Clearing Freezer Space

It’s deer season.  With any luck we will be needing freezer space.

Last night I pulled out a few bags of tomato’s I’d frozen. I had the thought of saving some of the canning for when all that heat would be appreciated. Since it was mid 30”s this morning …the heat was appreciated!

Let me tell you, working with frozen tomato’s is so much easier than fresh.  I’d much rather slip skins from a cold tomato than a hot one any day. 

I’ve read on a few canning sites about using the crockpot to cook the sauce down and decided to try it.  I tossed a few bags of frozen maters into the crockpot and set to low, let it do it’s thing overnight.  That worked but was a bit messy.  Next time I wont let them cook overnight maybe only an hour or so till they are thawed just enough to slip the skins

3 of the many bags waiting in my freezer

after they thawed & started weeping I poured all the liquid off and ran them through the food processer.  If I was working one batch I would have left it  in the crockpot to reduce & thicken but, I had more bags to go so on the stove this sauce went.

The bit that didn’t fit in the pan I used to thaw the next few bags of tomato's and left them to cook till the sauce pan was available

Worked pretty slick!  I’ll be doing this again for sure.

I ended up with 5 quarts and 7 pints cooling on the counter, not a huge batch but a good start.

All the tomato skins I saved and popped in the dehydrator

I ended up with all 9 trays loaded

Last time I tried dehydrating the skins for tomato powder I scorched them.  Forgot they were in the dehydrator and the scorch taste carried to all the skins.

This time I’m turning that sucker off before I go to bed!

Have you tried freezing part of your summer harvest and canning in winter?

Stay warm out there!

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,canning,tomato's,frozen tomatos,alternative heat

 

Life’s Wake up Call

Yesterday morning I woke in a massive panic.  I must have been dreaming of Thanksgiving, & running through my to-do list.

  I woke in a full on panic knowing I have of a frozen… rock solid turkey and it was TUESDAY!!!  There is no way it would have time to thaw for Thursday’s family supper.  I sat down after putting the coffee on and came up with a “Gotta Do list that would take 3 people to complete. Think of it… actually writing legibly B.C.  (before coffee). About the time I was half way through my first cup and ready to tackle the stairs to the basement freezer, my daughter text me.  Good thing she did because I saw the date flash on my phone & realized Thanksgiving is NEXT Thursday.  What a way to start the day!  Talk about blood pressure check. 

It was my wake-up call.

This past year has seemingly been one of constantly playing catch-up. I couldn’t find my routine blending the house, garden & kids. 

We’ve had a few changes and family events which I now know took more of an emotional toll on me than I realized. I was letting others choices control my attitude & taking their bad behavior personally.  I thought I was working through & handling what needed dealt with…yesterday morning was a wake-up call in a way…made me realize I’ve kinda shut down, withdrawn and become a bit numb. 

This morning has me thinking about letting go of people & burdens that are not mine… things/activities I’ve missed that I enjoy & changes I need to make to blend them back in.   Blogging I miss.  Although most of my content is nothing earth shattering, it’s mine.  I miss it (blogging).

Looking back through here this morning I realized I have little record of this summers garden…what worked, what flopped. 

How did I miss an entire garden year?

Well, it is what it is right?

Moving forward from here with a much lighter heart.

Katie

 

Technorati Tags: Katidids,wake up call,life,changes

Gardening on the Cheap-Free Grapevine!

Every year we try to add a new food producer/source to our land. Most of the time we can find what we want or need by trading or, best of all free.ie.”Gardening on the Cheap!

