Coffee and...part 9 :-D

Hi and WELCOME (and/or Welcome BACK!)

Here's my usual message...
"Our door is *always* open to anyone who cares to drop in and sit a spell, If you have any special goodies to share, just put 'em on the counter with the rest of our absolutely, positively, NO-cal supply! We'd Love to taste them! :-)"

Here's the link to our last session:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/487079

What's going on in *your* neighborhood? Have you checked under that mulch to see what has survived? (I have...and it looks GREAT! But then ANYTHING *green* and growing looks good. LOL hmmm...yep! That includes money...got any money tree seeds? :-D)


~julie~

Hello, tiptoeing in so I don't wake anyone, getting some chamomile tea. Really early here, about 3am and I am just back from the barn. Tonight I remembered to take pictures, so here you go. This is the one I brought into the barn about 15 minutes before I took his picture. He was born a couple of hours before so was already dry, a single birth and his momma had licked him clean so he feels soft. The ewe is pretty nervous but followed the lamb in the cart without a problem. They talked to each other all the way which is handy because just by listening I could tell I still had them both. Occasionally a lamb will jump out of the cart, or the ewe will run back to the flock or back to where she delivered and then I have to start all over. Or, she will deliver another one on the way to the barn and then gets confused about where she wants to be. It is nice to have it all go smoothly.

Friday night we had a really nutty granny ewe who tried to steal a lamb and was very obnoxious driving the mom away, running over the lamb and butting anything that moved including the person carrying the lamb. She was grabbed and had her feet tied together while the lamb was taken to the barn with it's momma, then later in the night she had a nice set of twins and is fairly calm (surprise) but now has the name of Robogranny. I missed all the action on that one.

Today (well yesterday really) I finally got those peas planted that I was going to plant about a week ago but they won't know the difference probably. This is such a strange year especially comparing it to last year when I couldn't even see the garden under about a foot of snow and the days were in the low 40's at most. Yesterday was about 55. I also did some weeding. Our son came out and he and my DH hunted sage rats. These little rodents make holes in the fields and since we flood irrigate the water disappears down the holes never to be seen again, or it comes up again sometimes where it isn't needed. We try to keep the population down. Badgers and coyotes try to dig them out and leave much larger holes that if stepped in can break animals legs or at least cause a nasty fall. My neighbor has had 2 calves in the past 2 years with broken legs, probably from stepping in the hole while running.

My chamomile tea is gone, I am yawning (a good sign) and it's time to get more sleep. No counting sheep tonight, it is better to count blessings anyhow.

As of yesterday afternoon, the "glacier" over our back garden had sunk from 7" to 5". Looking out over the hollow to where the hill falls down to the river on the right, all is melted. Am getting just a tad impatient here.

We walked in a part of the local park system yesterday where the Woodstock Seminary was. It's church steeple still stands over the river, and remains of the vast gardens they kept still pervade the area, like geometrically perfect square areas bordered with lines of cedar and centered with a water spigot; an occasional little stone bridge built with a key stone over the arch in the middle of a field over a seep spring; a small hut with remains of screening and electrical thingies from which a series of wooden pilings led out over a pond that falls down a stepped stone wall...

But the monastary was deconsecrated and sold to the State government. Water towers loom up over the steeple and prefabricated structures crowd the beautiful old stone masonry from other time. Bulldozers have destroyed countless stone walls on hills and around what might have been a kitchen garden in a field beneath the high hill upon which the monastery perched. Bulldozers have been using that garden for a dumping ground of piles of broken concrete, asphalt, etc...A lily of the valley peeked up at us through the rubble early in a past summer.

There was another garden beneath another side of that hill that had an artificial pond encircled with a low stone wall and which also ended in a much grander waterfall than the previous one down stepped stones under a bridge that could be driven over. White pines were planted along it and back in the 70's when we first discovered it, the pines and water and soaring topography were so beautiful - altered greatly by time and benign neglect...remains of a sawmill upstream...

There's a quarry, that before the gypsy moth destroyed the tree canopy over its highest place, used to be host to those little pink ladyslippers, that have gone with the oaks. But to walk through there and admire the bullfrog tadpoles in summer and be awed by what they did with stone is always a treat. There have been signs of liverwort, spring beauty and viola during winter melts along the trails, so it won't be long, now.

Would anyone like to share a can of sardines with mustard? apples and pears? cheese and crackers? Very ambrosial after climbing up one of those hills.

