Rain! Rain Came Today!

Wonderful glorious rain!

Straight rain & sideways rain washing my windows & boy-howdy did they need it!

We caught the edge of that sever storm covering most of the mid-west. The skies have stayed overcast all morning so, we know there is more sever weather to come. Storm shelter is ready andwaiting.

  But right now..

The Garden is happy Happy HAPPY! 

The birds are happy & feasting on worms

The birdbath has been filled…

then nearly emptied due to a morning bird party.

I

The garden was watered well saving my water bill. Right now I can almost watching it grow

The down side… once it stopped raining the humidity level has shot up to 80%

So I’m inside for the afternoon working on another table runner

playing with Christmas color & sewing, thinking cool thoughts.

What are your plans for the day?

Katie

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Ice Ice Ice!

We had a minor ice storm last night.

It’s not like it wasn’t forecasted for 3-4 days and the salt trucks were out along with the cinder trucks…this morning in a 2 mile stretch on the interstate there were 22 wrecks during the morning rush hour traffic.  If the morning news shows salt trucks sliding off the road why do these folks not SLOW DOWN!!!

Nice time to have an RV show right?  Luckily Mr. Fix-It was able to delay his drive over the bridge to Louisville an hour or so.  He drives a 350 dually & generally can scoot on through.  The RV shows we have a love/hate relationship with….a hell of a lot of work and LONG hours but,  a good show can make or break the year.

I generally keep busy straightening beds,  and general clean up in the trailers.  There are always a few  who turn the kids loose to run as if they were in a playground to jump up and down on the beds & think it’s cute.  Those are the same parents that spill beer on the carpets…in front of the signs that say **no drinks allowed in trailers**  

In the quiet times I can knit.  So yesterday afternoon I cast on a scarf for myself.  By the time we closed for the evening I had just 3 inches to go

 

and finished it this morning.

It’s drying now and I think I’ll wear it tomorrow.

It’s so blasted cold.  That damp can’t get warm cold….(not to be confused with Mama Pea’s –0 cold)

My power bill came in and it’s up $100.00 for the past 30 days.  Yes we generally have a increase in winter but not that much.  When we built the addition we needed to blow extra insulation in the attic space (there was some but….)but time got away from us.  I know that is impacting as it’s much cooler out there.  It’s first on the gotta do list this spring. Its not like I keep the heat cranked up…generally in the 60’s and just wear a sweater.  But, I’ve also realize the little things I’ve not done this year that I have in the past.  Little things like the keeping the closet doors closed…I don’t need to heat clothes.  closing the doors to rooms not in use, draft catchers on outside doors, keeping the curtains closed in the unused rooms. DUH!  Talk about stupid tax!   It’s amazing how those little things can save a lot.

Any other tips and tricks you do?

Katie

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Deceptively Sunny

Looks like a bright spring morning

Deceptively I say as the temps are hovering in the mid teens range.   The bird bath has yet to melt. When I knock the ice out & refill..it’s frozen within a few hours.

In the shaded areas the snow still lingers and ices each night

   We’ve not had half the snowfall we need for moisture so this summer will be a dry one

Yet all I can think of is digging in the dirt and planting seeds….and seeing green, Green,

GREEN!

Who else is longing for spring?

Technorati Tags: Katidids,weather,gardening

Some Mornings

Don’t Go As Planed!

We had a beautiful white world to wake up to

Everything looks so clean and fresh

covering all the winter greys

I’d had a very productive morning around the house.  Decided to run some errands but, first I decided to make a latte for the road and left it brewing while I put my boots on.  This is what I came back to…

Notice something missing?

The mug!

I was off by 4 inches LOL!

Have a great day!

Technorati Tags: Katidids,weather,mishaps

Katie

All Secure…but cold

Mr.Fix-It came home and changed the lock on the side door (new addition) with in 10 minutes of getting home.

Hadn’t even taken his boots off.

Last night I slept like a log, didn’t get up till just after 7 am.  Serious bead head and a numb right arm and hip.  I don’t think I moved at all during the night.   Safety & security is wonderful thing!

I don’t know about your neck of the woods but around here Fall is over. It was here for about 2 weeks, I blinked and it was g.o.n.e.