We had the offer of domestic Concord grape vine from family.  It was an established 15yr old vine they were planning to pull out & change in landscaping   The vine is/was a super heavy producer ….even totally ignored the past 10 years. I nearly cried at the thought of destroying it and asked if we could dig it up. The thought of just ripping it out was heartbreaking to us.  We planned to add grapes in the near future so it was a no brainer to at least try.  Being Texas transplants and used to 0 yard maintenance they were happy to let us have it.   We dug and dug…then dug some more attempting to get the entire root ball. Mercy this thing was big! We left a mini crater in the ground.   I’m not sure if it will survive our efforts but it was sure worth the try.  We trimmed about 15 ft. of vine from the fence & planted a bunch of the cuttings along the new trellis. I know we way over planted the cuttings but I figure only a few will survive. I’ve been keeping it watered & 1-2 of the cuttings have bits of green showing so I have hopes some may live & our cooler weather is really helping cut down on the plant stress.

Hard to tell but the main stalk is nearly as large as my wrist.

The kitchen garden has done well.  I’ve added bits here and there through the season.  Mostly herbs & nearly all were transplants or cuttings I was given. Carrots seem to love this soil.  The area originally had a sand base under the pool (which I have amended) so the soil is loose and loamy. Beets have done well as have lettuces.

The 1 cherry tomato plant I put in here just took off like gang busters and is still producing heavily.

Lettuce is coming up faster than we can eat it.

There are various mints, sage, lavender, chives, oregano, thyme, bee balm planted willy nilly in and around veggies as I was given the starts. I’ll say one thing, this area has been virtually bug free, although next year may be a different story I’m enjoying it now.  I need to get out there and do a bit of rearranging/spacing  & separating. I think I want to ring the entire area with lavender. The blooms I want to harvest & dry to use to protect  the wool stash from potential moth problems.

Well, The dust bunnies in my house are scheduling a party tonight their friends all come and don’t leave so I need to go break it up now

Have a wonderful day

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,gardening on the cheap,concord grapes,bartering,kitchen garden,garden,gardening

Over  the garden survived my neglect.  However there were a few additions that I’m pretty happy about.

Raspberries, 20 ft trellis and 5 plants. Looks like one did not survive the heat/transplanting but I’ll know for sure in the spring.  I do have unlimited access to more plants.

Blackberries, a second trellis and 5 additional plants.

Asparagus, added to the 1st raised bed. I transplanted mature plants…it was the wrong time of year but they were going to be covered over by a driveway. It was worth the try. It looks like they lived as there was continued growth.  Again we’ll know come spring.

  I’ve located 3 more plants in the area growing wild and want to get those this fall.

Rhubarb,  6  2nd year plants to the 3rd raised bed.  They are doing wonderful, healthy and thriving…tripled in size and continue producing new shoots through mid September..  After 4 years of killing them I’ve not taken one cutting & following nursery advise, mulched the plants with their own leaves as they withered.  Next year should be a bountiful harvest. 

Concord Grapes, Transplanted a 10-15 yr old vine that was scheduled to be ripped out.  Again wrong time of year but, the only investment was the trellis (which we would have put in next year)

Summer is fading fast

This morning I actually put a denim shirt over my singlet when I was on the patio with my morning coffee.  There was a definite chill in the air. Trees in back are dropping leaves..most are just plain brown from the late summer heat.

Over the weekend we harvested the last of the potato’s.  All in all I estimate roughly 30-40 lbs. if I add in those I snitched for meals the past few weeks.  We started out with just 2 Lbs. of seed taters.  My watering,( or lack there of) was inconsistent enough about 1/3 have healed splits in them.  I’m hoping they will still store well. If I had stayed on top of watering I probably would have had a much higher yield.  For the first year in the ground I’m happy with what we have & learned a lot. For example, I learned you don’t need a 6 inch trench..(which I did in the first small section.).  I think you can just about toss the spuds on the ground!  In the main tater bed I planted half of the spuds trenched a few inches & the other half I scratched a planting line. I kept them well covered with loads of compost & there really was no difference between the 2 sections. They actually produced much more than the smaller deeply planted bed. 

Most of the tomato’s in the main garden are done & the plants pulled.  This is the last large harvest I’m sure. They are all bagged in the freezer with the rest of the harvest waiting for canning in cooler weather.

