Coffee and...part 8 :-D

What is the formula for the chamomile tea? Do you use it instead of just water?

Just a quick note on the chamomile tea for your baby plants. Soak one tea bag in a quart of water, spray on your baby plants liberally as soon as they come up. You can even spray them enough to water them. It does something to any fungus in the soil. Simple, huh? And cheap!

a wonderful tip. I can't seem to get mine to do well. I guess I just can't come up with enough light in my small house. I have put seedlings under lamps, or put them in front of window, but alas, just too much shade around the house. I am trying some English daisy seed this year and if I don't get some decent...........I quit! Just will buy all my bedding plants elsewhere.

Mary would the chamomile tea work against fungus gnats too?? I am being plagued with them.

Nice porch set Darius- I seldom find bargains at yard sales =- takes me too much time to make up my mind and then things are GONE!!

Yesterday was glorious here - sunny all day for a change (I don't think we' ve had a sunny day in a couple of months!), but the temp stayed in the 20's. I sat out side in a protected place and just soaked it up!

Decided where put my tiny (6x8) new greenhouse - just need to wait for the snow to bamboose.

It is 61deg in the house this morn - I am not gonna build a fire in the woodstove =- DH can do it when he gets his lazy butt out of the sack. LOL I have the heating pad on my lap for some heat!!

Time to think about breakfast - how do blueberry pancakes sound???

Blueberry pancakes sound great, Sarv, have not had them for quite a while with a steaming cup of coffee. Sunny here too with a 21'temp.

What ever ailed me and my sister when we were children my mother always made us drink chamomile tea. It tasted very good better than some medicine I had to take.
Maria

Good morning. Sarv, if you spray all your plants and especially the soil with it I bet those gnats would not find the environment so inviting, it is worth a try and won't hurt anything. Let us know how it works. I have also heard that chamomile tea is also good for cleansing itchy rashes but I have not tried that.

The porch furniture is very nice for $20, I think it would have been nice for twice that! I love a bargain!

My horse seems to be back to her normal hungry self. I might get to ride her today but we might finish the fence project instead. That is something I need help with, and so I am taking advantage of hubbys days off and the nice weather to get the job done. Later I will post before and after pictures so you can see. This was in the plan several years ago when we built the fence but since the fence worked ok without it, more important things took priority, you all know how that goes. Now we have to get used to the new look. Aren't you all curious?

Yesterday my Iris Reticulata started blooming! It is even earlier than whatever crocus I have because it is in full sun and in a part of the flower bed that has no mulch so the soil is warmer. Last year it didn't bloom until April, just the difference from a winter with lots of snow and one with hardly any. Those little flowers are bright purple and were a nice surprise when I found them without looking for anything as we were in the middle of the fence project and I was on my way to get another post or something.

Time to get moving, I'm wasting daylight here. See you all later.

Marye - I continue to be amazed at your energfy - will wait on photos
Maria, you will be our international traveler, Austria and Australia in one year! Love your old pictures and the shelves too.
Sarv, I'd love some of those pancakes, we'll call it brunch as it is only 11:30 here.

And already it's up to 50* and as i'm not so trip-tired today I may get outside to take away garden as I had thought to do yesterday. 3-HOUR nap instead, heehee.

WS- not to worry, I buy six-packs, those growers need a job too. And they are SO good at it.

Good Afternoon... A spot of hot tea would be nice... :)

Crummy day here, dark and rain all day. Screen porch roof didn't get flashed against the house so the porch is soaking. Cannot do any electrical work as it will be too dark to see with the power off. Cannot cut and install baseboards as it's too wet to set up the sawhorses outside. So I took a nap. :)

Blooms, I envy you being able to work in the garden. I will be SO glad to have a garden again. I haven't even done any catalog searches since I don't know what kind of space I will have in my next home.

Mary, looks like you have a heavy workload and sleepless nights coming up. Drink lots of water, eat well and take your vitamins.

Hi GOBs,
Just popped in for a break - its housework day!! DH and I are almost done - right through the house. A sort of spring clean, but I'm leaving the windows for another day - I'm bushed!!
Pass the coffee please, and does anyone fancy cheese and crackers?
I'm just going to sit here for a bit then I might have the energy to finish off!!
Carol

Carol, I have some Boursin and some montrachet, but no crackers... sorry.

