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

Ahh...Spring

Spring arrived on Sunday, with much anticipation of warmer days and melting snow. And yes we did have a lot of melting. That is until Tuesday when we got rain, rain that turned to sleet and then sleet that turned to snow. And snow that fell and fell until we had 4 1/2 inches of wet, heavy snow to shovel. Wednesday was a nasty day with high winds and yes more snow. What a blessing Thursday was with sunshine as far as you could see. No wind was the icing on the cake! Shoveled extra space for the dogs to run around and bark in. Today was another picture perfect day. Temps into the 40's, again no wind and plenty of sun. Ended up firing up the snow blower, things aren't melting fast enough. We are looking forward to a warmish, sunny weekend. But one more thing- forecast is calling for close to 3 new inches of snow Sunday!

As of Thursday! Thank goodness it looks nice!

The snow won't stop

Yes, I am becoming a whiner! I just can't seem to shake my cold/cough/whatever it is. Looks like it will stretch into month 2!  I need some sunshine, bare dirt, green grass, bare feet. But the snow keeps coming. We had another blizzard that dropped 12 new inches of blinding white snow-but not to stop yet, because just a couple of days later 2 more fluffy inches fell. Now I am not going to complain about the blinding white of it all because that at least means that the sun was out. And it is beautiful-but it didn't need to get so cold again.
 Ahh..finally.. March is here-so why is it just 4 degrees? And windy? Now the roads are like ice slicks. And the wind will continue to howl, that is until it starts snowing again tomorrow night. Do I sometimes question choosing to live in the upper mid-west. There are times when I am ready to be outside that I do question it! But anyway, March will be the transition month- by the end of the month I should have seeds started for the veg garden, some herbs and I am sure a few "needed" perennials. Fun times are just around the corner.  By April I am hoping all of the snow will be gone and I can start to rake the yard and mark off hard scape areas I will be doing this year. I am going to have to relocate the asparagus patch as we are tentatively planning on adding on to the garage. Who thought moving to town was going to be easier? Not as much work he said? Always something to be done.
I am half way through with stocking # 2.  Just two squares left to quilt on my wall hanging and fingers are crossed that I get the last two bedrooms upstairs painted before the end of April. I am having color issues so kind of forgot about it for a couple of weeks and will get back on it next week. 

Christmas in February?

No, we aren't having Christmas in February. It's just that when we put up the Christmas tree this year I realized I was kind of tired of some of the old stuff. Bright idea? I am on a mission to make new stockings for everyone this year. This is #1- Bucilla Stocking Kit- Chillin Santa!  I saw it and knew it was the one for Albert. He would like nothing better that to be on the beach in December-well actually not just December but on a daily basis. So I did commit to, when the time was right I would move to Hawaii. 

Ok let's see- February:  We have had record cold. Last week the wind chill all week was in the -25 to -35 degree range.  Our last big snow brought about 5 new inches. Saturday temps went up into the 40's and over the weekend we lost about 1 foot of snow. We should melt off quite a bit more this week. Temps will be 30 to 40 degrees and sunny most of the week. Exciting stuff.

I spent the weekend painting the upstairs and landing-maybe I'll finish it up today (hopefully). Albert had errands and dr. appointments this am so I got my stuff done and am now waiting for him to get home. Brian is home sick with the kids. Valentine date tonight! Off to Marshall for supper- Nice quite day for me though.

34 days until spring-  Seeds have started to arrive!!!

Jan stained glass project

As of today I have finished my first months stained glass project. It felt good getting back into it after quite a long break. For some reason I just couldn't get motivated. But last night I signed, patina-d and polished my first piece I have done in about two years. Don't get me wrong, I have started some other pieces, at least to the extent of making the pattern and picking the glass but then I seemed to stall out. But now I am inspired to the extent that I am thinking of doing some glass pieces for my cabinet doors- Maybe just a couple on the small doors that no one can reach- A sun on one and a moon on the other. We will see. I will get back on it Sunday. Tomorrow we have family coming for dinner: Chicken enchiladas, Mexican Rice, Refried beans, Stuffed Jalapenos (two varieties), guacamole and flour tortillas-

All in all this has been a good and busy week- Finished a couple of sewing projects and have started the new Christmas Stockings- 1st one: Chillin Santa for Albert. My time frame for them is also one a month. I think it will go smooth until spring/summer and I am outside. I guess I will have to make a schedule!

And another room done

Today we completed the remodel of the mud porch/ new home office. This was a bit of a spur of the moment home improvement. My son-in-law was home sick on Monday so the kids stayed home with him. We quick made a list and ran to get supplies. The layout was planned so all we needed was exact measurements and a supply list and we were out of the house in an hour. Weather was fairly nice on the way there but by the time we were heading home the winds had picked up and the temperature was dropping. Made it home and unloaded. Tuesday Brian was also home with the kids so we emptied our new spot and started constructing! As of this evening we are pretty much settled in. I just have to make curtains.  Not too bad since both of us are still coughing our heads off.  Now tomorrow we start Phase 2: Demolition of the old office-turn it into a temporary playroom.  It is nice that we can still work together and not choke each other.

