My Secret Project

GREETINGS!

I know it's been quite a while since I've posted, and I have no excuse other than that I just haven't been in the mood!    I have pictures of our Branson trip and of mine and Judy's August outing to do, and will try to get back in the groove!

In the meantime, Ronnie and his buddy Jack went off to a big U.S. shoot of some kind in Illinois.  Big deal to cowboy shooters, not so much to their wives!  They have been gone for 4 days now and will be home Sunday some time.  So I used this opportunity to do some painting!  See below........

I did both the front and back doors in this color.  I really wanted more of a Salmon color, but this is kind of growing on me!  I rather imagine Ronnie will not be too pleased, but, oh well.  We've talked of painting the house for 3 yrs now and haven't; so I figured this would go good with the "tan" if and when we ever get it painted.  If not, no big loss -- just a quart of paint!  Maybe I should have done purple!!  What fun.

On a more serious note, I had an interview with an elementary school prinicipal this week about doing some volunteer work.  I start as a kind of teacher's aide this coming Tuesday, and will work Tuesdays and Wednesdays for 4 hours or so helping the two 2nd grade teachers.  At this time they have no one to help them, so hopefully this will help them a little.  Have to go to have my fingerprints taken on Monday and have a background check.  I guess the boredom of staying home all the time has finally caught up with me; I look forward (I think) to getting out and doing something productive.  Pray that my patience and nerves are in good order!  :)

That's all I know for now.  Until next time, take care and God bless you and yours.

A Day To Give Thanks

GREETINGS!

I really hadn't planned on blogging today, but since I'm here I'll do a quick one.

Twenty-one years ago today I suffered a ruptured aneurysm in my brain.  I want to publicly give thanks to my God for choosing to give me these bonus years of life.  He is an awesome God, all the time!  I praise Him for providing the two wonderful doctors who helped to save my life, but most of all, I thank the Lord.  I have not done anything astounding during these years, but I know there is a reason He saw fit to keep me here;  I'll just keep trying to figure it out I guess!  :)

That's all I know.  Until next time, take care and God bless you and yours.

Just Checking In

GREETINGS!

It's been a few days since I've posted, so thought I'd better check in.  My family and friends are asking about my proximity to the fires and so I want to let all know that we are fine.  The biggest fires are North of Tulsa - about 100+ miles from us - and the others are kind of Southeast of us a ways.  So for the time being we are safe.  But I must say, it's scarey being on top of a mountain that is all dried up, with dead trees, burned up grass and shrubs from the excessive heat.  It wouldn't take much for it to go up in flames.  I just hope everyone is very cautious and observes the burning bans. 

Moving on, here is a picture of a cool cactus my friend Kathy gave us.  She'd had it sitting in a bucket for a very long time, and so we planted it and gave it a new home.  I think it's doing okay, but with this heat, who knows for sure!

I don't know if it's a big Prickly Pear or some tame kind of paddle cactus or what, but we like it!

We are going to Branson.  My cousin and her husband from Alabama are coming also, so we are sure to have a great time.  We will all be at the same motel, and go to the dinner/ride/show together.  It will be nice to see them and get in a good visit too.  Will also be nice to have someone to take me to breakfast while Ronnie has my car and goes shooting in the mornings!!  I love going out to breakfast!!  Should be a great little mini-vacation.

Went to WalMart - where else?- the other day and bought a bunch of stuff:  a new nightgown, a white tank top, some nail polish, lotion, 2 kinds of perfume, new toothbrushes, etc.  Must have been nuts! came out to $92 and no groceries!  Oh well.............

That's all I know for now.  Until next time, take care and God bless you and yours.

Another Reason To Eat Out!

GREETINGS!

Yep!  Yesterday was another trip to Fort Smith, Arkansas to eat an early supper!  I bet it seems as though that's all we do............and you might be right!  BUT, yesterday was Ronnie's 62nd birthday, and we had to celebrate his reaching the magical age of Social Security!

Not looking too bad for 62.  This was right across the little booth table from me and I'm surprised it came out so good!

This was my supper choice: a big baked potato and a small steak and shrimp from the "barbie". Can you guess where we went?

