Another windy day, we are not talking breeze here but wind and lots of it. The sun is shining and looking out the window things look so pretty. Step outside and the picture changes, the temperatures are in the 50's so the wind makes it very cool. I have been trying to mow and have broken down and decided to do some spraying but the wind is making both impossible.
The dandelions have taken over large chunks of the yard and while I think they look cheerful they are hard to mow. I am not one of those people who demand a flawless lawn, more important things out there. I do however believe in getting rid of things like creeping Charlie which in our case is running Charlie. This stuff is like a wave washing over lawn and flower beds and choking out what ever is in it's path. When I was out in the yard earlier in the week I had to admit that the yellow of the dandelion and the purple of the Charlie was pretty, but that was a fleeting thought. We also wage a war with "Quack" grass and burdock and other unknown weeds. I have tried smothering them and digging them and pulling them but they are winning so now will spray. Hopefully by killing them off en-mass I will be able to control them in the future with more natural means.

Violet Lady asked where I was going, well the answer is "no where". I feel like a broken record here, all hyped about going to Chicago for master classes at Wilton and then saying no not now. This time it was a financial emergency that put the kabosh on things, Jim is still out of work and things just got too tight. The upside is that the motor home has new tires and Jim and done lots of little things. There was also a leak which he has managed to finally find and fix. I found a new spread for the bed at the thrift shop, brand new!! The people at Wilton have been so wonderful and helpful and understanding, I really appreciate it. I will make it out there, maybe in shorter increments but one way or another it is going to happen!!!

I may have found another silver lining, while doing a Google search for some type of class closer I found a work from home site. So I am checking into that and will let you know later on the details if all works out. This morning I received an email from the Women for Hire site, this is the one from Torry Johnson who appears on Good Morning America. This may be another opportunity , a work from home answering phones for a large clothing company. I loved my job at Lands' End and this seems as if it might be very similar, so keep your fingers crossed for me. At 25 hours a week it will be very doable and I can pretty much set my own hours.

I have started planting some things in the garden, broccoli, cauliflower and spinach so far. I also found the garlic I planted last year, apparently you plant it one year and harvest the next,lol. The strawberries are looking good, I have onions also coming up from last year as well as oregano and chives. In the basement I have pumpkins, jalapenos, Hungarian hot wax peppers, Ancho and several other types of peppers. I have planted Lemon Grass and Basil and am going to put dill and others outside. If I have a good enough crop I will be able to take some of the things up to the local farmer's market.

Jim is at work on my garden/craft shop, he replaced the screen on the door so wildlife will not longer be able to just stroll in. The raccoons? would go in and scatter pots and supplies every which way and in general make a huge mess. Now he is in the process of replacing bad boards on the side and going to put a window in. It has two windows high up in the ends which do not open. Eventually I want those replaced also with windows that can be opened.
This is a place for me to keep my garden supplies, pots and tools as well as work on projects like planters and bird baths. I love it and there is electric so is a great place to work, later we will insulate it and put some sort of paneling on the walls so I can use it also in the winter.

Best to you my friends and thank you for your visit,

Barbara

Tis the season of dirty fingernails

We have had a few spells of warm weather and rain and now things are really popping out of the ground, especially the weeds.
I can never seem to resist trying to pull them all up, and never seem to have my gloves handy. I am very pleased to see that most of my roses are coming back. Especially pleased about the 3 heirloom ones I bought in the fall, buying late and them being zone 5's it was a gamble. Seems that all my winterizing worked and they all are covered with leaves, yea!!

A few short weeks and I will be off on my journey, I am thinking all positive thoughts that nothing will go wrong. I really want this to happen for so many different reasons, my own satisfaction and knowledge and the old monetary reasons also. I already have people who want me to teach them so am thinking that might not be a bad thing. Mostly, am excited about all the new things I will learn and sharpening up the skills I already have.

