hanging my clothes out, I am enjoying the fresh air, sunshine and birds singing. I am moving around and exercising which helps my health, I have time to daydream and think important ? thoughts. When I take the clothes down I fold them so when I get inside all I have to do is put them away. If I have missed any stains in the washing, since they did not go through the dryer they are not set and I have another shot at getting them out. I always tried to pass on to the kids how to make their clothes last longer. Turn them inside out, treat stains from the back, always check for stains, take things out of the dryer before they are bone dry. The guys actually do a better job of it, makes me proud.

More lessons from the garden, plant things further apart, these plants get huge!! Next year I am allowing much more space, some of the tomatoes and sweet potatoes have disappeared under the summer squash. The watermelon is invading the strawberry patch and the zucchini has taken over the whole other end of the garden. Some of the tomato plants are about 5 feet tall, wow, and getting covered with maters. The enjoyment of picking fresh, non chemical treated veggies is great. Jim has enjoyed zucchini fritters served with sour cream, fried zucchini with marinara sauce. He is also enjoying the strawberry jam I made. Once the tomatoes are ripe the fun will really start, I am checking out all kinds of recipes. My friend Ellen gave me a recipe for frozen coleslaw, never heard of it, tastes great. Once the new crop of potatoes comes in she is going to show me how to can them, in December we will be able to enjoy all kinds of fresh stuff.

This is one of those nice, relaxing days that are so few and far between. Jim is working on a project and having fun in his own shop which is super. He is also finding lots of his toys, amazing all the things we have. Days like this help to make up for the ones where it is 30 below and the wind is howling. Hopefully this winter will find us a little warmer.

Best to you, Barbara