The Inadvertent Farmer

Photos of the Beautifully Creepy!

Seemed only appropriate to post these today...beautiful and creepy, nature is a wonder!

 

Woodland Fairy Scepter

 

Notice the bug swinging in the spider web?

 

Woodland Floor BATS...Love these!

 

All Wrapped Up

 

The Spiders have been busy!  If you like spiders...follow the link!

 

Happy Halloween to those of you who celebrate it...

To those of you who don't there are lots of other reasons to celebrate:  Its FRIDAY!...Its the last weekend of political commercials and ads...It's Football Season...Tomorrow Candy will be on Sale!!!!!!

Have a wonderful Weekend!  Kim, the inadvertent farmer

Autumn From a Different Point of View...Fall Photos

Apples on the goat house roof

 

 

Watch out for baby on trike!

The fall is such a great time for taking pictures.  I love to look up at the trees with all their luscious colors.  I decided that it was time to challenge myself to take a look at fall from a different perspective.  So I got on the ground, climbed an apple tree and hung out over the water for these shots.  I also almost got run over by baby boy, nearly broke an arm falling out of the apple tree and almost dropped my camera in the water...but I got the shots and that is all that really matters!  I figure a good photographer should always be willing to sacrifice life and limb or at least slugs and spiders for the shot, right?

 

Dew on the grass...got very wet!

 

 

Tiny last flower...everybody say "ahhhhhh"

 

 

Brown is beautiful...too bad there were slugs and spiders hiding there, yuck!

 

   

Camera nearly drowned but love the shot!

 

 

OK, couldn't resist...your typical Fall Photo, but isn't it pretty?????

Happy Autumn to Everyone, now go rake some leaves!

 

 

 

Not So Hasty Indian...Pudding Recipe!

Sweet daughter and I are reading 'Little House in the Big Woods'  by Laura Ingalls Wilder for homeschool.  We read about  hasty pudding and were both curious as to what that was.  We googled it (gotta love google!) and found many yummy recipes for what was called Hasty or Indian Pudding.  Its a dish that originated in England where it was made from flour. In Colonial America it was made from cornmeal and since I am always on the lookout for authentic Thanksgiving recipes we decided to go with cornmeal.  Be warned though it is not even remotely 'Hasty', it has to be baked 2 hours...sweet daughter said is should be called "Slow Poke Pudding", lol!

You will need the following ingredients...

~2 Cups Milk (we used 2% )
~2 Cups 1/2 and 1/2 or light cream
~1/3 Cup Stone Ground Yellow Cornmeal
~1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
~1/4 Cup Maple Syrup
~1/4 Cup Molasses
~1 TBSP Butter
~1 tsp Cinnamon
~1 tsp ginger
~Pinch to 1/8 tsp of cloves (depending on taste)
~1/8 tsp salt
~2 eggs beaten

Note:  you could use all Maple Syrup or all Molasses whichever is your favorite...we didn't have enough maple syrup so had to add molasses also and it was very good.  I think it would have a lighter flavor without the molasses.

In a heavy pan scald the milk and cream...(bring to almost a boil when bubbles just form around the edges and it is steaming)

Gradually pour in cornmeal while whisking...bring to boil stirring constantly.  After reaching a boil turn heat to low.

While I was stirring sweet daughter measured and mixed the sugar and other dry ingredients which we then added to milk mixture...

Then it was time to measure maple syrup...

Next we added the butter and maple syrup/molasses to the pot...stirred well and removed from heat.

 

Don't forget to lick the cup clean!

 

Start on the eggs...beat well

 

Next you can either let the milk mixture cool enough not to cook your eggs when you add them or you can temper your eggs...(adding a small of milk mixture to eggs to warm them enough that you can then add them to pot of milk without them cooking into little lumps...yuck!)  Stir the eggs and milk mixture and pour into buttered 1 1/2 quart baking dish and bake at 325 degrees for 2 hours.

 

 

Serve warm or cold with ice cream, vanilla yogurt, whipped cream, or applesauce...yummy!