The newest dog is settling in and getting along well with the other two. She is beautiful and apparently not well treated in her previous home. If you raise you hand she hits the floor, raise your voice, same thing. The newest chickens are growing fast and I am looking forward to being able to allow them out. I want them to be pretty good size as I have cats in the barn and do not want a catastrophe.

Just wanted to check in and let everyone know I am still around and thinking of you. My special thoughts go out to our beloved Violet Lady and her husband on the loss of their much loved Beau. He was so special to them, a valiant little poodle. Good luck wishes go Edie Marie's Attic and hope their move is going smoothly and that their new home is just perfect for them.

My oldest son Erick is getting married in July, seems like yesterday he was a little curly headed imp. Oh, well time marches on as they say and we all get older and hopefully wiser.
Jim still has had no luck in finding a job, going on 5 months now. I am sure something will turn up, but sure makes things tight. Glad we will have our garden to help and of course not having to use as much electric or gas for heat. Our older chickens are giving us 10 eggs a day so that is a good thing.

Best to you all,
Barbara

Monday, I think

The day started off sunny but is now overcast with chance of rain tonight. As it is fairly calm I have made several forays out into the yard. The grass is getting green, especially in the flower beds bummer. If anyone has a surefire cure for creeping charlie please let me know, I hate that stuff and it is every where. Easter Sunday brought something nice, some of my Daffydills are blooming. The moles had made their presence known in the middle of the bed so I was concerned that I would not have any flowers this year. Now I am on the lookout for tulips. My shrub roses are coming to life putting out leaves, will have to wait to see how the other bushes fared.

Jim had a productive couple of days, he moved the fence for the goats, now they have more room in the woods. They will eat underbrush and low lying branches and as they walk around they will help breakdown the fallen trees and limbs. He was able to make a path using the bucket on the tractor so it is easier to get around at least part of the woods. Little by little we make some progress. Moving the fence also allowed him to get the tractor further out in the field so he could work on digging out a piece of equipment. After using the chain saw to cut through a big root that had grown through one of the wheels he was able to free it. Other then the bent wheel it is all in one piece. Jim thinks he will be able to straighten it out and then we will have a plow, or at least I think that is what it is.

Our new dog is fitting in pretty well, at some point in her life she was trained which is wonderful. Unlike Charlie I will not have to spend months working with her, she just needs some refreshing.
We took everyone to the vets for their shots and he thinks as do I that she is about 2/3 years old. She has filled out some from when she first showed up, the bones and ribs are less predominate, her heavy coat hides just how thin she is. The tips of her ears have been frost bitten so there is no telling how long she was on her own. Upon weighing them , well except for Molly, Charlie tipped the scales at 80 pounds of muscle and Gretel only weighs 55 pounds. The trip was very traumatic for Molly, she does not like riding in the car, going strange places or meeting strange people,lol. I am able to take Molly and Gretel out at the same time which is nice, they both mind very well so all I have to do is call and they come right back. Charlie, well Charlie is the rocket he is getting better but at this point I do not trust all 3 out and loose.

I had a conversation via instant message with an old friend last night and she gave me some very bad news. I had know she was having breathing issues and was on oxygen, but the latest news was that she is diagnosed with lung cancer . She started off as my boss but became a dear friend so I am asking for prayers for her to help beat this. With all the wonderful people out there, if we join our prayers we can help her. Thank you so much. Best to you all, Barbara

There is sun!!!

Nice to wake up and see the sun shining in certainly starts the day off on a good note.
We reached nearly 70 yesterday but with the high winds seemed much cooler, and supposed to be warmer then that today.

Did I mention we have a new dog, or rather she has us?? She is fitting in pretty well, still a few issues between the girls. It has been about a week and to see her perk up and have more energy is wonderful. Amazing what some regular feedings can do for a girl!! This is not a good picture of her, will get some better ones.

I am fighting some sort of bug or cold and I am not happy! I am such a baby, I seldom get sick so when I do it is very annoying, just want it over with. Yucky eyes, stuffy nose, cough and just feel off. Ok, I am finished whining. Being very aware that there are so many people in the world who wish all they had to deal with were a cold, I am mostly kidding. Just needed some pity vibes here.

