Chilly morning

Woke up this morning to almost 60 degrees. What a nice change. Nice to be chilly. We had a nice day yesterday, even though we were inside the garage the majority of the day. Had to install a new garage door. And with just Albert and I, it went surprisingly easy. Just some fine tuning and #1 of 2 will be done. When I let the dogs out this morning it was a little chilly, cloudy and a drizzle off and on so I figured it would be the perfect day to can tomatoes.

By the time I got everything gathered it was about 10:00am  and I was ready to get going. My counters were covered with tomatoes and so it began. Wash the jars, get water on to boil to scald the tomatoes-get the canner going. I half or quarter my tomatoes depending on their size and by 1:00 I had my first load in the canner. And the day progressed with no problems. By 5:00 I had 28 jars of tomatoes  and three quarts of soup base ready. And the kitchen was clean-counter top empty....Then I went out to the garden and seems like in a couple of days I will have another load of tomatoes. And peppers- carrots are looking good, black eyed peas, dang I forgot to pick Okra!
Really now...how much better could a day be?

Thunderstorm

What a treat I am having tonight. We have been needing a good rain. We have been more fortunate than others this year so I am not complaining about not having a good rain lately, just have missed it. I have only had to water my garden once this year. But for the past week we have had the chance of thunderstorms but none have materialized and tonight one is passing through.  The sky was so bright orange but  there was a gray tint to it. Nothing like I have seen before- of course I grabbed the camera and the batteries were dead so by the time Albert around a little of the brightness  had faded. He did get some pics and tried to video the approaching storm- I haven't seen the results yet so if they came out I will post them. Then the nice steady rain came. The rolling thunder has been going on for a few minutes now. How I wish I had a tin roof on my house. A screened porch with a tin roof, what a dream come true. But anyway the rain is much needed and much appreciated. It doesn't take much to excite me! I am going out to stand on the porch.

Coffee

I love coffee. Straight from the pot; hot, black-no sugar or cream required. Tomorrow morning I won't have that first cup, nor the second and I won't finish the pot either like I normally do. Albert is a two cup person, almost. I don't think he actually finishes the first cup-just needs a warm up to have while watching the am news. He didn't become a coffee drinker until in his late 20's I think. Not me.... My first taste of this amber colored wonder was when I was just a toddler sitting on grand-dads lap, dunking Orange sugar cookies into it. I have loved coffee from then on.  I still have the cup my mother bought me when I was in school. Blue with white flowers. I used it then and into my first years of marriage. I then decided that I needed a bigger cup.  My girls both used it for hot chocolate or hot tea- No coffee for them. Aubrey can't stand the smell of it and Leslie didn't acquire the taste for it until she moved to Fargo. It must have been too cold!!  I let Corra start using my special cup for hot chocolate when she was three but one day I dropped a cup in the sink on top of it and broke the handle off. It is still in the cupboard though, I can't bear to get rid of it.

I am not an afternoon drinker though. Just in the mornings. It is my quiet time.  Coffee is the vice I have held onto longer than any others. I quite smoking over 26 years ago, I don't drink except on the very rare occasion and diet coke is now just an every now and then treat.  So why this post? Tomorrow I will not get up and turn on the coffee pot. It will sit idle all day. I am going to give it up also. I am going at it gradually though. I will only have it on the weekends when I can sit and enjoy it. The mornings are getting chilly and it will be nice to sit outside and have a cup- again the peace and quiet. Just me and my cup.. oh and most likely a dog or two! But when the canister runs out I will be done. Well done for the most part... Early morning traveling requires a large cup of coffee!  Other than that I will wait until I am with grandad again- We will sit and drink coffee and dunk cookies all day if we please!

I miss you grandad. I loved being your shadow. See you soon.  I love you.

2011 Canning Season

So today my goal was to work in the veg garden. The only problem was that I got a late start and the humidity was already high. We did get a good size bucket of Corn on the Cob.  This was the first time I planted corn since moving to town. My grandkids and I planted a bed, 4'x16'. So far so good. We are getting nice sized ears, not real big but they are filled out nicely. We also picked Okra, tomatos and a large bucket of Cucumbers.  I had planned on cutting the greens far back but it just got too hot, too fast. Beans are coming regularly. First time I have grown Yellow wax and Purple beans. We are expecting some storms to move through tonight and tomorrow so I am hoping that cooler temps will hang around for a few days so I can get some outside work caught up.