Since I cannot leave a recipe alone this is a combination of two different ones that we found with some changes of my own.  It has a deep rich flavor with spices similar to pumpkin pie.  Its color is that of deep caramel and the texture is rustic, not quite smooth.  It can be served hot or cold.  Sweet daughter liked it warm with ice cream, I on the other hand preferred it cold with homemade applesauce.  Either way it is delicious!

Mini-Vacation...I'm resting and he's remodeling

By the time you read this I will be on a two day vacation at our cabin.  Well it is a vacation for the kiddos and me but hubby being the never sit still over achiever that he is will be finishing the benches on the new front deck he just built. He will probably chop wood, rake leaves, and generally make himself very useful.  I on the other hand will be taking long walks with the kids and the camera, swinging in the hammock with the kids, eating s'mores again with the kids, and generally being not as useful but way more fun! I won't  even be thinking of the overgrown strawberry beds, or rose eating camel at home...well not too much anyway!

Here are a couple of the hundreds, ok thousands, of shots I've taken over the past year since we've owned the place.  When I get back I'll tell you the story of how we came to own it and how it has turned into the 'money pit on the lake' as we so foundly refer to it!

See ya later,  wiping marshmallow off her face!  Kim

 

A work in progress...

The Frost's Upon the...

Here is #3 in the series for those of you keeping score...

Now any self-respecting gardener would not admit that this was taken in her yard.  So the following is from my neighbor's yard...

 

Yes this is a weed, a rather large weed from the dandelion family.  I just thought it was cool.

Here is another one from my yard just for fun and much more classy,  since I'm such a classy chick ...you all  can stop laughing now!

 

 

You didn't have to guess this one but if you did and guessed 'old garden bench' then you are just brilliant! 

Have  a great Sunday!!!

I Implore You...the Strawberry Patch Invasion

Please, I beseech, implore and beg of you...enough dramatic synonyms for ya?...seriously this is important!

Do NOT do what I have done people...  If you learn nothing else from this blog then remember these picture, let them be forever burned in the circuits of your brain for it could happen to you...

 

ACKKK!!!  The weeds from hell in...

 

the strawberry beds!   I have been a bad and neglectful gardener and now it is time to pay the piper...and he is going to exact some serious payback!

 

These are the demon thorns I must contend with...they are not only on the still standing weeds but have fallen off into and are hiding away in the soil to pierce and puncture and maim at any time in the future they see fit, ouch!

 

These are the burrs that are on my boots, in my boots, on my pants, in my pants...yikes!  Had them in my hair, baby boy had them in his hair. I even had to pick them off my camera strap!  I shudder to think how many of these darn seeds will germinate in the strawberry beds next year.

 

Here is the newly weeded bed.  I know that letting all those weeds go to seed was really stupid on my part.  After strawberry season I just got busy with other things...you know like husband, kids, animals, house, church, little things like that...and didn't get around to it. I think I will have to pull up all the strawberry plants early next spring, put down black plastic then replant them.  That's the only way that I will be able to keep the baby weeds from taking over~~sigh~~I sooo know better than this!

Notice the bed next door?  You see it,  the one with the huge white arrow pointing to it?  Sorry didn't mean to scare you!  There are 4 more beds that look that bad...hanging my head now and shuffling off to weed.

BTW...if you ever need a good reason to own a camel one is that they just kind of hang around waiting for weeds to be tossed over the fence, kinda like a dog hanging around the table waiting for scraps.   If you ever need a reason not to own a camel I've got a bushel full of those too, lol!

The Great Pumpkin...caution blogs crossing

Caution my blogs are about to cross...better than my eyes I guess!  I have my farm blog, duh... but I also have a sewing blog where I chitchat about what I'm working on and talk about exciting things like thread and fabric and all things sewing like!  Today my blogs are crossing because I just had to share this little top that got its inspiration from the garden. Nothing says fall on the farm like pumkins!  Besides I didn't want you all to think baby boy was my only kid since I do have 4 more of the little munchkins!

 

I'm calling it the 'Great Pumkin' dress. 

 

Now back to your regularily scheduled programming of critters, camels, and craziness...

Close Encounter of the Camel Kind!

Baby Boy and I were outside yesterday just enjoying the fall evening.  We played with sidewalk chalk, investigated bugs, ate a few remaining blackberries and most importantly avoided the garden as to not be reminded of all the chores that needed to be done.