Our temperature has fallen drastically this week. We only got to 2` today and it won't get much warmer the rest of the week. Our lowest is should be Thursday when the temps are supposed to fall to -21. Brrrr
Nice to know that winter is about half way over. Seed catalogs are all in and Corra and I are making our lists.

My head is full of ideas for our next project-now just to convince my better half how great they are and we can get going on it.

Sunshine on my shoulders

Wow- another month of winter has passed. We have been so busy and the time has flown. Since my last post we have gotten 25 inches of snow. There was my birthday blizzard- we got about 5 1/2 inches of snow that day. We also had rain-which then turned to freezing rain, then to snow and to finish off that day- yes all in one day, the winds picked up. No blizzard but visibility was bad. The holidays were good. Guy, Aubrey and Leslie's families were here for Christmas Eve, which is our normal get together day. Guy was here on Christmas day also. It was a very nice relaxing day. Aubrey's birthday we had another storm- this was the rain/ice/snow/wind day. The tree came down and the house was almost back to normal-

but then I decided to paint the dining room. Well as of yesterday that job was completed- Thank goodness. Albert painted all of the trim and even painted all the bathroom trim. Now it is all bright and fresh. Need to find a few new things for the walls though. Try to keep it interesting.  So with my plans to do a room a month during the winter I am ahead of the game and will try to get the office and playroom done this month also. Then move on to the upstairs or living room in February.  I am holding off on doing anything in our bedroom until summer as we might be moving the french doors and adding a window- Yea--- Spring will be here before we know it.

Then I can be in the garden. Plans for the new layout are coming along great. I am getting lots of good ideas from my gardening sight. I think that I am even going to have enough room for Corra to have here own spot- Just let her do her own thing. We will see how Carter is in the garden this year-He seemed pretty interested in it last year. 

I guess that is about it for now- I am heading to the basement to start a stained glass piece- I am still planning on doing a new piece each month. This one will be for Guy and Joyce- They have bought a house in Kentucky and he will be moving there next month.  The sun is shining here and it is a beautiful 6 degrees, so I am in a good mood. Nothing like the sun to brighten a mood-

Courtyard in winter---Wonder how many plants will survive this?

Snow Day

I can't believe that a month has already passed. November flew by. Way too much drama for one single month to have. Had a great Thanksgiving with the kids, not all of them but at least the ones that want to be here were able to be here. Had a little bad weather the day before. Leslie and Caleb made it to Madison ok on Wednesday and came here Thursday morning. Aubrey and Brian headed to Madison early Thursday and then here Thursday afternoon. Both girls had to work on Friday so we had a fairly early night. And now we are already into December.

We had our first "big" snow yesterday. Started early and snowed all day. We ended up with between four and five inches. Not really windy so no blizzard. We were out about 10am blowing snow. No pictures yet. Maybe later.

Decided to wait until spring to paint the kitchen cabinets. Just too much going on. So I guess I will move onto the dining room for it's updates. Looking for a hutch. I want an old style, but with the weather changing and the antique shops so far away now might not be the right time to be out looking for one. Just have to see what comes up.

Going to spend the rest of the day in  my sewing room. I have a wall hanging I am working on and I should be able to get a lot done since the kids aren't here.

November

November already. Not that I didn't know it was coming, it just seemed to arrive so quick. I guess because of the crazy weather we have been having. The past two days have been real nice- didn't even mind wearing shorts to the store this weekend. It is just funny though to see everyone in coats already. I stretch the season out as long as I can. After all-it just makes me walk faster from the house to the garage and then from the car into the store etc..... Nothing else going on. I finished the chairs and now I need to finish cleaning my sewing room. I started earlier and Corra came in to work on her crafts, as she calls them and Carter just came in to climb around on stuff. Something about sitting on the bottom shelf of my sewing table. He has been doing it since he started crawling-he would get up on it and then was scared to get down. Now he is a pro- The stools are his new challenge.
Finishing the kitchen updates are the November project- Hope all goes smooth. Have to order the counter top- Scary thought since we have to take all the measurements. This should all go down after Thanksgiving-Then on to the next project.  Fun times, but it does make winter go by faster.  Nice to have a few days to slow down though before we get into it full swing. Heading to Menards tomorrow, see what I can find.

Before and After Pics

Camera batteries charged so decided to throw in a before and after- Brown was ok and in good shape but the blue sparkles!!  Four down ........ one to go- Gotta go carve some pumpkins- two days to Halloween