I managed to find som brie and dates to go with my crackers - made a decent lunch, if a bit late. Off to carry on working now!
Carol

I've had a busy few days. Thursday my Senior's group at Church (Happy Achers!) went over to Douglas and had lunch at the old, but still grand, Gadsden Hotel...bult in 1907. About half way up the marble steps in the lobby are some chipped places...they were left by Poncho Villa trying to ride his horse up the stairs!! Picture is of the lobby and staircase.

After lunch we toured the Slaughter Ranch....the entry fee of $5.00 was worth it as they had lots of REAL soft and green grass. John Slaughter's home was just 600 ft from the Mexican Border....and he was the Sheriff of Tombstone at one time....70 miles from his home.

Lovely, Jo!

Well, I'm back. It's either play here on the computer or watch with my sister the soaps she has taped while we've been working days. (Soaps have never interested me.) I'm really up for a tv movie but I guess that won't happen.

I spent some time online @ realtor.com today and have found a few houses to see near Johnson City, TN during the last week of March if they haven't sold. One I esp. like (only one outside photo, none inside) looks like a 1930's house with a porch all around what I can see, and large trees. It lists as multi-family so it's been chopped up, but that can be changed.

my mfr friend lives in johnson city, darius :>)
they LOVE living there

Hello, just stopping in quickly because I need to free up the phone line real soon.

Darius, I have always said that land is what it is and where it is, the buildings can be changed. With all the talents you have that wouldn't be too much of a problem. You need to rent a small tv with rabbit ears if there is such a thing anymore.

Today we finished the fence project, pruned some trees and a bush, hauled limbs to the burn pile, and I am tired. My neighbor called and said he has a ewe in labor, she is about 5 days early which would be like a woman being about 10 days early (sheep gestation is 5 months) and so he may call me back and have me doing night checks right away. Oh me of little sleep. See you tomorrow.

Morning. every body, just put on the coffee, how about joining me with some apfel kuchen Imade yesterday just for a nice begiinning this Monday morning?
Did anyone watch the Oscar's, I tried but fell asleep, could not have been very exciting or perhaps I was just too tired from what I do not know, waiting for spring perhaps?
We suppose to get a ton of snow again tonight! I usually don't mind winter but this one is getting to be a little too much.
Oh, spring where art thou?
Maria

Pass the apple kuchen!!! I already had a piece of toast w/peanutbutter and two granola bars. Somehow I am not satisfied yet!! We are getting snow too - has snowed all night and supposed to continue for three days - I started some seeds to overcome my desperation at all this white stuff!!

No oscars here - we watched something on the travel channel (DH controls the remote!!) I ususally doze off, so it's ok unless I am forced to watch big time wrestling - I absolutely hate that!!

Made a small batch of sticky buns - took over to my DIL for part of her birthday treat - they were yummy and real gooey. Went to a real contemporary church service with her- lots of guitars and drums- actually enjoyed it - young minister that is really a good speaker - 10,000 belong to this church - held in a huge warehouse - not at all what I was brought up with, but very down to earth and wholesome. My straight laced neighbors would frown on it, so I won't tell them!!

Well, my puddy cat is sitting out side on the windowsill in the snow, looking pitiful - so I better sign off and go let her in. She doesn't like the litter box and wants to go out several times a day - OK with me - I hate cleaning that stinky thing...

Think I may start a pot of pea soup - sounds good on this snowy day.

Oooo I hope there's a sticky bun left, haven't made those in ages Nice with a hot cuppa coffee or tea. Snow here too but just a dusting, enough to get your car all gunked up again. Had to wash the salt off last week, couldn't tell what color it was! If spring is around the corner, it's a loooong curvy corner, with slow signs all the way.

Lazy day here, cats are all sleeping over the heat vents, and gray skies. Made a pot of soup for dinner last night, like a cream of potato with italian sausage and a little hot pepper in it. Should have some brocolli rabe in it too, but I didn't have any so I tossed in some chopped spinach at the last minute. Finished our apple pie for dessert. Didn't watch the Oscars, but taped Monk and then fell asleep watching it so I have to start over!

Happy Monday everyone, don't mind them at all since I retired....check back later to see how everyone is doing. Mary exhausts me with her lambing and riding, she's so busy and I'm sooo lazy!!

Morning all. Coffee please and the kuchen and gooey ones sound delicious!! Had a tummy ache yesterday all day. Sure hope it's gone today. Kinda came and went all day - hope it's not beginning of an ulcer. Been worrying way too much lately. (Had one 30 yrs. ago.)