While we were admiring the new llama baby Gizmo the camel came over hoping we had a treat for him, he loves apples.

Baby Boy was not to sure what to think of the big guy.

 

Gizomo decided to see if Baby Boy's hair smelled as good as it looked!

 

 

Then he decided to see if the camera smelled as good as it looked!

 

 

Baby Boy decided he rather play with his car than with his camel!  I can't say I blame him...

A Summer Place Farm...part 2

This farm sits on a lake that was made by the building of a damn.  The orignal farmstead was on a hill overlooking the river below.  The road that is now used to launch boats onto the lake was once the old farm road that lead down to the lower pasture that grew corn. 

 I would love to travel back 100 years to take a peek at how thing were then.  I do know that the 9 bedroom house did not have an indoor bathroom...yikes!  The front hall closet was converted for indoor plumbing sometimes before 1968.  Can you imagine having that big of a family and no bathroom???

Everytime I visit I find more hidden (and not so hidden) treasures,  here are a few...

 

An old wagon wheel propped up against an equally old maple tree.

 

A glass ball displayed on an old lamp base

 

If one's good...

 

This is the old meathouse.  It was used to dress and store meat.  The walls were lined with sawdust to keep it cool!

I hope that someday decades and maybe centuries down the road people can visit my farm and be as equally charmed...Thanks Florence!

Field Trip...'A Summer Place Farm' part 1

 

Along a rural stretch of old highway, down a maple lined drive on a fabulous lake is a farm called 'A Summer Place Farm'.  It is the only farm on the entire lake.  It is owned by an equally rare and wonderful woman, Florence, or Grama Lee as my kiddos so fondly call her. She is 79 years old, feisty, funny, and lives on the farm alone with her John Deere Tractor and her cat.  She has buried two husbands, raised two kids, has been an entrepreneur, a foster mom, and a mentor.  Living on grit and gumption she is what I want to be when I grow up!

She has owned this piece of heaven for the last 40 years and just recently moved there full time, before  it was their family's summer home...thus the name.

The first time I visited I was wowed by the great lake view but was completely overcome with 'tree envy'. Behind the old farmhouse is an enormous black walnut tree, it is well over 100 years old.  My pictures in no way can convey the immense size and the character of this marvelous old tree.

 

With age come character...remind yourself of that next time you look in the mirror!

 

The ferns love the tree too!

One of the many old birdhouse living in the tree.

 

Baby Boy hanging out in the tree.

 

Old meathouse under the tree.

Yes I do love this tree, old houses are wonderful, old cars are cool, but there is something magical about a living entity that has survived and indeed thrived over a century of storms, droughts, and humans.  Truly a rare treasure from nature!

Tomorrow come see some of the other hidden treasures on the farm...

Do Farmers Need Cell Phones? Funny you should ask!

I have made it to my 40's (early 40's mind you) and have lived quite nicely without a cell phone. 

 "WHAT?"  Yes I hear your collective gasp.

I repeat myself, I do not own a cell phone...well I didn't until about a month ago.  I think people talking on their phones look ridiculous, especially when they have those ear pieces in like something Lt. Ohura would wear on Star Trek..."Captain, the signal, it's breaking up".

I observe people walking up and down the grocery aisles, sidewalks, or mall, talking to what appears to be themselves. I pass them wondering if they are mentally ill, then I see the absurd ear piece and know!  Besides I don't need an ear piece to talk to myself,  it is something I do, and do well mind you, without the help of modern technology...that's another issue for another post.  Anyway the story of my getting a cell phone goes something like this...and this is a true story mind you!

I was driving home from town, it was a nice warm evening with the car filled with nothing but blessed silence (sweet daughter was with grama and baby boy was  asleep in his car seat in the back... you moms out there know just how blessed this is) that was all about to change.  Soon after I got onto the highway in my very stylish and highly sought after '92 Chevy minivan (now no laughing, it has 260K miles and runs like a top and is and has been completely payed for!)  I felt that familiar pull and hear that thump -thump, thump- thump... Crap, I have a flat tire.   I pulled as far off the road as I could into some tall weedy grass,  got out and saw that the back driver's side tire looks like a rubber pancake.  I checked on the baby who was still sleeping and went around to get out the spare tire.  In my van the spare tire is underneath so you have to put a tool like a huge screwdriver into a little hole and twirl (the tool not me silly) until the tire is lowered onto the ground.  Of course at that point you have to get on your belly and reach under and pull out tire.  This would not be an issue if it wasn't for the fact that I am in a sun dress and flip flops,  ughhh why had I chosen that day to dress like a girl?