If you guess the Outback, you are right.  We had never been to one (I know that's hard to believee!) so Ronnie decided that's where he wanted to go on his birthday.  And of course we had the famous "blooming onion" as an appetizer.  After eating most of that, ( the two of us) I wasn't real hungry, so my smaller dinner portion was great.  Even ended up giving some to Ronnie - steak and potato, NOT shrimp!  :)

We did get to the restaurant an hour before it opened (4:00 p.m.) so we found a Big Lots store and browsed around in there for and hour.  It was a huge Big Lots, and was fun looking around.  I bought a new "bling" string to hang in a tree and a new 4 sided grater and some little chocolate cookies from Germany.   Ronnie bought some chips and big hand wipes for his man cave.  When we left Ft. Smith it was a few minutes after 5:00 p.m, which reminded us why we are thankful we live in the country!

It was a great afternoon and now we wait until the end of September for that money to come rolling in!  hahaha

That's all I know for now.  Until next time take care, and God Bless you and yours.

The Best 2-Fer Ever!

GREETINGS!

It seems a lot of the restaurants are doing the 2 meals for $20 or $25 thing.  Well Sunday, we drove to one of our favorite places in Ft.  Smith, Arkansas to partake of their offer of 2 for $25.00.

I want to tell you, if there is a participating Olive Garden near you, you should go while this special is on!  It is without a doubt the best food (and most reasonable) we've had for quite awhile.  First we each got to choose an appetizer:  I had my favorite Calamari and Ronnie had Ravioli stuffed with Portebello mushrooms.  Then we had all the salad and bread sticks we wanted - and we love their salad!  Then there was a menu of entrees to choose from:  I had spaghetti and meatballs and Ronnie had 4 cheese ravioli.  By the time the entree came around, I was full so only ate a small bit of my spaghetti; but I brought it home - with 2 bread sticks - and we ate it for lunch the next day.  They also asked if we wanted drinks to go!  What a wonderful dinner!  Oh, you can choose to share a dessert instead of having an appetizer if you wish --  but who would have room for dessert?!  With 2 iced teas our bill was $32.   Amazing.   Hats off to you Olive Garden............

And guess what?!  In August we are taking a mini-vacation and going to Branson for 4 days.  I can hardly wait.  Our tickets are reserved for a Saturday dinner train ride which goes down in to Arkansas and the Ozarks and for the  SundayYakof Smirnoff (sp) dinner show.  And reservations in a motel with pool!  And as a special thing, Ronnie will go shooting with a Sass club 2 mornings, giving me time alone to browse in shops, read, swim, whatever!  Gonna be fun!

Okay, that's all I know for now.  Until next time, take care and God bless you and yours.

July Outing

GREETINGS!

My friend Judy and I did our July outing a little earlier in the month than usual.  We ventured out on Friday, July 13th!  and had no mishaps; other than getting overly hot due to the 100+ degree weather!
We went to Muskogee this month and had a great time.  There is an area about 2 blocks long as you come in to the city from the South,  on Main Street, where one side of the 2 blocks is nothing but antique stores.  Oh, did we have a good time!

I was looking in particular for a small table to use next to my new chair, so I would have a place to set my iced tea or cup of tea.  In the very first store I found this $15 treasure:

The legs are metal an the top is wooden.  It is quite distressed, which is fine, and the size is perfect.  Of course, it is really a plant stand (I think) but works great for me.  Where the coffee table is I now have my new chair, so the table fits right in between the TV and my chair.  I love it!

I found this glass pie pan and crock bowl in another store and couldn't resist.  The bowl is now my new "potato salad bowl"; just the right size.  It is a little smaller than the one Judy gave me so now I have a set of 2!  And you can always use another pie pan.

This picture is in one of the shops, and shows a tin dishpan that Judy found and bought.  It's really quite nice.........too bad she saw it first!

But when we went to another antique mall after lunch, we saw another one just like it!  BUT, it was about twice the price so it stayed there!

There was one shop that really made a hit with us:  the owner had set up a table with lemonade and pieces of apple fritters and a comfy chair.  Was nice to have a glass of lemonade and cool down a bit.  Plus, she had displayed a lot of the merchandise being used in different ways.   It was great to get new ideas on how to use old things; and sometimes not so old things!   Then in another shop the owners were putting away a new shipment of shirts/blouses and asked me to try a couple of them on because they wanted to see how true the sizes ran!  This store had tons of costume jewelry and blouses, etc. plus some antiques.  They said their customers were wanting "bigger" sizes so I was the guinea pig so to speak since I wear a 3X.  The ones I tried on were black - which I love - with big silver "bling" decorations.  Judy said they were only $12, so why I didn't buy one is beyond me; but I am going back and get at least one!