Most of my potato’s produced these tater berries.  After doing a bit of research I learned you can plant them & they will produce seed taters which can then be planted the following year.  I may save a few to try but, I’m not dedicating much space for a 3 year process…..although I probably should

I’ve been so wrapped up in everything else I totally forgot about the strawberry bed once they were done.

It’s loaded with weeds & I’m afraid a lot of plants got choked out or are dead.  It’s on the list for the next few days chores.  Spring will tell if any survived

Remember the weird random squash that came up and took over the garden?

After the vine died back this is what I have.  Can anyone recognize the squash/pumpkin? It has a squash/pumpkin smell and texture…..

But hit with a lawn mower its yellow inside

I bet there are over 30 out there in the garden waiting to be harvested!  Now I need to figure how to store and preserve them

The herb garden is doing pretty well so far….I’ll get photo’s tomorrow

Have a great evening

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,garden update,harvesting,potatos,lessons learned

Life Got In The Way

Of blogging for a while.  Did ya miss me? 

Things got a bit crazy here and something had to give for a bit. It was blogging or what was left of my mind.  I’ve popped in every week or so on your blogs attempting to stay in touch, but I know we’ll be into winter before I catch up.

The garden kicked my rear this summer.  Honestly it was nearly ignored after it took off with our early season rains. We had a business trip to Milwaukee in June & I stayed for a week to visit friends….while I was gone the weeds took off & I was never able to gain control again.  I keep the girls during the day & they would be playing or “helping” while I weeded.  Well, I made the mistake of taking Miss Alix on a walk with me with me down to the mail box…after that when every my back was turned she would take off down the driveway.  Let me tell you that 18 mo. old can run!   I was ready to tie a rope to her.  Our once very quiet road has become super busy now that there are 2 subdivisions on the other end & cars just fly down it.  We have a hard time not getting hit pulling out of the driveway.  The days I was kid free were in the high 80’s or 90’s….I’m not falling out for tomato’s!

I’ve not canned at all so far.  Everything has gone in the freezer.  It was to blasted hot to have the stove on. I figure by this time next month I’ll be up to my elbows in canning jars & have a warm house when the heat will be appreciated.

So, Mr. Fix-It had been going for PT on his arm…well it helped for a while and he gained movement… but then got worse. To the point the vibration of Fred (the riding lawn mower) created all kinds of pain. Making a 18mo long story much shorter…it was a frozen shoulder due to a nerve issue. Yes, good times, mine was getting better and his got worse.  Late August he had surgery.  They knocked him out, forcibly manipulated his arm to break the “frozen shoulder”, removed gobs of scar tissue in the shoulder socket which was creating the nerve pain.  They also removed the little tip of the socket and few  bone burs in there.  When we were leaving they kept telling us he was going to be in sooo much pain that to be sure and keep him on pain pills.  Honestly?  He said the discomfort from the surgery was much less than the constant nerve pain!  No wonder he’s gone grey this past year! 

Know what that dork did the next day? He felt so good… he went to work!   I know a lot of women complain their hubby’s are big babies when they are sick or injured….I almost wish he would get some of that.  Now he’s pushing his healing…trying to play catch-up around here before winter. Can’t slow a good man down.

In the good news department my shoulder is nearly 100%.  Well enough I was released to use my bow again. Last weekend Larry took me to an archery shoot. And, to toot my own horn (keep in mind I’d only shot it about 3 times all year).  Well, the course as it turns out is one national archery champs use to practice. Out of 150 possible points I scored just over 100. Towards the end my arm was pretty shaky but finished with what I felt was a respectable score.

  Next year that course is MINE!!!!

Since it’s 2 am I’m crawling off to bed.  I’ve a list of gardening questions to ask so grab a cup of coffee next time around or skip that post! LOL!

Have a wonderful day

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,healing,catching up

Craig’s List Finds & Clearing the Underbrush

The other day someone sent me a link to a Craig's List ad for topsoil..thinking I needed more for the garden. I do but, it was from a property owner who uses all kinds of chemicals on his lawn so I gave it a “thank you” and a pass.

BLECK!

Not for me. 