As I was on the ground reaching for the tire I saw out of the corner of my eye two young men running across highway traffic towards me.  Friend or foe?  Should I stand my ground or  jump into the car and lock the doors?  Then what, call for help?  Again I have no cell phone...you see my dilema.

Well it turned out they were too fast for me (I was laying on the ground after all) and made it to my car before I could decide fight or flight.  Luckily they turned out to be two very nice guys whom had just gotten out of the army and were coming home to visit their moms...ahhhh.  They proceeded to change my tire for me while telling me about their tour of Iraq and what they missed most about home. Meanwhile calling me 'ma'am' throughout our conversation....another ahhhh.  They quickly changed the tire and  lowered my van back onto the spare....it was also flat!

I told them not to worry about me and go home, I would just call my husband who should be coming  by this way from work any minute.  Of course that was a big fat lie as I didn't own a cell phone to call with but I knew their mamas were waiting anxiously to see them. Being a mama of boys that age I didn't want to postpone the reunion even one more minute.  So with a wave and a "Good luck ma'am" they were on there way.

Well no phone, the spare was flat, now what?  Hubby would be coming by eventually but I didn't know if it would be after dark and wasn't sure he would even see me.  I checked on the baby who had woken up and decided he was hungry.  I of course always have food in my car for emergencies...well except that day of course.  Thank the good Lord I was still nursing and I figured that should hold him over till we got home...whenever that might be.

While I nursed him I noticed in the back of the van my hiking backpack that I use when the kids and I walk around our local lake...5 year old in the stroller, baby in the backpack...just call me fitness chick!   I decided to put him in the pack and hoof it back to Home Depot which was at the next exit back.  I knew they were open late so I should make it there before they close.  I put baby boy in the pack and started down the highway...in flip flops remember.  I didn't get more than 100 feet when a middle aged couple pull off the highway in front of me.  The woman got out of her very nice Lexus with a quite horrified look on her face.  "You are walking on the highway with a baby?"  she sputters.  I smiled sweetly and told her yes but there is a wide shoulder and I am being diligent to watch for cars.  She is not at all appeased.  I told her about my flat tire and my flat spare and let her know that I had no intention of spending the night in my van so I was walking to Home Depot to call my husband.

It takes people a while to comprehend that their are people like me without cell phone.  "Why don't you just call him?"  she asked getting annoyed.  "I don't own a cell phone."  "You have a baby and your don't have a cell phone?".  OK nobody had ever put it in those you are a bad mother terms before.  She whipped out her cell phone and thrust it at me, "Call your husband" she ordered. 

I obey sheepishly, show appropriate gratitude, promise to get a cell phone, hubby comes to our rescue, takes us home, grama watches the kids while we go with another tire and retrieve the van.  Next day I buy a cell phone...

I  now hang it from my rear view mirror as a good luck totem.  I figure it would stand to reason that now that I have a cell phone to call for help I will never again need to...well except in a tunnel or high on a mountain pass where there is no cell phone reception,

Murphy's Law and all...

 

The Frost's Upon the...next in the photo series

Recognize the leaves of this plant?...it is much easier to identify earlier in the year when it is covered with yummy and healthy fruit.  Do you know?

 

 

It is one of our minature blueberries that we grow right next to the patio.  I guess it didn't realize it was way to late in the year to put on new growth!

I'm calling this photo 'Blueberry Ice' since those are actually tiny frozen droplets on it...everything else that morning had frost but this had ice on it.

Wild Mushroom Photos...first time for everything!