Just housecleaning on the agenda today. Boring stuff. Went thru some of MIL's old recipes the other night. Found her apple and peach kuchen recipes. Good stuff! Think I'll surprise DH and make an apple one this am.

Mary - Dh's 1st cousin lambs - think they have about 600 ewes. She's been doing the night runs for a couple of weeks already. They start about Feb. 1. I'll have to ask her why they start so early - still winter here for awhile.

later, Laura

Laura, it is too late now but when apricot time comes around again I use my mother's recipe for a kuchen, it is the best of all of them, that is if you like apricots, LOL
Maria

no, I'll pass on the apricots - have always like apples and peaches a lot better. lol Let's post them in a Recipe forum thread, ok? (I'll show you mine if you show me yours!!) LOL

Ha Ha, Laura, now what do you want me to post in the recipe frorum, which one ??
Maria

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/488106/ Here's a kuchen thread I started. I was wrong, it was strawberry, not peach. :)

Good norning. I'll have some of this peach and apricot tea and one of those kuchens. Ummmmm.

Kooger, you should be drinking chamomile tea instead of coffee. Easier on the stomach. You sure have had the stress lately.

Our weather clouded up and it is raining lightly. We really need the moisture so I am about half glad to see it, this means more snow in the mountains to make irrigation water. I had plans for working outside, maybe later.

I did get what passes for a full night's sleep last night, no lamb duty yet. My sleep is disturbed because my shoulder aches, hand goes to sleep, hip hurts, you know that old achey body stuff. My neighbor said he went back to check on the ewe and the whole flock was so flighty in the dark with him walking and carrying a flashlight that he couldn't find her. He herded the whole flock to the corrals but they made a ewe-turn ( I couldn't resist that one) and half of them were back in the pasture before he could close the gate. Since it was a warm night (about 40) he called me and said he was going to leave her outside and hope for the best. I need to go down there and see what happened overnight. When I go down there he usually puts me to work. All the things that get stored in the barn need to be moved somewhere so there is room for sheep.

The fire in the woodstove feels good this morning. We heat the house entirely with wood although we have throught about putting in a propane furnace in the basement for a backup when we want to be gone a few days in the winter. One time we were gone 4 days and it was down to 40 in the house when we got home. Of course the weather was kind of extreme and we got stuck in a big snowdrift going downhill in our own driveway with a 4WD Jeep when we got home. Snowdrifts are such fun, they look like they would be nice and fluffy but are quite solid and are very hard to see.

Do any of you work those word puzzles that are in the newspaper? Not crosswords, but the kind that is a solid block of letters where you find the words and circle only the individual letters. It has a list of words at the bottom and a clue to the word that will be formed from the leftover letters.The words are horizontal, vertical, diagonal, frontward and backward, the hardest ones are the diagonal backward ones. When I started this one the only pen I could find was black, not good, red is much easier. My circles get sloppy and pretty soon it is hard to tell an E from an F, or an L from and I, or a C from a G. I have about gone crosseyed looking for the last few words, am down to 14 leftover letters but only need 7 for the answer. It is like doing a jigsaw puzzle, stare at it too long and you see nothing, go away for an hour and look again and find a few more. Try it, you'll go nuts too.

Back to find those last words, see you later.

Mary - had the chamomile tea twice yesterday. It did go down easy and didn't hurt at all. I love those kind of puzzles too. I get a book/magazine of them sometimes for road trips. I always take a pink or yellow highlight marker to do the circling and just do a line through the whole word. Can always read the letters thru it. Try it, you won't go nuts at all! lol

I used to love crosword puzzles but haven't done any for years. Ron and I would do the puzzle together over coffee on Saturday and Sunday mornings and it was more fun than doing them alone.

Did someone say crosswords??? I LOVE them! Do them in the paper everynight along with the the jumbles (mixed up words) My 81 yr old mom has done them for years - tells me it keeps the mine active. When she returns from Fla, we play scrabble several times a week. We keep track of who wins and the scores - just love it!! We are evenly matched so it is great fun!! I am a real game player - and could play daily if someone would play with me!! DH doesn't like them, but will play if forced.

Still snowing here - said it may last for 36 to 48 hrs - ohhhhh can you imagine!!! Hope this is the last big one for the season~~

Tomorrow I can get my credit report - anyone do that yet? We get two (I think that is the #) a year free.