When I had the dogs out this morning I saw that my daffidills are making good progress. I was worried as there were new mounds from moles , they can sure mess up a flower bed. If the warm weather continues I am going to go out and try to do some serious weeding. The grass around here is very invasive and just does not want to give up.

Think I am going to call it a day , just wanted to check in and say hi. Wishing everyone a wonderful day, week, month. Sherri and Wes, good luck with the moving!!

Barbara

Spring Has Sprung!!!

Spring is here and so am I , finally!! Hope this finds all well , enjoying their lives and pursuing their dreams. Life continues on here, highs and lows but all in all good. Jim is home full time and has been since December. His job hunt continues and we hope for something close to home. We still seem to like each other considering we have not done the 24/7 thing for many years.

Jim is being super working like crazy to catch up on all that needs doing. The snow is melting at a good rate there have been sunny days which do wonderful things for my moods. I can see the tips of tulips and daffodils poking up so there are signs of life, buds on the trees and lots of birds including Robins. On a down note we did not get wire around the new fruit trees and either rabbits or deer snacked on them over the winter. One or two might make it but I am afraid the new plum, cherry and apple trees are pretty much history. Another lesson in country living!

Critter wise we lost one of the goats to unknown illness. The vet came out several times and times numerous things none of which worked. I have made two new online friends who have goats and are very knowledgeable about the raising and care of them. In their opinion sometimes goats just decide to die and so they do! We put in heaters for her and hand fed her but she still went down hill. As soon as the ground thaws enough we will put her to rest with our other pets. The plus side of the Internet are all the wonderful people you meet, how else would I have met two people with the same likes in life who live so far away. One, Torry lives in Virginia and the other, Mary lives in the UK.

We have new additions in the form of 22 baby chickens!! The first ones are now laying on a regular basis and providing us with about 10 eggs a day. I have several people to share with who like the brown eggs and the fact that the chickens have a good natural diet, drug free. The new ones are still in the basement but Jim is going to partition off part of the coop for them and they will be moved out next week. We will take the heat lights out for the nights but they should be big enough to thrive. They have grown so fast and we will have more eggs in about July or August.

Jim is working on the basement. After our big flood we really have not done much down there. He is taking apart a large shelf unit, he sawed off one 6 foot section which I am going to use for my plants. I am running a bit behind on getting my seeds started but do not think it will be too terrible. Once I can get some space ready in the garden I can put out spinach and cauliflower and broccoli as they are ok with the cold. Other things will have to wait until any danger of frost is past. It will be wonderful to have more organization in the basement.

He has also worked on the tractor rebuilt the carburetor,,disc brakes and did tuning up. The tractor now starts up on the first try, runs smoothly and best of all stops. Now we need to find a plow so one of us can plow the new garden area. Since things did so well in the last couple of years I decided to move the garden and expand. Through trial and error I now know that many things need much more room. I will get the hang of this eventually,lol I placed an order for a variety of peppers which I cannot find around here.

Wonderful to be back and I will try to be more consistent with my postings, I do enjoy visiting with you and think about you often. My problem is getting if from my brain onto the blog!!

Best to you all

Amazing what the wind can do with the snow, can you see where it is up the wall of my garden shed? Of course with all those drifts the driveway was impassible. I was out walking the dog and saw our neighbor at the end of the drive, next thing I know he comes plowing through. I want one of his little machines, it is a front end loader with caterpillar treads and he seems to be able to get through anything. Are you able to see how high the drifts are behind him?

I showed you pictures of the wonderful and creative purse Sherry made me. I had painted a shirt for her husband Wes. Well they sent me thanks via email and Sherry wrote about it in her blog and posted a picture of the shirt. To top all of this off Wes wrote me the nicest note with more thanks. All of this means so much to me, I tend to doubt my talents and while I enjoy painting I worry that I am not "getting" the soul of the subject. To have these wonderful people so enjoy what I have done means the world.