PS - about those steps leading up to the monastery from the "kitchen garden" - those are said to be the steps filmed in the first Exorcist movie in which some famous, dastardly evil scene was filmed. I can't remember the movie itself very well. What made it so memorable for us was that there were two comedians sitting behind us who had the rest of the audience incensed with their loud sense of humor. I'd love to be able to rent those two if I ever attend another "horror" movie again. Too funny.

Mary...awwwwww....cool. I love those babies. But I don't really envy the "up in the middle of the night" activity. ;-)

BlueSpiral...your description of that place had me walking in your footsteps and seeing through your eyes. Lovely place...I especially liked part about the Lily of the Valley peeking out from under the rubble. Isn't it strange how things can change SO quickly.

It was a beautiful day here yesterday I absolutely could *not* stay inside! I walked the yard, checked on the winter sown containers, peeked into the mulching to see if anything had survived, and I dreamed of all the things I'd be seeing very soon. AND had the nightmare of getting everything I've planted INTO the ground. LOL

I really needed a day like yesterday...it felt SO good! And from the weather forecast I got from DH, we're in for another 55-60° day...of course there's snow just around the corner again. :-D Hey, it's MARCH in Wisconsin, what else would I expect?!

I don't think salmon and mustard are exactly on my morning menu. hehehe...how about a fresh cinnamon roll? They're over there cooling on the top of the stove. And the coffee is fresh too.

See ya later...
~julie~

BlueSpiral, your word pictures are wonderful. Pity other folks didn't see its wonders instead of using the place for a trash dump.

I think I'll skip sardines for breakfast, but can understand they'd taste great after a hike in the outdoors. Thanks for the cinnamon roll, Julie, I never seem to get to the bakery.

We had the tiniest bit of a shower yesterday evening, all the weeds are happy about it. And the Mexican Primrose are acting like spring is in full force. They've put out new green and new plants as well. Have to admit that they almost own that new bed. Terribly invasive little things they are, but so pretty I let 'em get away with it.

Practically all my rose bushes have tiny little leaves already. I'm so pleased to see both Cecile Brunners putting on new growth. -- not as exciting as baby lambs, Mary but they don't get me up in the middle of the night.

It's 8:30 and time for a real breakfast. see ya later. ~Blooms

I just came in for a little bite to eat. It's *gorgeous* outside! Nice and sunny with a bit of a breeze but not bad at all.

Any more new lambs, Mary? (I wish we could upload sound files here...I love to listen to the new babies!)

Blooms...ain't it super to see things making their way toward spring? I couldn't believe that my rhubarb actually was trying to push it's way through the frozen soil day before yesterday. What a surprise to see that red stem! LOL

I swear, right now, I'm counting every blade of ornamental grass...every crocus tip and every new bud on every one of the shrubs I planted last fall. :-D

I just finished moving the winter sown containers out of the baskets I'd carried them to the garden in. The bottoms of the baskets weren't draining and most of the milk jugs were standing knee deep in water. My daylily bed looks about the same, but as soon as the ground thaws that will change drastically. The sandy soil doesn't hold much water for any length of time.

Pass me that coffee pot...one more 1/2 cup and I'm back outside. Can't stand wasting a minute of this day. LOL

(Hey Blooms...what did we have for breakfast? :-) Somehow that cinnamon roll just wasn't enough for me this morning.)

~julie~

MaryE, you and I must have been keying our posts simultaneously - thanks for sharing the goings-on in your barnyard - no pun intended. Most of us are not so tangibly close to changes in the old agrarian cycle any more.

My Dad insists he doesn't miss it and Uncle Bill was relieved to retire from getting up morning in and morning out around 3:45 am to milk the cows. DH's mother and uncle spent time in the Maryland foster care system while growing up, and they were literally farmed out to a farm family who used her and her little brother as slave labor.

So, as a visitor growing up to the family farm, without the daily responsibilities, I only saw the good part. There are qualities I can't easily put into words about the people and community I knew who had been farm oriented, but I miss them a lot. Keep sharing your stories and pictures with us.

As you know, I neither have access to my mulch or compost piles, nor the ground to put any seeds in it, nor up the slopes to moon over buds breaking over roses right now - grrrrrrrrr. So, GOBs, I am hanging on to your every word as you share signs of spring where you are.

I hope Darius is doing okay - I would love to have especially teased her with my can of sardines. We are at such far removed poles in the cooking department. Hopefully, you will all be a good influence on me.

Have any of you ever made chili relenos (spelling? - stuffed peppers) that you could bounce? Mine could bounce up to 3'. Perhaps I'm the only 59 year old GOB that bounces her food around. If you have any foolproof suggestions, share those too. It's never too late to reform. I hope.