 

I find all kinds of unintended things growing in my garden. Tomatoes are always popping up where the birds dropped them the year before.  Borage likes growing in the compost pile.  We have wild daisies and roses that you never know where they'll turn up.  This though is a first.  A perfect and I must say darling mushroom growing in one of the raised beds.  I wouldn't have even seen it if I hadn't looked under a swiss chard leaf.  Ohhh the treasures you'll find when you keep your eyes open!

Flight of the Honey Bee...Photos

My husband is a beekeeper.  You know with the white suite, hood, mask,  smoker...the whole shabang.  The only problem with being  a beekeeper now a days is that the honey bees keep disappearing.  Colony Collapse Disorder has been all over the news. It has been reported that our world as we know it cannot survive without these perfect little pollinaters.  Two years ago we had 7 hives, last year 0.   The disorder has hit us hard. 

After discoving all of our bees gone hubby cleaned out and stored the empty hive boxes in the camel shed to keep them out of the weather.  We were surprised and delighted this spring to find that a colony had moved into the empty boxes.  This does make going into the shed to feed the animals a bit dicey but it is worth it to see a healthy active hive.

Yesterday while I was taking pictures (because I'm basically photo obsessed, lol) and while I was in the garden a lone honey bee started buzzing around the Borage.  I knelt there trying to not move until the little guy landed on the flower right in front of me.  I love this shot.  I really missed having bees around...welcome back little one!

And the Baby's Name is...

The finalist were:  Oreo, Zorro, and Lucky...

The winner is...drum roll please!

OREO!!! 

Thanks LISA

Thanks for all the great suggestions, if we have anymore baby llamas I will know where to go for great names!

It Has Begun...Fall Photo

Autumn is truly here.  The kids and I were out playing in the newly mown pasture and I spotted this lone leaf and looked out at all of our maple trees and the were beginning to turn yellow and orange...I will miss summer but fall is a time to reflect on the previous growing season and start dreaming of the next!

A Lavishly Long List of Llama Labels...LOL!

Well here they are... I must say you all are very creative!

• Pepe'
• Panda-Roo
• Zorro
• Toby
• Ursidae
• Panda
• Betty Boop
• Bubblegum
• Stinkbug
• Horace
• Leanard
• Larry
• Lester
• Wesly
• Dread
• Saprtaucus
• Franklin
• Ferris
• Bueller
• Zeb
• Tux
• Fabio
• Lucky
• Landon
• Dahli
• Cookie
• Mr. Fuzzybutt
• Oreo
• Dow
• Blacky
• Rorschach
• Domino
• Chief
• KayDub
• Panda
• Stinky
• Bobby Boop...lol!

I will add any I get today to the list and post them.  We will have a family vote tonight and let you know who the winner is tomorrow!  Oh boy it could be a loooooooong night, lol!

My Eternal Quest for the Perfect Applesauce...New Recipe

I have been making applesauce for way longer than I'm ever going to admit here!  In all those years I have tried many different variations and ingredients.  Let's see, there has been cinnamon and cloves added.  Vanilla has often joined the party.  Lemon for kick, brown sugar, white sugar, and honey have all lent their sweetness.  I even made applesauce once when I first got married that had the surprise ingredient of red hot candies , made the whole batch pink and spicy!  Other fruits have co-mingled, apricots were tangy, peaches sweet, cranberries were lovely.  Still I'm always searching for something better...yes I am a fickle sauce maker.  Here is the latest recipe in a long line of recipes in search of the perfect applesauce,

You'll need:  Apples (duh!) a lemon or two, cinnamon sticks, , whole cloves, brown sugar, white sugar, salt, water

I used:     15# of apples

                    2 lemons

                    4 cinnamon sticks

                    5 whole cloves

                    1 cup packed brown sugar

                    1 cup white sugar

                    1 tsp salt

                    3 cups water

Peel, core and cut apples into large chunks...any kind you apples you like

Put them in a big pot, add enough water to keep the suckers from sticking...this will vary depending on how juicy your apples are

Add a few pieces of lemon peel...I used 10 pieces that I removed from the lemons  in long strips with a veggie peeler

Squeeze the lemon over the pot adding the lemon juice...try not to add the seeds!

Put in a cinamon sticks  (powdered cinnamon in a can works too but I couldn't tell you how much since I always use cinamon sticks...you'll have to guess!)