My flower beds new some attention also. Everything has done good this year. Getting established, just in time to rearrange!  Oh well, my outside area is my canvas.  My moonflower has bloomed for the first time, I cam in to get my camera but the batteries are dead. So tomorrow..................

Facing August

So I have gotten over the fact that I have a bunch of dumb asses for neighbors. I now know that living is town is just where I have landed. I will always be in the country-If not in body in my mind.  And today I have decided that I will move on from this funk that I have been in.  I will put on my "Big girl panties".....Buy address labels and learn to make this house our home. For real.

I am not getting any younger. That is the cold hard truth. Am I disappointed?  No, I have been blessed in my life. I had great role models growing up that shaped me into the person I am.  I have bits and pieces of my family that until one sleepless night I realized I had just overlooked.

Tonight I will say a prayer- I will thank those that have passed, I will thank god for putting me in this place and I will close the door that keeps me looking down the road.  I have no where I need to be, no one I need to see.

I think I will take a long bike ride..........

This is May?

What happened to April? I think that I missed it during of our late season snow storms. Well let's see.....Haven't finished stocking #3, haven't worked on a new stained glass piece...Seems like I haven't done much of anything, but I know I have been busy because if it wasn't for the calendar I wouldn't even know the date! Since I don't remember April I will just jump into May's happenings since it is almost the end of the month.

We have had a mixture of weather; cold, rain, sleet, snow showers,sun, wind and even a humid day. But the past two weeks there has been more nice days than bad ones. We were able to get the compost "hill" out of the garden. I think it took about 100 trips- Filled all the low spots in the yard, filled 3- 4x4 raised flower beds and took a load to Aubrey's and filled both of her whiskey barrel planters. This week we were able to get the garden tilled, fertilized, beds made and planted. All I have left are black-eyed peas and some peppers. There is a spot about 6x3 that is empty but for the most part I am done. Tomorrow I will get what I need to fill it up and the waiting will begin!

Flower beds are all doing great and it appears that everything survived the winter. We have been getting loads of asparagus. All the berry bushes are loaded with blooms, even the cherries bloomed this year. First time for them. My greenhouse was awesome! All in all things seem to be moving along as they should. I do have an unwanted visitor- A tiny precious bunny..looked so cute out hopping through the yard, that is until I discovered it had eaten my new Red Lobelia. It runs for cover under the waterfall at the pond so in order to catch it I think I am going to have to take the whole thing apart to catch it. Unless of course Jasmine catches it first.

I also survived Story Time at the library. I just have one more week to read and then that will be it until September. Nolla asked if I would read again. Corra will be in kindergarten but Carter seems to enjoy it so it will be fun.

The last week of May will be much calmer I think. Resting up for what starts the 30th. Aubrey has a week of vacation so we are tackling the kitchen project. One week to 1. Build a new double oven cabinet (yes changing again) 2. Paint all the cabinets 3. Order new counter tops 4. Install back splash---- Oh yes- My new glass knobs. And then I will have to make a new curtain. That should take a week. Right?

The life of retired empty nesters!

Next post- Why do people have kids and then don't want to parent them... A tale of bad neighbors!!!!!

Stocking Project

I got so caught up in the usual whining about the weather that I forgot about the progress I have made on my stocking project. I completed  stocking #2 and am well under way with stocking # 3. It has been moving along nicely, so I guess the weather has been ok. I have gotten quite a bit of little projects completed. One was a rag doll I started working on probably five years ago. During my great sewing room organization weekend right after Christmas I pulled all of my started but not completed projects out and made a list. I am determined to get them all finished by the end of the year. I have added a few new things to the list but they aren't major projects-just little pick me ups. One being a new print that all I have to do it mat and frame. I have wanted it for years but was too cheap to buy it but was lucky to find just the print for a fraction of the cost.  So here are the latest two completed projects:

Now back to work! Gardening time is right around the corner