  I left the house about 10am. with a scarf and a mid weight fleece jacket …BIG mistake.  By the time I got 20 ft. to the car I was ready for the heater.

Here in So Indiana/Louisville area we are caught between the overflow winds from the east and the blustery cold front approaching from the west. We had 45 mph winds that cleared the patio area of all the leaves (thankyouverymuch) better than the leaf blower and in less time.

It also brought the cold. 

I have to say I’ll take our wind and the cold weather it brings over the storms on the east coast.  It will take at least a month to get everyone powered up again

Earth quakes on the west coast, tsunami’s, east coast storm…makes me wonder if God’s not leaning over and shouting

“HELLO! 

Can you hear me now?

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,creepy stuff,weather

 

Weathers Changing, are you ready?

Looking out the window this morning I see the leaves are finally starting to turn.  Really turn not just the dry brown, drought dead leaves.  Oranges and gold’s are popping through the green foliage.  Time to change the garden flag in the flowerbed

I love these fun little seasonal flags.  A touch of whimsy and cheerful a punch of color in the flowerbeds. I wait till they go on sale and pick them up for pennies. 

Over the weekend our weather had defiantly turned cooler with temps dropping down to the 30’s & 40’s at night… which meant there was a extra comforter added to the bed.   The past 3 days we’ve had a wonderful gentle cold soaking rain.  You can almost watch the soil soaking the moisture up like a sponge which is great because this morning we have heavy sheets of rain. 

If this heavy rain had come first we would have lost a lot of top soil. 

This week I need to go through all the jackets, coats, scarves, mittens & gloves, tossing everything in the wash to freshen them up.  I like to check for holes, loose buttons and zipper stitching before they become a problem.  Is there any thing more frustrating than being cold or wet, needing that jacket & have the zipper stitching come undone?

I’d like to say this type of mending is done as needed or at least before coats and winter gear is put away but, the reality is we/I get excited about spring, gardening, being outside coatless and winter gear ends up stuffed in the coat closet. 

Have you checked the Farmers almanac for your winter forecast?  This year we’re going to want those coats mittens!

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Catching up and keeping busy

Just a quick catch up here.  We’ve had RAIN!! 3 evenings of a good pouring.  The rain barrel is full again and the moisture is really showing in the garden. 

Beans are finally starting to come on.  They aren’t really ready to pick but I had to munch on a few I was so excited.

Miss Evie was pretty excited to see the tomato’s and peppers turning color.  She can’t’ see them from above so she squats and looks up in each plant.

An I was thrilled to find pumpkin taking off…if you can call 2 pumpkins taking off & at this point I am.

Right now I think I’m growing more weeds than I am vegies. The humidity is down and It’s a good morning to get out there and take care of that. In fact it’s nice enough I turned the AC off and opened up the house for a few hours.  LOVE the fresh breeze blowing through.

The strawberries are doing well with the transplanting.  Those I transferred to individual pots have nearly doubled what they were and look really healthy

Those that we transferred to the bed have set and established well.  No droopers or poopers.

No poopers makes me happy.

To date peaches in the area have been so high I’ve not bought any but, I found/heard of a sale for .69lb. so I’m off to check that out this morning to pick up a few bushels.  Other than peppers, a few quarts of berries & the carrots & the corn there has been nothing put up this year. Looking through the past years posts it was marathon canning by now.  Just a tad bit worrysome!  

I’ve Thyme and oregano to share if anyone would like some…shoot me an e mail.

Katie

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Can you smell it?

The scent on of damp earth in the wind.  We were smelling it for hours, heard the lightening and were celebrating the cool breeze, The clouds were rolling & building like huge gray pillows  I poured rain!  Every where but here.

 

In the first few hours this is the result of our first rain storm.

Mother Nature can be such a tease.

An hour or so later when we decided to eat outside on the patio it started drizzling, a nice soft steady rain which soaked in immediately. I’m not sure how much we got but it may have been an inch at most.  Some areas around us received 3-6 inches.  As nice as it sounds that much rain falling on dry soil just runs off and created a lot of damage.

As much as I wanted to dance in the rain I had my chocolate birthday cake inside & celebrated the gift of another year as well as the rain

Hope you had a wonderful day!