Pot of pea soup is bubbling in the crock - trying to decide which kind of muffins to make. Hope the kuchen receipe is in the receipe form - sounds good and I need something sweet!! (been eating lime yogurt over cut up apples - yum)

Sorry the sticky buns are history, but I stopped at the store for more fixings - baking another batch this weekend...

Kooger, did you hear on your job yet? I'm a crossword doer especially when 'Spin and I work on them together. Can't always finish on my ownly.

It is still winter season and i think whoever manages to get some moisture in whatever form /except gully washer/ probably has land that will be glad to have it.
Rain is good and snow that melts slowly and sinks into the soil is good -

Marye, you need this moisture or has your area had its normal amount? I gotta go look see where is Baker City.

you DO get renumeration [takes small bow for fancy word] for this midnite rendevousing with ewe turning flocks???

Maria, been out snow-angel-ing again? When I was a kid and even as a young married in a diff set of NY mtns these kind of storms were average. and usually at least one would be heavy & wet and cause tree branches to break.

Magyk is my companion for a month and claims I've sat here long enuff. They're digging up the street out front and she wants to go see.

Sarv, could I invite self for peasoup? and never volunteer info that could upset others... this is a kindness. heehee Hi CL Got my sticky bun at Maverick gas this morning. ~Blooms

Time for a bit of a break here...Fresh coffee? Sure, I'll have some.

Today I've been getting the old peroxide out and watering things that are looking a bit waterlogged...they say it's good for the roots. (And NOT the kind on my head. hehehe) A little Epsom Salts to boost the ferns, and more chamomile for the seedlings. :-D (I just love these 'cheap' home-made fixes!)

I've just about gotten all the seeds planted for this two week period. In mid-March I'll start the tomatoes and probably the peppers. And of course there's a whole bunch more flower seeds that will need to be planted at the same time. All my money is going for Jiffy pellets to refill all the greenhouses I've bought in years past (plus I buy a couple extra units whenever I can get away with it. ;-))

I've finally learned how to plant those teeny weeny fly-speck type seeds. I was about to go blind trying to pick them up individually until I accidently found out that once my tweezers touched the damp seedling soil they automatically picked up a seed or two...with that technique working for me it was really easy to place only a couple of seeds in the next cell. SUPER quick with those petunia and coleus. If the seeds were too small to use that technique...I resorted to the old 'mix them with sand' routine and hope I got them evenly dispersed.

Gotta run...it never fails!

~julie~

ok, Laura, did post Kuchen in Recipe forum!

No Blooms, have not made another snow angel, this is only a once a winter thing, used be more often with family but not so much fun now all alone.

It is time for me to take a break! Had a lot of errands to accomplish such as bank stuff, getting the inspection sticker for my car we need to renew once a year in Massachusetts, finally, was only 4 months over due, (please do not get mad at me, Richard ,if you happen to look down )
than to the store for some milk and bread, fruit and stuff for salad, I do not cook now a days, just nibble now and than
Maria

Just took a quick peek to see who dropped in today ... Best crossword puzzle in the universe is the New York Times, it's a brain buster but often has jokes or puns incorporated and a theme. Still do the Sunday Trib and the local paper, but they aren't much of a challenge. You can get them online, too which makes it a lot easier to "erase" your booboos!!!!

Break time. Got my tea, looking to see what's on the counter......

I did find those last few words quite easily after not looking at it for a while. Crosswords, ugh, I don't do too well with those because too many of the clues are stuff about movies (seldom watch any), movie stars, (blank on that one mostly), and popular music (which I don't care for and never listen to). Sometimes I do the Unscramble puzzle. I think it is definitely good to exercise our brains with this sort of thing. My daughter-in-law is into crosswords, so we got her a couple of crossword helper type books for Christmas.

A while ago I drove down to the neighbor's barn to see if they did have some lambs last night. Nope, but unfortunately there is a dead ewe in the field. She might have been having digestive problems last night instead of labor. Her ear tag indicates that she is 7 years old, which is getting pretty old for a sheep. I looked at her teeth, they were getting pretty flat and spread so she probably would have been sold next summer. It is a disappointing way to start lambing season. One or two are lost every year from one sort of natural cause or another. Coyote loss is another problem. Part of life on a farm is loosing a few, something that can't be entirely eliminated. Some that we think will live just die in spite of what we try to do for them, and some we think are sure to die surprise us and live anyhow.