After going in all the shops we decided it was time for lunch and a cool down period.  Since Judy's birthday was on the 5th of July, I wanted to treat her to lunch; and she wanted to go to Chili's for Chicken Enchilada (?) Soup which is her favorite.  I may have the name wrong, but she had it regardless.  It was so nice to sit and relax and cool down with food and cold drinks!

Afterwards, we went to one more antique mall type building and looked around.  Judy bought a pogo stick for her grandson.  Gracious!  He's just recovered from a broken leg  :)...................  All in all, it was a great day.  Wonder what we'll do next month????  Judy's son is taking her to Costa Rica the end of this month for 10 days, so it'll probably be later in August when/if we go.   Have fun my friend!

That's all I know for now.  We are facing about 10 days of 100 to 106 temps and I'm telling you, that is HOT!  I even fixed ice water for the chickens!!

Until next time, take care and God Bless you and yours.

Tomatoes

GREETINGS!

Something is dreadfully wrong with my tomatoes!  Look at the plants......they are georgeous!

Now, look at the tomatoes!  They are not so georgeous!  Last year we had blossom end rot; this year they are splitting.  Anyone know why that is?  I'm willing to listen!!

And the one on the right is my favorite Cherokee Heritage!  At this rate I'll never get a good ripe one, and they are so delicious!  We do cut out the bad spots and eat what's left, but it would be nice to have a whole, unblemished tomato!  I'd love to hear your theories............  Maybe the drought?  It's in the upper 90's again all week.

That's all I know for now.  Until next time, take care and God bless you and yours.  I am still grateful to our Lord for all He gives me -- even with imperfections!!  After all, doesn't He like us with ours? :)

More Space

GREETINGS!

I really don't think I'm cut out to be a farmer;  I can't stand really, to see the animals and/or fowl cooped up in a pen!  And I really can't let my chickens out to roam free (as much as I want to) because of all the predators around here; i.e. hawks, owls, coyotes, eagles, dogs, etc.  So, as much as I loved my little coop, I couldnt' stand to see my 4 chickens "cooped" up in it!

Enter my grumbling  :)   husband with posts, tractor, post pounder and wire and  2 x 4's !!

They now have about a 20 x 3' run area, and do they ever love it!  It's so cool to see them running around and scratching for bugs and food.  We'v given them watermelon and cantelope rinds and dried bread heels and they seem to enjoy it all.  But I'm sure nothing beats a bug!  Saw one with a good sized grasshopper the other day!

I think it will be October sometime before they lay eggs; we'll have to wait and see. And when they do, they are quite small.  But I really don't care about the eggs anyway, I just like to watch them do their dances!  And I think chickens are smart..........

Last week we also had visits from a neighbors herd of cows - about 30 of them. They came 3 days last week and Salli and Patch loved it.  They got to show off their herding skills, as did my husband on his 4 wheeler!  It's fun to watch them, but not when they drink all the water in my fountain in the back yard!  And they can really ruin things at times, depending on where they decide to go!  Such is life on the "mountain".

That's all I know for now.  Until next time, take care and God bless you and yours.

New Chair

GREETINGS!

One day last week I had to go in to Sallisaw and pick up my van from the Ford garage.  It had a major tune up, an oil change, and a repair to a leaky transmission.  Runs like a charm now after it's $900+ fix up!  But you know what?  It's cheaper than buying a new car!  Anyway, after picking it up I decided to stop at a couple places looking for a recliner for myself.

I know, I know!  That is NOT a recliner, but let me tell you, it is sooooo comfortable.  I went in to
a store in the little town of Vian and looked around - nothing.  Then in to another little store right next to the first one.  I saw this chair, with no price tag; so I found a clerk and asked and she said, "Well this one (a different chair) is $80 so this one must be $40"!!  I couldn't believe it!!  I was a few minutes deciding if I wanted to give up on a reciner or not, and then bought this chair!