Looking at other local ad’s I found these barrels.  2 for $25!  When my Son in Law went to pick them for their house as well…he paid $40.00 for all 4.  SWEET!

They held vinegar so I need to be sure I have them well cleaned before I use them for water catchment. I’m not sure they will be done this season but surely for the upcoming spring.

The boys & I made a lot of progress clearing the brush behind the house.  It’s been slow going as there is a smaller/older brush pile under all of the honeysuckle and other vines…lots of things to trip and twist and ankle on. 

When we started…

deer target on the left leaning on the rabbit hut and green tarp in the lower right

And after! 

Deer by the rabbit hutch and the tarp

Looks much better I think!

There is much more to clear out from behind the rabbit hutch but I’m very exited & encouraged with the progress..It really opens the back yard up. I’m pretty sure we disturbed numerous skeeter nests as we were bit up pretty good but, since then we’ve seen a noticeable decline in the amount of those blood suckers on the property

A few tree stumps left to cut up & clear out.  I’m thinking maybe we’ll use them for a bon fire

The underbrush I’ve been burning almost nightly in the fire pit. Starting early evening till after dusk. It’s been a nice evening change & helps keep the skeeters at bay. 

But darn it, the deep bed of coals left just beg us to roast marshmallows.  Makes for a nice treat for my pint sized helpers.

Technorati Tags: Katidids,Craigs List Finds,water barrel,clearing brush

Rain, Lovely Rain

I know, I know… last week I was singing rain – rain go away!

It was getting pretty dry & everything seriously needed watered. 

The thick & fluffy clouds rolled in early yesterday morning.  They were beautiful…. so low, they looked to be brushing the tree tops

Perfect weather for processing corn outside. Mr.Fix-it is an early riser…What I call “O”-God thirty”   You know, when most of us look at the clock and groan and roll back over.  By the time I came out at 8AM, he had everything set up and was well into having the corn shucked and ready  (My Hero)

While the first batch was in blanching for 10 minutes & then cooling,  we finished the shucking

Turkey fryer works perfectly with a large kettle

Corn bagged and cooling a bit more in the breeze before going in the freezer.

I love this burner, canning (water bath) works so well outside & saves tons.  I’m not using the house propane, the heat stays outside saving the A.C. usage…& electric bill which I love!

The weather stayed beautiful all day, much cooler & the rain (wonderful rain) came at dusk once we were inside. I couldn’t ask for better than that!

************

As far as a garden up date goes, I fought the squash bug & borer’s but they won.  I had to pull 3 of the squash plants out.  I found finally found Neem oil but it was to late for these.  I’m hoping I can get it sprayed soon enough to save the other plants… once it quits raining. 

The rest of the garden is looking decent,  the potato’s are showing blooms, melons are setting fruit & the surprise pumpkin are growing like crazy. Now it’s down to the waiting game. Other than the raised beds and cucumber area, all sections have been weeded clear & bare areas ready for fall planting in a week or so…but, that was yesterday….today who knows.

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The first batch of blackberry jam was made the other day..the first 2 gallons went in the freezer slated for winter cobblers

I’ve another batch waiting to be made now while Miss Alix is napping so, off for jam making & house cleaning while it’s to wet for outdoor work.

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,garden,outdoor canning,gardening,blackberries,preserving,blackberry jam

Beans Beans The Magical Fruit

The more you eat the more you …wait!

Wrong kind of beans!

I’m talking Green Beans!  The blue lake bush kind.  We (My SIL Jessie & I)picked and processed green beans yesterday.  I think it was her first time from picking to looking at the pretty cooling jars fresh out of the pressure cooker. 

More blossoms are showing on the plants so I’m hoping for another harvest.  I also planted the Italian broad beans this year for my oldest daughter Danielle. She picked 2 full grocery bags worth & cried enough!  Blossoms are showing on those plans as well so I think we may just be sick of beans by end of canning season let alone this winter!