The rain quit about noon and I have been out picking up things to add to the burn pile and digging out some bad weeds, the one I call the Weed from Hell is a mallow, deep rooted, spreading, makes seeds, comes up from broken roots. That one does not go in the compost, it goes on the burn pile.

I got some white lily seeds in the mail, they will get at least 3 ft high. Don't know the name and I don't think the person I got them from knows either. So, I am soaking some peat moss to use for starter medium, will just put them in a ziplock on top of the referigerator like I did some that I saved from my own plants. Lily seeds look so flat it makes me wonder if there is anything there but a shell.

Last fall I took seeds from 2 of my lilys when I cut the plants down, one batch sprouted, the other didn't. I am just about to put the little plants in the referigreator for a couple of months to give them a "winter" and hope they will bloom this summer. I understand that even though they came off a red plant they could turn out any color. This is fun! Some Siberian Iris seed I got off ebay are now outside in a plastic bottle with soilless mix, hopefully well on their way to waking up. That batch got soaked 24 hours in hydrogen peroxide, then 10 more days in 1/2 water. Since the germ rate is expected to be about 50% maybe this treatment will give me a couple more plants from the 10 seeds.

For whoever was planting the tiny seeds using tweezers...... I have used a wet toothpick and scraped the seeds off that one with a dry one. You can make a tiny pennant to put on the toothpick for a nametag while the babies sprout, everything in miniature!

Got to get back outside while there is daylight. Oh, here is a pic of those Iris Reticulata. Bright aren't they!!

Mary, I had to laugh, you likes or should I say dislikes match mine, though I have seen some very good movies, like "gone with the wind ' Don't know who is who in the movie world any more, I do remember Clark Gable, Jimmy Steward, Henry Fonda and kathryn Hepburn, Rita hayworth LOL now can't you tell how old I am ?
Also music, the other day ...now I do not even remembr his name... I asked some one who is it! I think it was a shocker that I never have heard of him !Any popular music, forget about it , not interested in any kind of sub-culture. But I love to listen to Frank Sinatra that's about as far as I will go for contemporary music.
Maria

I have those iris reticulata too. Not as many as y ou but spreading.
aria, "Gone With The Wind" starred Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh. Vivian was English; she must have had quite a time learning a southern accent. She had been living with Rex Harrison and he came to the U.S. with her. But we were so much more puritanical then and the movie studio wouldn't let them live together during the filming. They actually had security guards to prevent their getting together.
I only saw Rita Hayworth a couple of times and thought she was both talented and beautiful. But she began to have problems on the set and everyone thought it was because of drinking. But it was because she began to get Alzheimer's at the age of (approximately) 35.

Blooms - supposed to hear by the end of the week.

Maria - thanks for the recipe. I found another one from DH's cousin. It's apple so I'll post it too. I'm itching to try a couple of them.

Mary - DH hauled sheep to Chicago for quite a few years. Once when I was along we had 3 lambs born in the trailer. DH always said to not look at them sideways, they'd die on you!!! My Opa (Grandpa) in Holland was a sheep farmer. He lived beside the dunes on Texel. Ewes with one lamb were put out on the dunes, life was a little more difficult there. Ewes with twins were kept on the dikes, lots of fresh grass there. Texel sheep are quite an old breed that is becoming quite well-known worldwide. Quite a few have been imported into the US. and Can. Have you heard of them?

Beautiful colour on those irises!!!!!!!!!

Oh yes, aria, I do like the old movies. Gone With the Wind, Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments and other Biblical epics, Jimmy Stewart movies, that sort of thing, before the f word was in every sentence and people could still express themselves without the shock value. Some of the old show tunes like "Oklahoma", now that was great music. But I guess I must be an old fuddy duddy, so I listen to classical or light classical, some of the oldies (they match my age pretty well) and the big band stuff. The modern stuff is just mostly noise.

no, Mary, you are not a n old fuddy duddy, just that you know the difference what is classic and what is not. My personal likes are truly classic stuff, like Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert ,and the whole classics put together including Operas and Operetas which are my favorites.
Maria

But from time to time you do have someone who can actually sing, like Celene Dion. Trouble is, I miss most of those kind of singers because of putting up with rap in between. There is one station here, though, that plays oldies and contemporary soft pop; I like most of it. Who would have ever thought that people like the old rocker Rod Stewart would begin to record love songs?

morning, WS,slept late, have not even had a cup of coffee!
I think Dionne is terrific, when she sings Oh holy night at christmass, i get goose bumps, what a talent!
Maria