Friday the 13th

GREETINGS!

Friday the 13th.........doesn't bother me at all. Guess I'm not superstitious; it's just another day. And I haven't seen a black cat or broke a mirror either......... BUT....

When I was posting pictures of our dogs the other day, I forgot to post one of our cog. (That would be our cat who thinks he's a dog.) He is not black, but rather a Tiger. So here he is, laying under the front porch bench looking like he owns the world........at least this little part of it. He is declawed, front and back, but it doesn't stop him from catching birds, mice, whatever. And he follows you around just like a dog does; and answers to his name and comes when you call him. Now how many cogs do that?!


These 3 pictures need to be put together horizontally, and then you can kind of see the new pasture for my donkeys. It's the area on the far side of the driveway. Ronnie and Tom worked all day yesterday moving the fence lines and making the area more than double what they had. They now have about 2.5 to 3 acres in which to roam.

The problem is, however, they so far refuse to cross into the new parts. They will not go past where the old fencing was. They are so smart (?) that they know there was a fence there and that it was electric, and they can't - don't cross the line. Too funny.





I'm sure in a couple 3 or 4 days they will venture out into it. The grass is new, and tall and just waiting for them to enjoy it. Hopefully they will cut down on their hay dinners - which last all day by the way. :)







We had more rain, hail, and thunder and lightening last night. Washed the road out again. But they came and sort of fixed it AGAIN today. I wonder when they will do something more permanent instead of wasting money on gravel that washed away???!!!

Until next time, take care and God Bless. Have a great weekend.

In The Back

GREETINGS!

I seem to be fixated on the back yard this week! Maybe because it is finally coming into it's own, and looks like something you could enjoy!


These two, Patch on the left and Salli on the right, are the keepers of the outdoors. It is their job to keep the wild critters, i.e. skunks, possum, racoons, armadillos, fox, coyotes, deer, and the occasional stray cow or horse away from our plants. Now that is a big job! And they do it quite well, with minimal barking during the night. You just gotta keep the cookies at hand and everybody's happy. And don't make fun of Salli's big ears........that's her Blue Heeler showing. :)



And this is my "new" old rider mower (w/o a mower deck) that I use to get around the acreage. The little wagon is great for hauling the branches and sticks I rake up to the burning pile. You might recall I had a different Troy Bilt mower a while ago, and it quit running when it sucked up a tank of gas into the engine - literally. So it needs some work. Ronnie found this one for $25 and it runs great for the interim. And it even came with a mower deck that we might put back on. But for getting around without the pain of my artifical hip and bother of my COPD, it works great.



A few posts ago I featured my paddle cactus we found out in the weeds. They had little shoots on the rim of the paddles, and look at them now! I cannot believe how fast they have grown. I guess all the rain and then heat we had really did a number on them. It's so interesting to watch them grow. We had 90 yesterday and 89 the day before that and clouds today, with possible thunder/rain storms tomorrow or tonight. Spring is so changeable!!

So that's if for now. I thank God for the blessings he has given me, and His patience in my discovery of them. Know what I mean? Until next time, take care and God bless.

Hobby Lobby

GREETINGS!

Boy, what a great day we had Saturday! Went to Muskogee to do some shopping and really had a good time. Ronnie dropped me off at Hobby Lobby while he went on to Lowe's to get some oil and stuff to fix up my new "mower rider". Picture of that later. Anyway, I had never been to a Hobby Lobby store before, so it was really quite a treat! To my West Coast readers, it is a combination of a Ben Franklin and Michaels......only bigger!


This is one of the things I bought......purple flip flops and some beaded strips to decorate them with. BLING!!
What a fun thing; the flip flops were $1.54 and the beads were $3.99.....go figure! So now I have a pair of $5.50 flip flops.....nice.




If you look very, very closely, in the front middle tree you can almost see my string of bling hanging in the tree. It's orange and crystal hearts and beads about 3 feet long, and they just kind of blow in the wind like a mobile. Pretty cool!




And this is my Lemon Balm patch, which Ronnie finished putting stones around. I found that kind of funny, because I had purposely left it open in front so he could mow around it easier. Oh well, you can never figure men out. I got this orange pin wheel at Hobby Lobby too. They had some huge ones too. These things were on sale at 1/2 price.

I also got a big book of iron on embroidery transfers (my reason for going in the first place), some new embroidery thread, a glass jar, and some small craft paint brushes. Ronnie came in and he got a stick on alphabet pack. I'm telling you, you could spend hours in that store; I'll definitely have to go back...........alone. With lots of money!

So of course after leaving there I had to go to WalMart to buy some flour sack dish towels (10) so I have something to do. The things like that were way too expensive at Hobby Lobby. Probably much better quality, but also a much bigger price; like $18 for one dish towel! And after that we went to Applebee's for early supper. It was a good meal and we got sucked in to getting dessert. We had the 2 for $20 deal and we thought it included dessert (like most places do) and so when they asked if we wanted dessert we said sure. Well, it was not included and the "lava" chocolate cake and ice cream dish was $5.99!! We shared it and it was good, but we weren't sure it was $6.00 good. :)

All in all, it was a great afternoon. I wish there could be more days like that.
Until next time, take care and God Bless.

Mother's Day

GREETINGS!

Happy Mother's Day to those who are and those who are to be! Seven Mother's Days have gone by since I lost my Mother, and I still miss her! I suppose one will always miss loved ones, especially Mothers.