Cucumbers nearly got away from me…

We picked 16 and were able to re-home 3..so I need to get these processed. Not sure what relish recipe I’ll use but I want to try one from Erin

Be sure and pop over to check out her blog.  She and her husband have just purchased land to go off grid.  I can promise her posts will be a good read.I’ve been known to have coffee pass through my nostrils on a few LOL!

The garden is *cough* nearly under control.  OK, just over half..but I need to stay positive about it right?  Healthy weeds mean good soil and ours are growing well.  I’ve been having a morning & evening meeting with them. The potato bed is cleared and received a new layer of straw as well as the additional rows in the main garden, Some of the plants are showing blossoms forming so they are looking good.

  The peas planted in a shaded area are hanging on.  Very slow growing but the blossoms are turning to pods so I’m hoping they continue to produce.  Other than fresh out of the garden I love them dried.  Can’t stand cooked peas (say tuna and pea casserole & watch me gag!) so these will be dehydrated for general munching!

I watered the front flowerbed last night and realized what a sad state it was in.  I used to keep it so nice and now…it’s looking sad, neglected and full of weeds. I don’t have/take the time to care for it as I should so I’m thinking of making some changes there as well. More perennials that take less maintenance but give those pops of color I love. I need to get back in my routine of spending at least 15 minutes a day devoted to the flower beds.  It sure made a difference and they looked great. Someday I’ll grow up and get organized….

Well, morning comes early & I have a date with the canner.

Hope it’s staying cool where you are

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,gardening,canning greenbeans,canning,cucumber

This & That

Ah…., Monday.  Oops I mean Tuesday!  Reality kicks back in. We had such a fun weekend with family. You know how it is, weddings and funerals are the only time you have the chance to see some family due to time, distance & commitments.  A few of my husbands cousins were in from Ohio and PA.  We had 2 days together, talking, eating and laughing as they relived childhood memories & we created new.

But real life kicks back in…

The boys helped me clear over half of the underbrush in the back where I will place the compost bins…hot and stick it was about 86 with super high humidity…we stopped before we melted and cooled off with popsicles. 

The wild blackberries are ripening.  Mr. Fix-It has been donning long sleeves, jeans & boots every few evenings and picking what he can. He’s gone out 2 evenings and harvested a bit over 2 gallons

This was last nights haul….he said they are just starting to ripen & we’ll both need large buckets when they fully ripen.  I believe this batch will be blackberry jam.

Mike and Jessie brought us a few of their berries as a thank you when they picked up the boys &

 

thrilled Mr. Fix-It with a cobbler.

Since the oven was already on, I used some fresh picked zucchini and made a few loaves of

Chocolate zucchini bread. It weighs a ton but is soooo good! 

Green beans are calling my name to be harvested this morning.  Since it’s already 78 degrees and they are calling for high 90s I’m heading out to get that done.  Jessie is popping in to help me can some this morning/afternoon.  I have a feeling I’m going to regret not being out at first light!

Have you harvested much this year?

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,blackberries,harvesting,canning,garden,gardening

Sunday Bee’s and Blooms

Bees have been few and far between this summer.

The little’s have learned learned to give a shout out when they are seen.  A shout of celebration (or fear) depending on your age LOL!

The blooms were loaded with the bumbles this morning

Last of the lilies, this was another freak double bloom…freaky but I love them

Honey bee’s covering the cucumber blooms…

That’s it little men, do your bee thing and pollinate those blooms.

The boys & I started clearing the area where I want the compost bins.  Mr.Fix-It’s arm is not quite up to snuff yet so my BIL brought his chain saw over the other day and we played a bit.

Still have quite a bit to clear but it’s a start,,,and starting is half the job!

What are your plans for the day?

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,blooms,bee's,compost bins

Lazy Morning Wandering

in the garden.  It’s in need of some serious weeding after all the rain.  For the first time in weeks it’s beautiful out, low 70’s and as light breeze & perfect for garden work. 

The only work being done out here is with my camera.