Hey, GOB's, I've brought some strawberrries to share! They are local (well, sort of) from Plant City, FL and man are they sweet!!! I haven't had berries this sweet and tasty since my step-father and my grandfather grew strawberries. Please take a few...

Bacon and cheese on toast - was good too. Now I need another'n. Been chatting with my friend in Parker, Az. she's headed out to paint. This is across the patio out her front door. - no wonder she's out there painting.

Wow, all these folks come in while I was chatting and writing.
Darius, it's probably still pretty frozen up there in them thar hills - enjoy the warm in Florida... where else you gonna get *fresh* strawberries. /well other than So Cal, where we go right to where they're picking them, in Feb, it seems rather sinful.

When I was a kid I spent summers on my aunt and uncle's farm - I had a great time and when I got older helped with bucking the bales up on the wagon to my cousins. But it taught me I didn't want any part of farming for a living.

Bluespiral, I'm with you - don't cook/eat anything that takes longer than 3 minutes in the ~wave. lol

Phew busy weekend - company all finally left - leaves you with a kinda 'let down' feeling!! Isn't that silly!!! We went to the 70th wedding anniversary party - wow- what a huge party!!! Saw lots of my cousins that I haven't seen since the last funeral LOL! Had a absolute wonderful time - we were the last to leave in fact!! How can people in their 90's still have so many friends left?? Amazes me...

Sister and BIL just left - I love my sister to death, but I have never met anyone who can't lift a finger! I asked her to fry some sausage up to make an egg dish that had to sit over night. She told me she didn''t know how to do it!! Couldn't even slit the sausage pkg open!!! I stood over her and finally she said she had to go sit down - the smell and sight of raw meat made her sick.... Made another big batch of sticky buns to go with the egg dish - all prepared ahead of time, so I was all set when the crowd showed up.

Sister always entertains everyone with her goofy talk. Her husband does everything = and I mean everything!! Cooking, cleaning, picking up after her - she is truly a queen. She in incredibly miserly tho - never brings a thing, but we all laugh at her so, guess it is worth it. They are extremely flush with $$, but you would never know it - other than her husband collects wooden boats and they must have over 20.

Sun is out here and the temps are in the 40's - almost feels like a little spring could be heading our way. BUt = guess what is showing up on Tues- right- more frigid temps...

I told a little white lie, and felt so bad about it (long story...) that I agreed with the powers above that if it turned out ok, I would house sit (with two teenage girls !!) for my brother (who is going on his 2nd cruise in 4 mos) Things turned out ok, so guess what I am doing for ten days. Gosh, do I dread it.....Did it in Nov, and they were the longest ten days in my life. The ONLY good thing I can think of, is that they have a beautiful walking path right outside their door and the most fab greenhouse close by.

Oh, thought I would tell ya, that I never heard a complaint about the unwashed sheets!! LOL Gonna change them tomorrow tho....

Well, I should go out and take a stroll and walk off some of the calories that I wolfed down....

Have to report that I got dirty fingernails today, Yea!!!... first time in many months! I'm at my sister's home in central FL (which she is putting on the market soon) and today we finally started on the front yard to do some curb appeal. Charlie and Francis (hurricanes) took out what little landscaping there was....

Most of today was weeding. BUT! She has 3 huge concrete pots in a non-descript pale yellow color and we bought a gallon of terra-cotta concrete stain today from Lowe's. I've only done one pot, one coat (2 needed), but my what a punch it now makes!

Bought a few plants but really have to nursery shop something besides the big box stores.

Blooms...that photo matches your NAME! :-D (What a view!)
Darius...Straaaaaaw berrrrrrrieeeees (shades of Homer Simpson in my voice LOL)

I'd LOVE to have some of those huge concrete pots for my yard...but in a flat space with nothing more than reforested pine tree they'd look out of place here.

At the moment, we're having a messw of them cut down. I wasn't exactly in favor of the move since it's going to change a lot of my shady space to full sun/dry sand for planting. I guess there's always the 'sink a kids wading pool' routine to get a get a little moisture to stick around a while.

It was FAB-U-lus here yesterday...have no idea what the actual temperature was. I was outside wearing a black sweatshirt and no jacket and it felt like early summer! AHhhhhhhhhh...sunshine! :-D But we're paying for it today...cold winds blasting in from the north...it's actually "roaring" out there.