Little Windy

We had a huge change in the weather this week. Some time Monday night the winds started to pick up. By the time we got up on Tuesday the wind was blowing at 35+ mph with gusts to 70 mph and it was raining. This lasted all day and through the night. Wednesday morning the wind was still blowing and it was snowing. There was a little accumulation but it melted fast since the ground is still warm. We were lucky though and didn't lose the big old tree-just a few smaller limbs. Finally today it is sunny, wind is still blowing but nothing like the past two days.
I brought the fish in- Found three of the tadpoles-one is almost a frog, it has all four legs but still a bit of it's tail, one has it's back legs and the other is all tadpole still! Lot's of the snails survived and there are lots of babies. The fish all look good except for one that didn't grow much and is missing it's top fin. Now I just need a slightly warmer day to get the pond scrubbed one last time before winter sets in.
We had a freeze last night but the greens still look good in the garden so we just might eat off of them one more time before I pull them up. I would like to have them out of the way and maybe even plot out the beds before winter. I have the plan drawn up and a supplies list started. We are going to be building  an A-Frame trellis for each of the tomato beds. I am also going to need a square foot grid for the mixed beds. I am excited about the new garden plan since I will be able to add all of the annuals that I like but don't seem to have a good spot for in my flower beds.
I have also almost finished upholstering my kitchen chairs. As of noon today I have just one left to finish. My goal was to be finished today and then to paint the kitchen this weekend but have decided to wait on that until I get the cabinet hardware ordered. The new plan for that is to paint the weekend after Thanksgiving. Aubrey will be off so instead of trying to get it all done and put back together in two days I will have three. Gotta love the deadlines. You can tell it is almost winter because now I am switching from lawn and garden mode to home improvement mode. Have to have something to keep me busy though. Starting January though-no excuses-I will be working on a new stained glass piece each month.

Busy days

Today we finished cleaning out the garden. Pulled out all of the okra plants and made a run to the compost sight. It was overcast and a little chilly, but it was nice to get this job done. It will be nice to be ahead of the game when spring rolls around. Still had enough time to get the yard mowed-and leaves mulched. My rhubarb patch looks terrible. I think it is time to thin it out, maybe even move it to a new spot. The cherry bushes also need to be moved. Looks like I still have plenty to do before the snow falls.
The weather is cooling off again this week-looks like we could have our first freeze by the end of the week. I have to go buy an aquarium to move the fish inside for winter. My pond isn't big enough for them to overwinter in. Should be fun. I know I have at least one tadpole that still hasn't started getting it's legs yet, so the grand kids should enjoy watching that. Just what to do with it this winter if it becomes a frog? Oh well I'll worry about that when it happens! I haven't spotted the other three- they have either grown their legs and hopped off or stay close to the bottom. It will also be nice to see how much the snails have multiplied. I started out with 10-so we will see.
Looking forward to some more sunny days to get everything done. Maybe even a couple of more Bar-B-Que's!

So this is fall?

We had a few nice fall days- chilly enough to turn the heater on. But the something happened last week. Somebody pissed off mother nature and she decided to turn up the heat. Off went the furnace and back on went the AC.  I can't take the heat anymore- It makes me edgy!!! We did make it to Sioux Falls to look at an old stove- It was very pretty and if I didn't have my mind set on a double oven I would have bought it. Drove on down to Canton, SD to see the double oven one and it was in great shape so we brought it home. That was a long day-Anyway, Albert is in the process of running a gas line for it and it should be up and running by the weekend.  Very exciting! Glad I have a big kitchen-enough room I can keep the electric stove hooked up until this one is ready.

Also my Vinyl arrived within two days of ordering it-Very impressed---I will be ordering from Vogue Fabrics again. The colors are great and I almost have one chair finished. Corra is very excited about them. She just had to sit in it because "everyone knows she has never tried a blue chair before".  Now I could use a few of those rainy days to get all the chairs reupholstered.

Along with this I am also emptying out the garden. I picked 4 1/2 gallons of peppers so today we canned 31 pints of hot sauce. I am glad that job is done. Hopefully this will last a year! We are expecting our first freeze next week so I need to get busy. The days should start cooling off starting Tuesday- so full speed ahead. So I guess it is a good thing that it hasn't rained because I have a lot of yard work to do. It is finally dry enough.
I did take the time to make another run to Joann Fabrics to pick up some more craft stuff. Have to stock up before the snow flies-

Lots to do

Time has been flying by. I can't believe tomorrow is already October. Seems like nothing got accomplished in September. How am I going to catch up in October! The weather has been great though. We were able to walk to pick Corra up from school both days this week and also walked to story time at the library yesterday. The evenings have been cool but just right to be outside during the day. No cabin fever this week. Aubrey, the kids and I are going to Watertown tomorrow. Just to do a little shopping. But Saturday we are going to Sioux Falls and beyond to look at some vintage gas stoves. One double oven and one that is just extremely pretty. Hopefully I will come home with one of them. It will be nice to finally have a gas stove. I don't care for electric stoves. Especially when canning veggies-burners seem too small.
Haven't finished cleaning out the garden yet- oh well- it will happen! Strawberries and raspberries are still producing- much to Corra and Carters delight!
I have decided on ice blue sparkle upholstery for the kitchen chairs. I ordered a sample swatch from Vogue Fabrics so will make the final decision when it gets her. Will also be getting vintage glass knobs and pulls -Peacock Blue. Very pretty. Funny though, blue is my favorite color and I have never had a blue kitchen! We will see how it all comes together.
I have been doing a little sewing-making fall crafts and little things like that. Chasing kids and trying not to be edgy. Other than that not much else going on here-the only exciting thing is that Leslie and Caleb have made plans to head to Vegas November 5th thru the 8th. I'll have a new son-in-law, but it feels like he has been family for the past few years.