Add Salt

Stir once in a while so the sauce doesn't burn on the bottom...burnt bottoms are no fun!

Cook until soft.  Remove lemon peels and cinnamon sticks and cloves.

Eat warm or cold,  can it,  freeze it,  take off your shoes and dance in it...whatever turns your crank!

Taste Test: This is one kick ass applesauce!  I don't say that lightly either since I don't usually cuss,!  The first thing I thought of when I tasted this is "this is one intensely cheery applesauce"  the lemons give it such a bright kicking taste that it is truly sprightly!  I know part of the reason for the intensity is the apples I used.  They were straight from the orchard and there were 5 different kinds and none of them especially sweet and certainly not bland...no Red Delicious are allowed in my orchard, lol!  I like apples with a snappy taste.

It is intense to the point I'm not quite sure I would sit down to eat a big bowl of it unless it was tempered with say yogurt or better yet vanilla ice cream.  Next time I might put in fewer lemon peel strips and see if it mellows  at all.  I will definately make it again.  I will can it in pints as opposed to quarts like most of my applesauce since a little of this goes a long delicious way!

Breakfast this morning, fresh applesauce, organic vanilla yogurt and a slice of homemade pumpkin bread...yummy!

If you have any wonderful applesauce recipes let me know because I have lots of apple left!

A Bit about Borage...a Super Plant!

Since I posted yesterday I have had a few comments and a lot of emails about Borage so I got out my gardening books to share some info about this great plant.

 

BORAGO officinalis, or Borage for us laymen.  It grows in all zones (thought dandelions were the only thing that grew in all zones!), sun or shade, tolerates poor soil and drought.  Great soil binding ground cover. It grows 1-3 feet tall...Wow, what a plant!

It is has bristly gray green leaves that have a cucumberlike flavor. You can use the small new leaves for salads, pickling, or cooked greens..."Hey honey we're having roast beef and pickled Borage for dinner"  I'm sure hubby would be just thrilled, lol! The periwinkle blue flowers are a great garnish for salads.

Now for the caution from personal experience...this self seeds freely.  I find the stuff growing everywhere.  I just let it grow to feed our honeybees but just be warned!

It is rumored to repell tomato hornworms but I can't say since I don't have that particular pest...now if it repelled slugs I would be out doing a happy dance in  my field of Borage!!!

Next spring give it a try!   Kim the Inadvertent Farmer

A new photo series~The Frost's Upon the...

I woke up this morning to the first frost of the year...over three weeks ahead of schedule.  My tomatos weren't thrilled but I was to go with camera in hand to the garden for photos of frost laden produce and herbs.  Yes I guess I'm easily amused, lol!

I'm going to be starting a new photo series for this frost season called 'The Frost's Upon the...'  Every Sunday morning will be a new picture of something with frost on it.  At the end of the post will be what it is.  See if you can guess it before you read the answer.

Here is the first in the series...know what it is?

This is Borage...an herb I plant specifically for hubby's honey bees.  The bees and I both love the sweet periwinkle blue and purple flowers it is covered with in summers.

Apple Harvest ...Crows a peckin' ...Bees a hidin'

The kids and I spent the afternoon picking the rest of the apples up in the orchard.   A perfect Autumn day all around, in the crisp air you could smell the apples as you went through the gate, fluffy white clouds hanging overhead, kids laughing together, you really couldn't get a day much better.

Then again this is my life we're talking about...

The apple trees were completely covered with sweet, perfectly ripe, nearly blemish free apples.  Well they seemed blemish free until you picked them.  On closer inspection the tops of many of the apples had holes in them. I knew just who had  pecked those holes.  Huge flocks of crows were known to descend in mass to use our orchard as a buffet...let's have a little apple here, a grape there, maybe a pear over here... a juicy marionberry for dessert.  I spent many a summer afternoon running into the orchard waving my arms like a lunatic yelling at the pesky birds to leave my fruit alone.