Come to find out, all the furniture and stuff in that store is used, but this chair was in pretty darned good shape.  The cloth covering on the underneath bottom of the chair was ripped and torn, so I replaced that with some muslin I had here at home, and one arm front of the chair was snagged some.  I took my little, sharp, sewing shears to it and now it looks good as new!~

Then I went in the bedroom and got the little foot stool that wasn't being used.  It was covered in a faux needlepoint flower pattern, so I recovered it with some dark brown material I had.  Now the chair and stool go well with the other chocolate brown furniture in the room.  So, moral of the story is:  why spend at least $250 on a recliner when what I've got for $40 works just as well!  End of story.

That's all for now; until next time, take care and God bless you and yours.

The June "Outing"

GREETINGS!

Here it is July already, so I guess I'd better talk about the June outing my friend Judy and I did.

This was the sky on the morning I left to meet Judy; it was about 9:15 a.m.  Some places were luckly enough to get a few drops of rain, but not us.  We were going West to Checotah (home of Carrie Underwood) and the "rain" was in the East.  Needless to say, the sky didn't interfere with our plans!

I go to Checotah a lot to do my WalMart shopping and any farm supply/shopping I need to do at Atwoods.  However, I've never taken the time to look for interesting antique stores and such.  So that was our goal for the day.  And lo and behold, the first place we went in to was divine!  I think we spent 3 hours in there looking at all the "stuff".  It was called the Dusty Attic, and was choc full of good stuff.  It was a little pricey, but I guess it depended on how bad you wanted something as to whether you paid the price.  Since it was a booth rental type antique "mall" the owners of the booths were not there so you couldn't dicker the price for items.  :(

But I did find the Perfect rack/stand for my player piano rolls, and it is solid wood!

The amazing thing is that it folds completely up! Which was great for carrying it out to the van.

And here it is fully loaded!  It's a good thing I didn't have any more rolls, as they wouldn't have fit.  I think I have around 120 + rolls.  By using the rack, it cleared off 2 nice built in shelves at the opposite end of the living room.  Now I can use them for plants or knick knacks, etc.  I love it.

My other purchase was just a whimsical deal for $1.95!  Doesn't take much to make me happy at times!  And pinkie rings are fun......

After spending so much time in the Dusty Attic, we were thirsty and hungry!  So luckily, right across the street was June's Cafe.  It was a cute, quaint little restaurant and we had a great lunch and iced tea.  My mostly vegetarian friend ordered a side of brown beans, a piece of corn bread and a side of fried okra!  I had a really good chicken salad sandwich and chips.  Nothing fancy, but it was all good and really hit the spot as far as food and resting goes!

After lunch, we visited a shop next door to the cafe.  It had some antiques, some used items, some new items, some homemade items,  and a little bit of everything.  Very interesting.  But with that tour, we ended our day out.  We were both hot and tired!  But what a great day..........Can't wait for this month's outing!

Until next time, take care and God's Blessings to you and yours.

The Great Escape

GREETINGS!

The other evening we were sitting out on the back porch and I looked over to where the chicken coop is.  I said to Ronnie, that chick looks like she's outside of the coop; and he said, she is!  Well luckily the dogs hadn't spotted her yet so I put a leash on Salli and we got her and Patch contained, but they sure were watching!

Then we had to sit and wait for the other three still inside to go in and roost and hope the escapee would roost also, so Ronnie could catch her and put her back in the coop.  Finally, as twilight came, they went inside and roosted.  Little Houdini kept walking around the outside of the coop, like she wanted back in.  So Ronnie snuck up and opened the coop door and lo and behold, she walked right in and went to bed!

But I want to tell you, while she was out, she thought she was the queen out on a Holiday!  She was strutting around, pecking at everything, scratching up grass and it and the dirt was flying!!  Was so comical to watch.  I thought that Sallie had dug a hole in the back corner of the pen and the chick had escaped there.  Well, she had escaped there, but Ronnie says the pile of dirt was inside, so one of them dug the hole themselves!  Made Sallie happy to not be blamed!  :)

Eight days ago we bought some more wire to make their pen area bigger - 10' x 10' - so they wouldn't be so crowded.  It is still laying on the back porch.  My husband is not one to rush in to a project -- especially when it's one he doesn't care about!  Such is life.

That's all I know for now.  Until next time, take care and God bless you and yours.

A Woman's Work is Never Done

GREETINGS!