In my time in blog world I have been blessed with meeting some very special people. My thanks to all of you, in our world we get so overwhelmed with the bad, the evil, Mother Nature trying to wipe us off the face of her earth we tend to lose track of the good. We are surrounded with good, sometimes we need to look a little harder, try a little harder, put out there a good thing to make things better.

Jim went to Jeff and Stasia's farm and was able to salvage quite a bit of woodwork and some doors which will help to make our home a bit more homelike. Again some more nice people met in blog land, Stasia's blog is Yarn and a Barn. Hopefully they are moved into their new home and nice and snug.
They are both talented people Stasia is a fiber artist and Jeff a chef. Hopefully we will be able to spend some time with them once the weather warms up. I had to stay here while Jim drove to Wisconsin to do the work. Due to the cold we could not take the dogs with and they are too much of a handful for others to handle in this bad weather.

We are having a heat wave, up to low 30's today and the wind was not too high which is a good thing. Jim fixed the front brakes on the truck and changed one rear strut on the Pontiac, he will do the other tomorrow. So nice for him to be home, he is making lots of progress on things that have needed to be done. He is also helping me with the animals also. I have mentioned that with the cold weather water needs to be taken out to the animals. When the goats big water pail needs to be changed that takes 16 gallons, the chickens have a 2 gallon water dispenser and then there is a bowl for the cats and the birdbath. So, all in all it is a pretty heavy load even using the sled. Jim helps me pull it out there and empty and refill every one's water.

One of the goats is having a hard time with the cold this year, not quite sure why but we are doing all we can to keep her going. We put the heater in their little house with a piece of rug over part of the entrance to keep the heat in. She sleeps beside it, or stands with her head over it. We have not had any more episodes of shivering so think that is a good sign. She is eating and when we were picking up feed I also bought some electrolytes which I am giving her using a syringe. I tried to get her to drink out of a bowl, but no go remembered that I had some larger syringes and ta da got it down her. It has only been a couple of days so not sure if it is helping or not but I feel better having tried.

The chickens are doing well, we are up to 5 or 6 eggs a day so have not had to buy any eggs and have some to share. Jim said when he went out this afternoon to take care of everyone all the chickens were out. After he had finished with everyone else he went to the chicken coop and stood by the door. He said it was so funny, all he did was say "ok, time to go in" and they all lined up and went in. He said they were clucking all the way and a couple stopped and talked to him and then went on in. I wish I had a picture.

Best to you all,
Barbara

Happy New Year!!!

I wish everyone the best new year possible, may the problems from 09 vanish.

We now have a fresh start, new energy to right wrongs and start new projects.

I am hoping we can finish old projects, and put some of our plans into place. If

nothing else we will keep plugging away.

Look what the mailman brought!! Isn't it great. Sherry from Edie Marie's Attic made it for me, she does really nice work. If you would like one I can have

her contact you. She will also use material from any garment you might have that has sentimental value. You would be able to carry something from your loved one with you always or memories of a special event.

You meet the nicest people from our blogs.

I have mentioned on several occasions that a great deal of the trim in our old home was stolen before we purchased her. Now we may be able to spiff her up some. Stasia and her husband at Yarn and a Barn have built a new home and their old one is to be used as practice for the local firemen. Before that happens they are going to let us go in and salvage what we can use. I am so excited about this, with our home in not real pretty shape it is a bit depressing.

The liner and insulation for our wood stove was delivered yesterday so Jim will be busy for the next couple of days. He has to enlarge the hole in the chimney in the dining room where the stove will be hooked up. I choose to put it in the dining room as that room is larger then the front room. So the stove will heat the kitchen, dining room and front room areas. A bonus will be that the heat will also travel up the back stairs and help heat the upstairs. I read that the old homes were built to act as a chimney so the heat would travel up through the house all the way to the attic. This was a good thing in winter and summer, those old builders were so clever. This is why when I cook something you can smell it in the attic. When I run the dryer in the basement you can smell the fresh scent all through the house.

I have come up with a new crop, I will let you know when it is ripe.

Best to all, Barbara