My middle daughter called me this morning and we chatted for an hour. That was a nice surprise, as we don't talk on the phone very often as she is busy raising her 5 children and working too. She works at home - a medical transcriptionist - but it takes a lot of her time.

I was out in the back yard and couldn't resist taking a photo of my kale; it is growing really good! And the tomatoes don't look to bad either. I am so anxious for the tomatoes to mature so I can taste a "real" tomato and SAVE MONEY! Unreal what they charge in the stores.





Apparentlyl the dogs are doing a good job of keeping critters out of the box garden at night, as none of the plants have been destroyed. I know whenever I hear them barking during the night that there is something running around out there, be it coons, deer, possum or armadillo. Good job garden body guards! The sun is shining so bright it makes my tomato patch look dry and desolate! It really isn't.........


I am looking forward to a nice supper of grilled flat iron steak, pasta salad, green beans,Italian bread and later strawberry shortcake. Hope you all have a great evening. Until next time, take care and God Bless.

A Rock Garden?

GREETINGS!

It's been a few days since I posted; that should tell you there's not a whole lot going on of interest up here atop Winter's Holler! The rain was horrible; we got approximately 14 inches in a couple of days. Very depressing.

Not to mention our road is still washed out and we have not seen any county road crews out to fix it. We got my van out one day, but then it rained some more and now I can't get it out. It's the pickup or 4 wheeler if you want out! Kind of cramps my style...........

Sunday we went to Checotah and stopped to visit with some friends. Kathy and I tromped around in her yard looking at her garden and flowers and getting soaking wet feet wise. But, she gave me a big bunch of Lemon Balm, and so that is what's in this little space. We divided it in half, hoping it would spread more. This area is nothing but cut down weeds and dirt, and I think it would be great to haul some of our huge boulders in and place them around in the open area behind the lemon balm and then plant different flowering plants amongst them. Make a real rock garden, instead of what I did here.


This is the same bed just a different hue with the sun I guess. Anyway, I found directions on line on how to dry the lemon balm for making tea. So that should be fun. It seems it (lemon balm) is good for a lot of things that ail you, i.e. (in)digestion;lowering blood pressure; easing stress and depression; etc. And it is safe to consume with other medicines. It is of the Mint family, and the lemony smell is great.

My friend Kathy likes to dry it and then says her house smells like she did some deep cleaning!

So, we have sunshine today and the rest of the week, with a 20% chance of rain a few days, but hopefully it will pass us by. The 80 temps will be much appreciated!

If I don't get on here again before the weekend, I hope all the Mother's have a great Day this Sunday. Try to take it easy. :) And thank God for giving you the opportunity to nurture. Sometimes I feel like I am not acknowledged by my children, but I know they have their own busy lives to contend with. What counts is that they are here on this earth!

Until next time, take care and God Bless.

The Garden

GREETINGS!


One day last week we planted our "garden". There are 9 tomato plants of various varieties and 4 kale plants. The tomatoes are Lemon Boy, Beefsteak, Early Girl (I think) and a Cherokee Heirloom. I can't wait for the Cherokee one to mature; the fruit is a deep purple / black when ripe. Should be a real taste treat.

The reason we have so may tomato plants is we are hoping at least 2 or 3 make it through the wind and rain storms, not to mention through the wild critters. Last year we think an Armadillo dug up one of our plants! I've never grown kale, so am anxious to see how that goes. I love it - way better than spinach!

Since Saturday we have had about 15+ inches of rain and more is forecast for the next couple of days. The thunder and lightening and rain and wind is unreal. I'm amazed that the plants have survived it so far. Keep my maters in your prayers! :)


These two following pictures are of the paddle cactus we found kind of out in the brush in the back/side yard. I cleared out around them some and was amazed to see all the new starts coming along the edges. I'm hoping to build some kind of a rock garden around them and put in some other succulents. Lord knows we have plenty of rocks, boulders, etc.!!






That's all for tonight. I hope this finds you all well, and drier than we are! We can't even get to town for the flooding roads. Our gravel road has washed completely out where the "creek" crosses it. We are waiting for the county to come and repair it. But I guess we should count our blessings in that we have avoided a tornado; thank you for that Lord.

Until next time, take care and God Bless.

Good Friday 2010

GREETINGS!

I hate to admit this, but Easter/Resurrection Day really sneaked up on me this year. I think it was this past Monday - the 18th - when I discovered when Easter was! Shame on me. Maybe it's because it is really late this year. At any rate, it is one of my favorite religious holidays. Where would we be without God sacrificing His only Son for us, and forgiving us all our sins. I love it. My favorite greeting on Easter Sunday is "He is Risen!" and to hear in response, "He is Risen indeed!"

And maybe because of this holy season, I decided to do devotionals during the week from 10:00 to 10:30 a.m. I started in the book of James around Ch.18 or so, and read the crucifixtion story -- again. What a great place to start.


Now, what do these pictures have to do with Easter you ask? Well, on Palm Sunday Jesus rode a donkey into town. So the story goes. So I thought you might like to see my donkeys again! :)


This is - left to right- me, Eyeore and Jenny

 

This is Eyeore getting his treat - either peppermint or apple.

 

Eyeore is trying to tell me it's a curry comb in my hand, and he'd really like to have a combing! Providing I can figure out what to do with it.

 

And this is Jenny getting her treat. She is still kind of skittish, but getting better.

 

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I hope that each and every one of you have a Blessed Easter. And before the eggs and rabbits and candy (if you tolerate that stuff) take time to give praise to our God and His son, Jesus Christ. Enjoy your holiday meal.

Until next time, take care and God Bless.