Today is forcast for only 96, which it is right now.  Kind of warm to be doing this:

Another bushel of sweet corn = another 16 pints of canned corn, with a few ears held out for a supper or two.  I guess I should be thankful I'm doing it today instead of tomorrow when it's forcase to be 102 degrees!   So now I have a total of 32 pints for the winter - if they last that long!  :)   I think I'm grateful that the sweet corn season is over...............

Also started another batch of refrigerator pickles.  Brother says the cukes are about done so probably can't do any more pickles after this.  Ronnie picked our first tomato today; it was not quite ripe but is sitting in the window and will be ready soon.  He picked it because is was growing in to the stalk!
He also planted me some bush type string beans today.  Seems to be the only way I'll get any fresh beans.

That all I know for now.  Until next time take care and God bless you and yours.

Baking Time

GREETINGS!

I still have trouble adjusting to the fact that gardens and berry bushes produce and yield so early in the summer.  I'm still used to Washington weather, where you are lucky to have garden stuff by August!  So, that said, I've been busy this week baking and freezing the bounty of blackberries and zucchini!

This is/was a blackberry cobbler I made after Ronnie came home with a 3 gallon bucket full of berries!  I see there is a corner of it missing. Hmmmmmmmmmm

This is one of the 3 gallon bags of berries that we froze for future cobblers.  And he says he's going back out picking the first of next week.  He tends to go a little overboard..........

And this is my batch of zucchini bread, made this morning.  I love it, but Ronnie won't eat it because he doesn't like zucchini; so, I baked it in 4 mini loaf tins and one medium loaf tin instead of the 2 regular size tins that the recipe makes, thinking I wouldn't eat as much!  HA!  I just won't eat as much all at one time...........  I've already cut in to one of the little loaves and had about 3 pieces!  Nothing like warm zucchini bread with butter - wash it down with some sweet tea.  My girls would use a gallon of milk probably!!  Sorry you're not here to enjoy it with me girls.

I've frozen enough zucchini for 2 more batches of bread, and I have 2 cups set aside for a chocolate zucchini cake.  Will do that either later today or tomorrow. 

So I hope most of you are now enjoying the garden and field bounty too.  Living in the Oklahoma hills does have its advantages!  :)

That's all I know for now.  Until next time, take care and God bless you and yours.  Here's a thought:
The Holy Spirit is your body guard!  Love it.

Pickles

GREETINGS!

Since my brother supplies me with cucumbers - 3 or 4 every morning - I decided I had to make pickles!  I only know how to make one kind of pickles, and that is Refrigerator Pickles.   The recipe was given to me by a lady in Troy, Missouri, and they are without a doubt the best pickles ever!

These are white cucumbers and green pickling cucumbers.

I had about 2 qts of sliced cukes and added 2 good sized onions, sliced.

Once I add the sliced onions, I sprinkle with kosher/canning salt and put in fridge for 24 hrs.  Then after the 24 hrs.  you rinse the salt off.  This may take a couple rinsings in the sink or a big bowl.
Then you add the sugar and vinegar and let set in fridge for another 24 hours and then they are ready to eat!  YUMMY

The finished product.  Ronnie loves them.  We eat a bowl like this at supper every night.  The lady who gave me the recipe used to freeze hers in small containers, and they were still good.  I have not done that, but I have had them in the fridge for close to a year, in the brine, and they were still excellent.  It's amazing to me because there is no alum or anything to keep them crispy, yet they stay crispy quite well!  Must be the salt.

I'm sure I'll be making another batch, as the cukes keep coming every morning!  :)

That's all I know for now.  Until next time, take care and God bless you and yours.  Oh, and don't forget to pray tonight, because God didn't forget to wake you up this morning!

The Occupants

GREETINGS!

At about 7:30 a.m. this morning my chickens arrived.  Chicken George, aka Bill, brought them up in a box, so I quickly donned my duster over my nightgown and went outside; after waking Ronnie up!
In the box were 4 of the cutest chicks you've ever seen.  He said they were about 6 weeks old, and I should keep them in the coop for another 4 - 6 weeks before letting them out to range.  He also said he took them away from their mother and they were mad, and squawking like crazy!