Anyway some of the apples had holes in them...no problems, they weren't big holes and could easily be cut around in the process of making applesauce.  The problem wasn't the holes but what evil creatures hiding in the holes. Yep...yellow jackets!   I reached up, picked  the first apple off the tree then looked down at it wondering why it felt like it was moving!  As I opened my hand I saw two yellow jackets backing out of a crow hole.  I dropped the apple like a hot potato as the yellow jackets fully emerged to start dive bombing my head in retaliation for disturbing their feast.  As I was being attacked I noticed the baby reaching his fat little hand up to pick an apple off the tree..."NO"...I screamed, scaring him to death and making him howl at the top of his lungs.  Mama being attacked by yellow jackets, baby screaming his head off.  Yeah this afternoon is off to a perfect start.

Ughhh I swear nothing can be simple.  I had to pick some hole free apples for the kids, deposit them down at the bottom of the orchard away from the bees with the hopes that they would go unnoticed by the wicked insects. Then I had to cautiously pick each apple with the knowledge that any one of them could be inhabited by those little bees from hell.  I took forever.

Now if you all are thinking I'm just a pansy, it would be best to remember the stinger in the armpit that I endured fixing the fence  just a few short weeks ago.  So I am completely justifed being a pansy.

After I finally finished the painstaking process of picking the apples and chasing the yellow jackets away from the kids more than once we finally had as many as we could haul in the little red wagon (some farmers use wheelbarrows, or tractors, I use a Radio Flyer to haul fruit, lol!) .  We took them back to the garage where it was cool to store until I could make sauce out of them. 

When long suffering hubby got home he wanted to know why his garage was full of yellow jackets...sorry honey!

Last bar of Y2K soap...a moment of silence

I reached under the bathroom sink yesterday and did something momentous...I gently and with great sadness opened the last bar of Original Scent Irish Spring soap that had been stockpiled for the last 9 years...yes I said 9 years!  My Y2K stash has finally been depleted.

I am a stockpiler by nature and when you add  the impending doom of something like Y2K I might tend to go a little overboard.  If a month's worth of something is prudent then 2 years worth must be better...you never know after all.

Besides soap was one of those things that having three almost teenage boys we could not and I would not live without.  There were of course other items that needed to be hoarded...tampons (lasted me 3 years),   toilet paper (lasted over a year),    dried beans (still have the suckers),    water (used to flush the toilets for 9 years now when the power is out...we still have some) ,   sugar (a year)...I could go on but I'm sure you get the point.  I'm either a cautious responsible wife and mother or I'm just plain sick and need help...the jury is still out on this.

Now I'm not just about having a well stocked larder but I am also a business woman.  I figured at the time that I could have  supplemented our income nicely buy selling on the blackmarket tampons for $1 each and bars of Irish Spring to mothers with stinky sons for at least $10 a bar!

...darn Y2K just didn't meet my expectations!

 

Wonder how much a bar of Irish Spring goes for nowadays?

Name that llama contest!

Well it is a boy for sure, so now we need to name the little nipper!  He is two weeks old and its high time he had a proper name besides 'baby llama'.

I'm going ask you to give name suggestions in your comments. I'll take names through Wednesday October 15th.  I will then compile the names and post them.  After they are all together we will convine a family meeting and vote for our favorite. I'll announce the winning name the next day.  The winner will get to choose from a jar of homemade jelly or a 5x7 print of any of the pictures (except those of my kids) on my blog.  Of course the real prize is knowing that there is a llama out there somewhere with your name on it, lol!

Post as many names in as many comments as you like. The more names we have to choose from the better...especially since I have 5 kids and a husband and agreeing on one will be challenging!

Note:  'Obama the LLama' has already been vetoed...my 5 year daughter thinks that's a silly name for a llama!

The Last Blooms of Summer...Daisy Photos

 

I was up at sunrise thanks to my early rising baby son.  As usual we went outside, baby on one side camera on the other.  I got some amazing sunrise shots but these of the last few daisies ,covered with dew,  were my favorites.  I really do hate to see summer come to a close.

 

Little Red Apples all in a line...Photos

     

Little red apples all in a line, I love to see them sparkle and shine!

Little red apples all in a row, oh how I hate to see summertime go!

Little red apples all in a bunch...

                            think I'll go in and have one for lunch!

Ok, yes I'm a dork but I'm having fun being a dork, lol! 

Besides what's the point of spending hours picking apples if you can't play with them afterwards?