One of my nephews if getting married this afternoon and I’m trying to look presentable.  Garden stained feet & hands are not quite the look I’m going for.  I’ve soaked my feet in peroxide 3 times and scrub them nightly but cannot get rid of the stains. 

Overall the garden is going great,

The second potato bed is growing well with few bare spots

Pathways mulched with 4 inches of grass clippings

Zucchini are producing like crazy. Neither Mr.Fix-It or I care for it much as a veggie but love zucchini bread.  I think I have 24 cups of it in the freezer so far bagged in portions ready to use this fall & winter.

If this kind of production keeps up & the squash bugs don’t get me, I’ll be that person that drops off bags of zucchini on random front porches under the cover of darkness

The green beans & Italian beans are ready to pick but will have to wait until tomorrow or Monday.

As I was taking photos I munched quite a few of those nice fat beans for breakfast.  Wish I could preserve them raw & retain all that freshness

The broccoli bed stripped.I can’t get over how long they produced this year. All the rain really paid off.   I think I have 20 2 person servings in the freezer.

The rhubarb & pumpkin seeds I dropped.

The rhubarb lived!!

so far…

After 4 years of trying…success!  It about killed me but I’ve not taken one cutting from these 2 year plants.  They have such beautiful thick stalks….I may snitch just enough for a pie.  Next year God willing I’ll have a wonderful stash of rhubarb sauce & enough for a few pies.  The pumpkin seeds I lost (and found)have set fruit and there are about 4 softball size pie pumpkin forming up

Cucumbers think they own the garden.  Taking over everything!  I was planning on adding another row of green beans or fall planting of spinach.  I can see 3 that are huge and overgrown.  Its been to wet and muddy to get in this section.

But there are plenty more blooms coming. 

These are pickling cucumbers..I want to try sweet pickles this year although I’m not sure if there will be enough…after I find a recipe.

Off to play lady of leisure this morning and putter around the patio..till it’s time to put on the fru-fu clothes

Good golly it needs cleaned up!

What are your plans this beautiful day?

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,garden update,gardening

Plop, splat, plop…plop….splat

That was the sound of our wet clothes as they hit the laundry room floor at 9:30 Tuesday evening.  

It’s been so blasted hot we’re outside early morning and again after supper till dark.

Monday night we lost light at 9:30 along with all our energy…..it was still 85 degrees with 65% humidity. My hair was so wet I looked like I’d just stepped out of the shower. 

Last night wasn’t much different other than it was still 88 at 11 pm UGH!  But, It’s so worth it as Mr.Fixit is totally on board now with composting.

Don’t get me wrong, he was before but didn’t understand the amount we really needed for the garden. We do have a compost bin…but it is 1 bin & we keep adding to it….so its never done. I’ve tried shifting some to the side but it ends up mixed back in.

  So far this summer I’ve bought 4 yards of compost and could use 4 more .  1yard = a front end loader scoop.  Granted 1 yard was only $5.00 but, it was the time/gas/quality and yes money I had a problem with when, with better resource management we could do it ourselves.  So, after much discussion, I’m getting 3 large compost bins.  At the shop he receives shipments weekly on pallets & will be bringing them home to reuse.  I’m hoping we have enough to get 1-2 built this coming week and will add other sections as he receives more pallets. 

The other change is to put the plans for a pool on hold till next year.

Our pool became Fred and Ethel. 

Yes, that’s right I named them

A friend of ours retired & moved from a large land holding into a smaller home in town.  He sold us Fred and Ethel for less than 1/3 the cost of a new mower and trailer. Its half the size of the tractor and cuts the same width making it much easier for me to use.  Less than 3 years old and has just over 100 hours on the motor….to good of a deal to pass up!

Mr. Fix-It on Fred….

.Ethel was off to the side half loaded with grass clippings

With over 5 acres there is a LOT of grass to mow.  A lot of grass to mow = a wonderful base for compost~! Monday evening he mowed the 2 acres in front of the house blowing the clippings in deep rake easy rows.  When I finished yesterday afternoon (with help from my SIL Jessie and the kids), I ended up with 8 (1 yard) trailer loads of clippings!  That’s not counting all the clippings I used to mulch the pathways in the garden (1-2 more loads)    Talk about a work out LOL! 