Katie

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Hot and dry….It’s going to cost us more than just the electric bill

I was out watering the garden first thing this morning and was mentally whining about the projected 104-106 temps for the day & I’ll admit I was also having a bit of a pity party concerning the shape of my garden. Which led me to thinkin about those that depend on their gardens for food or an income. Don’t get me wrong, we depend on ours also & the food we harvest saves us a LOT of money…which frees up cash for improvements about the place and other items we may need. But, if my garden dried up kaput we would still be ok.

Those who farm or raise livestock for a living on any scale are facing some serious challenges with the extreme heat and lack of rain.  Grazing land and ponds ranchers depend on to feed and water animals are drying leaving many no choice but to use feed purchased and stored for winter.  Feed that will come at a precious cost to replace for the winter & in turn will follow into the price of beef.  The same for farmers, corn, fruit and other produce in our area are suffering from the lack of water & will be financially devastating for them. 

Standing there at 7:30 am in my shorts and flip-flops, hot & a tad cranky…hose in hand ready to bold inside to the AC I kinda gave my self a mental kick as I thought of those farmers & ranchers who labor in fields for hours in this heat.  Sure some are on tractors but it’s hot back and soul breaking work.  The same could be said concerning those that come to the farmers market week after week providing fresh produce they’ve struggled to grow…only to have folks fuss about the prices. 

Made me really feel a bit guilty…….

and realize I need to stock up on flour and a few other things before the prices go up because there is no way around it.

Praying for rain

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,weather,gardening

Rain wonderful WET rain

Fell last night.

Bit of a nasty storm actually that brought sideways rain pounding the front window. It had been overcast off and on all day and we had a teasing 10 drops earlier in the afternoon and nothing else. 

I told Mr. Fix It if I water it will rain.   Sure enough, 30 minutes after I turned the hose off the sky opened up.   Watching the news this morning I see we got the tail end of the massive storm front that knocked power out to much of the north east and thousands in our area. The excessive heat will make repairs and those waiting for repairs miserable.

Looking out this morning everything in the garden seems to be perking up and doing well.  Should make weeding a bit easier this morning.

The heat and power outages remind me to check our emergency supplies & I think it’s time get off my duff and decide which solar oven I want to get.   It would sure help in keeping the heat out of the house.  There are so many on line to choose from and the prices range from 0 to outrageous. I want an oven that we can really use,  not just for emergency’s but something that can be used on a daily basis.

If there is a solar oven you’ve used and can recommend I’d love to hear from you.

Out to tackle more weeds

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,gardening,weather

So darn HOT!

Oh my gosh, This entire mid-west area is just cooking…and I’m not talking a pot luck!  The lawn is brown & tree leaves are drying out.    We were over 100 degrees most of last week,  Wednesday I drove to Indy to spend the day with Rachel & Hayden..and it like baking in the car on the way home even with the AC blasting.

Thursday Isaiah & I went to Madison Indiana to help a family member do some landscaping…I lasted 3 hours outside pruning hedges, pulling 3 years of weeks and overgrowth. I got the shakes & chills and knew I was stick-a-fork-in-me DONE!

Trying to keep him cool, I kept sending Isaiah inside for ice and water for us and was able to mostly keep him in the shade and semi cool.  He was a major help hauling shrub debris,  laying and cutting landscaping cloth to cover path ways, and pinned it in place himself.  For 8 yrs. old he worked right along side us with out complaint…other than being the “water boy”.  Although. I believe he prefers water boy over “compost boy”

Before we left he stood back and looked at the completed work and said, “Man, this looks so much better!  Working together we got a lot done!”

I hope and pray he carries this work ethic to adulthood. We stopped on the way home and had big bowls of (medicinal of course) ice cream to help us cool off.   Best medicine ever!

The garden is really struggling.  The cucumbers are about shot, some of the squash is “surviving” most of the beets are gone.  The green beans and onion are still coming along fine.  The tomato’s and peppers are loosing ground.  I’m watering early morning but it’s not quite enough.  I think I’ll cut them back and see if that helps.  This was my lite year in the 2 yr. planting cycle,  so a smaller harvest was the plan but….not this small!

One good thing about the heat,  laundry sure dry’s fast!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,gardening,weather