It's hard to get a good picture through the wire, and bending down to their level!  But you get the idea.  Their coloring reminds me of a pheasant; one of the has almost a completely white head and her name is Blondy; another has a partial white head and her name is Maddy; then there is one with kind of a reddish brown head and her name is Lucy; and the last one is Ethel!  I can tell this is going to be fun!  Be sure to double click on pics and maybe get a better look.

I asked Bill if they were Banty's and he said what?  I said are they Banty's and he says, no they are fighting chickens!  I know that he raises fighting roosters and gets big money for them (over $1000 each), and for a good hen he gets $400.  Now, I don't think he gave me four $400 hen chicks, but they are nice.  Cock fighting is illegal here in Oklahoma, so he mails them to The Phillipines and Kentucky and other places.  Amazing.  Supposedly these will lay eggs at some point, but they are very small.  And boy, do they drink a lot of water!

Oh, I almost forgot...............the dogs.  Patch just lays and watches the chicks; Salli sits right up next to the coop and her whole body shakes and quivers, she wants to get at them so bad!  But she is getting better as the day progresses.  Will take a few days I'm sure to get her trained.

That's all I know.  Until next time, take care and God bless you and yours

For Rent

GREETINGS!

Gee, it's only been 2 days since I posted!   It doesn't mean I'm getting better, it just means there's something to bend your ear about!  :)

We went to the city yesterday and of course you always have to buy something when you go there.....
and I've been wanting to do this for quite some time, so here's the purchase!

I got the food......

The house.........

The bedding.........

The finished product.....

Now all I need are some occupants!  :)  I should have put a "for rent" sign in the window!   BUT,
hopefully tomorrow I will get some tenants.  "Chicken George" , my neighbor down in the holler, has a bunch of little chickens that free range and he said I could have some.  He will try to catch 2 or 3 tonight when they roost.   They do lay eggs, but the eggs are really small, but I don't really care.  I mainly want to see them running around the yard hunting and pecking and eating bugs!!

The tricky part will be training Salli and Patch to leave them alone!  Hopefully Patch will remember the Guineas and be gentle.  Salli, who knows!!  I still have the feeding and watering stuff from the Guineas so that will be nice.  This thing is supposed to hold up to 4 chickens, but it's awfully small so I'm going for 2 or 3 banty type chickens.  I have to have a place for them to go at night because of the coyotes, hawks and owls, who would love to have them for supper.  Major training session coming!!

So stayed tuned for pictures of the "renters" and further chicken tales!  I'll take any advice you want to offer!! Take care and God bless you and yours and your chickens too (if you have any). 

The May "Outing"

GREETINGS!

Looks like I'm lagging behind again!  Part of the problem is my camera; the on/off button sticks and sometimes I can't get it to go off, so I haven't taken many pictures.  This one is not very old either!  I may have to break down and buy another one.................

Anyway, on the last day of May - the 31st - GF Judy and I went on our monthly outing.  What a trip it was!  Here is a picture of my first purchase ..............

Here's the story.  It was kind of a cloudy day, and supposed to be only in the 70's; so I decided to wear my jeans, with tennis shoes and socks.  What a mistake that was!  After stopping in a wee, little town at a resale/gift shop, we got to a bigger town and went to one of our favorite shops looking around, then walked up the street to a "community" resale store.  By this time, it was at least in the 80's and humid, and I was sweating; I was soooo hot and miserable!  We scrounged around looking for shorts or capri's to fit me without any luck, but did find this pair of flip flops so I could shed the socks and tennies.

Finally, we made it to another resale shop where I found a pair of pink, cotton capri's, bought them and put them on then and there!  And wouldn't you know, they matched my shirt and flops!   I was finally somewhat comfortable.  So the day was kind of fun, looking through all kinds of clothes and resale shops and gift shops, etc. once I cooled off.

After that we had lunch at Reubens - an authentic Mexican restaurant - and enjoyed a nice meal.  I had a Chimichanga that was really good, with excellent guacamole and sour cream.

I think I'll dress more appropriately this month, and trust my intuition instead of the weather man.
Hope you all are having a good month - Summer will be here soon, so enjoy it.  Until next time, take care and God bless you and yours.

Farmer's Market

GREETINGS!

This past Saturday morning we got up around 6:30 a.m. and I grabbed a cup of coffee and we hopped in the van and took off for Sallisaw - about 30 miles - to get to the Farmer's Market.  We wanted to be sure to get there early before everything was sold out.  In particular I was looking to see if the green beans were "in season" yet, as I want to can some.