We’ve plenty of carbon to blend in with the grass clippings & intend to do this again 2-3 more times this summer.  A neighbor on the other end of the field has horses and cattle and are more than happy to let me fill a few buckets of manure to mix in the piles. WOOT! So excited I was doing a happy dance.

10 years ago If you told me I’d be dancing over compost I would have asked what time you were due for your meds!

The garden is going crazy, beans are nearly ready, squash and pumpkin are growing like gang busters…updates later I think I’ve rambled enough for now

Ah, I’m a happy girl!

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,gardening on the cheap,gardening,Fred & Ethel,composting,mulching,planning

Water Logged!

As a friend of mine recently said…”If it doesn’t quit raining soon I’m going to rust!”

We had a semi dry week while Hayden was here but, after that rain. rain. rain. I was able to pop in the garden to weed a bit in the early mornings while he was here but never caught up.  Then the heavy rains started and things are out of control.  Plants are growing willy nilly and weeds are into full on party mode. I was out over the weekend in ankle deep mud trying to gain some since of control….Since its near 90 today and 70% humidity at 11 am I’m leaving it be for the day!

We had a minor emergency here over the 4th.

  My coffee pot died.

  Yes, you read that correctly.

In my house a broken coffee pot constitutes an emergency.

The on off switch broke.

If you jiggled it just right it would come on and stay on.  Mr. Fix-It (bless his heart) fixed it…..I think he was worried about life as we know it without coffee.  Rather his life with me when I don’t have morning coffee.  A $5.00 switch replaced and we were good to go for another few years.  A simple part to do the repair…made me wonder how many would have simply tossed the pot and bought another. 

.

Erika and I spent part of last weekend working on a few updates at her house.  We pulled her shutters, power washed them and the house. We painted and rehung the shutters…  Oh my gosh the difference it made..to get the full effect, this is last summer & the condition of the house when we bought it a few months ago

This photo was taken this morning.

We’ve all kinds of plants waiting to put in the front flowerbeds. It’s been to wet to get in there to do it.  They would have really benefited from all this rain but we wanted to get the shutters finished first. The sun is out so I might get some in today…we’ll see.

Sunshine means laundry to hang so, I better take advantage of it while I’m able.

Hoping for a dry day

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katiedids,garden,little house,updates

We Got The “Big Man” This Week!

And we’re storing up as many memories as we can. Hayden is in Indiana having Grandma & Grandpa Time!  Last week was spent with Adams parents and this week is ours, then he heads back to SC.

I HATE having him so far away!

This is one evening I won’t forget! We went out for ice cream, perfect for a hot humid evening right?

Um, not so much. 

The ice cream started melting like water dripping from a faucet. It didn’t set up properly.  Then a nice breeze started…..I turned around and found a very chocolate covered boy! This photo was taken after he was partially cleaned up.  Imbiggin the photo and you’ll see his arms and shirt are covered

I laughed so hard….and so did he. Grandpa? Not so much, it was his truck we were riding in.   A few squirts of dish soap and his shirt is good as new.

It’s been a fun week, I’ve decided 16 mo Grand daughter Alixandria is part monkey.  She will climb anything but her all time favorite is a kitchen table.  And she’s not picky…any table will do, her mama’s, mine…yours if you let her in the house.  We can have the chairs all pushed in, come back less than a minute later and there she is….happy as a clam sitting on the table…talk about blood pressure check!

One thing I’ll say about this child is she has her own opinion on fashion

So far this week we’ve built roads,excavated through the rock

learned drink from the water hose…

and in the afternoons when it’s to hot & humid to play outside we watch a

Disney movie….

Because we are not tired and don’t need a nap…

The garden?

I’ve been out a few times

But I have more important things to do this week…like sidewalk chalk, more roads, building fairy houses….

Have a wonderful week, I know we will.

Katie

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