Well, we got there about 7:45 a.m. and there were only 4 stands set up!  I don't know if more came later or not, as we bought our stuff and left!  But look at this great table of wares..........

We bought tomatoes (red and green), radishes, green beans, green peppers and I can't remember what all!  But the green bean vendor didn't have enough for canning yet.  I guess they are just coming on.  AND, the one plastic basket of them I bought was $4, which was 2 meals for us.  That seemed a little on the high side to me, but it's been a while since I market shopped!

Oh yea, now I remember - seeing the picture - I got a real good deal on a basket of small red onions for a $1.  I love those red onions!  I'm telling you, there is nothing like farm fresh veggies.  We have been eating them for days.  Red potatoes and green beans with a little bacon thrown in, cooked in beef broth.........yum!  Also, brother Tom keeps us supplied with fresh little cucumbers and scallions and carrots at present.  He has cantelope and watermelons on the vines so we are looking forward to those!

I hope you all take the time, and have access, to visit a farmer's market and enjoy God's fresh bounty.  Nothing like it!!

That's all I know for now.  Until next time, take care and God bless you and yours.

Corn and More Corn

GREETINGS!

Wow!  What a busy Friday evening and Saturday it was around here.  Friday afternoon Ronnie came home with a bushel - gunny sack full - of fresh, sweet, corn on the cob; just picked that morning.  So of course I was anxious to get busy and try out my new pressure canner!

Ronnie is such a good helper; he husked all the corn, then I washed it to get the silks off, and then he cut it off the cob, ready for me to can.  Here's one bowl full of kernels.......

By the time I got 8 pint jars into the canner it was near supper time.  So after it cooked for 55 minutes at 10 lbs, I turned the gas off and we went to the Catfish Shack for supper!  By the time we got home the canner was cooled down and I could take out the jars. 

It had been quite a few years since I canned, and so the first batch gave me room for improvement on the second batch.  Like not packing quite so full and not screwing the rings so tight!  They did all seal though and that was nice.  I had another 8 pints to do on Saturday and all was well.

Ronnie found all my jars, rings and lids out in the storage trailer so I had to go through all that.  The jars were fine, just needed a good wash and rinse, and the lids were good also.  But the rings...........
not so much!  Had to throw most of them out due to being all rusted.  I did salvage enough to do the regular pints and the wide mouth jars, so that was a good thing.

I don't know if we'll get more corn or not........... we have 16 pints but I'm sure they will go fast!  We had 4 ears saved out for supper last night, and they were delicious!  It just seems so early to me to be doing corn already, but that Southern living I guess.

That's all I know for today.  Until next time, take care and God Bless you and yours.

Big Bling!

GREETINGS!

I have acquired this love of hanging "bling" in my trees in the back yard.  It is just so cool to watch them blowing in the breeze, and the sun sparkling off some of their pieces!  And last Saturday when my friend Kathy and her husband came over for a Memorial  weekend get-together she brought me a new one she had made.

In these pictures you can see most of it, where I hung in on a nail in the wall.  But alas, they don't do it justice!  She made it out of a slinky, of all things!  And decorated it with little bird houses and silver rings and copper bells, etc.  Below it is hanging in the tree, but hard to really see.

Anyway, it's very cool to watch it bounce up and down and blow in the breeze, and hear the little bells tinkle!  Doesn't seem to bother the birds at all either.

So besides hanging bling in my tree, we had a great dinner.  Ronnie bbq'd/smoked a brisket for about 9 hours which was delicious, and we had potato salad, shrimp cold slaw, corn salad, baked beans, garlic bread, deviled eggs, and German chocolate cake for dessert.  Before hand we had chips and dips, strawberries and cantelope pieces for appetizers. Oh, and Kathy brought a box of chocolates and some macaroons also.   We ate too much, I sent stuff home with Kathy and John, and we still ate leftovers for 2 days!  Was nice to not have to cook again though.

It is always such a pleasure to spend time with good friends.  Just a real treat.  And of course we gave our thanks to our service people of the past and present, who made it possible for us to get together and enjoy our freedoms!  I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Weekend.

Until next time, take care and God bless you and yours.