Dh is chomping at the bit for me to get my tomato and pepper seeds planted. Personally, I think it's a teeny bit early. Not that I wouldn't like to have fully grown plants to set out in mid-May. hehehe who knows, if the things grow as well as the other seeds I've ploanted and I need to take over HIS model building bench to store then for a week or so...maybe, just maybe, he'll spend the summer building me a little (BIG!) greenhouse. LOL

Ooops...coffee cup is empty. Sure wish you'd get back to baking biscotti to go with those strawberries, Darius. ;-) OH...maybe you could come up with a way to get them into the same recipe! (Drooling)

((( ~ Hugs for BlueSpiral ~ ))) Maybe you could plant a tiny salad garden in a pot near a sunny window. I think it was in January that I wanted to see something new growing...I pulled apart a clove of grocery store garlic and planted it. Wonder of wonders! It GREW! :-D I doubt anything will come from it, but it sure smells nice and looks great (read that GREEN!)

Sarv...I hear ya with that SIL...I have a sister who used to come visit me who was the same. She like to complain about how money DH & I had. HA! That was SO funny! It wasn't us who bought new cars every year, or the first microwave OR satellite TV. (We went camping instead...LOL)

It's off to the basement to see what "popped" over night. Yesterday I was really surprised to see that my Osteospermum (African Daisies) had germinated in less than two days from planting...and my dichondra for the edges of my hanging baskets was popping out of their pellets. (Little happy dance going on here. :-D)

See y'all later...have a GREAT DAY!

~julie~

Hi Y'all
I've been up to my eyes for the last few days - haven't had time to post, but have kept up with all your comings and goings - just!
Mary aren't those lambs gorgeous!!
I won't be around for a week or two - taking a trip back to the UK to see the family. Thats why I've been so busy this last week - it takes a ton of organising at both ends. Hope I'll be able to catch up when I get back!!
I'll dip into those strawberries if I may Darius. When does the house go on the market? It sounds like you are almost ther now. I bet by the time I get back you'll be moved and settled in! That Duplex sounded like a great idea - one side for you the other for sister and daughter, apart but together sort of thing. Everyone needs their own space, just not to be totally alone.
Familys are odd - I have a daughter that I don't understand, and she's nearly 40 now so theres not much hope!! She has a largish house - 3 bedrooms and no kids but won't have any beds in the spare rooms - doesn't want visitors to stay!
I offered to buy a couple of camp beds so her dad and I could sleep over when we visit - got turned down flat!! We have to stay in a hotel, but she'd be mortally offended if we didn't visit! Only came to see us twice in 12 years when we lived in the UK, but complained if we went a couple of months without going to see her - we were both working then and she was a lady of leisure. Guess she isn't likely to cross the pond and visit us now is she!
The other daughter couldn't be more different, has a tiny 2 bed house, 2 kids and now, no husband so money's very tight. Would like us to stay over - she'd sleep on the sofa and let us have her bed if we let her. Would love to come and see us and will, as soon as she's saved the fare, (or we have). Son is more like the second daughter, very hospitable and family oriented, but they were all raised the same. Ain't folk odd.
Enough family moaning - I'll sit and drink coffee for a while.....
Carol

Hi Carol! So good to see you're still around. That trip sound divine! (But I couldnt do the flight...like my granddad said "I love to fly...as long as I can keep one foot on the *ground* LOL)

I don't think you're "moaning" about the family. I know it's a personal thing but frankly I'm always glad to hear that my family isn't the only weird/strange/unnatural one in the universe. I have a friend down in TX that has a daughter very similar to your's...I think the situation is really odd. Can you imagine a kid nearly 50 years old who *still* holds it against her mother for working through her childhood to put *HER* through school? Honestly, kids! There's no figuring them out.

I hope you have a WONDERFUL trip and that you enjoy it every minute of it. We'll be looking forward to seeing you back at our table...oh! Bring us some goodies! :-D

~julie~

Caroll, have been to the UK many times . Where is you are going?

Hi Aria,
We will be travelling around quite a bit - Nottingham Area, Birmingham Area for the Big dog show Crufts - equivalent of Westminster, Cambridge area, Aylesbury, where we used to live, a day in London and down to the South West - I'm judging the Golden Retriever Speciality down there, then back to Kent to see DH's sister before we fly home.
Julie the flight is very tedious - nine hours on the plane going out and through the night too. I never sleep on planes so it always shatters me for a couple of days. Coming home is on 7.5 hours, a daytime flight, and you have your own bed to look forward to at the end - much easier!
Your right it helps to learn that other folks have families that are not all sweetness and light too!
Carol

Hi again. Yesterday I took a bunch of pictures at the barn, and I even got put into one of them. The shirt and vest had been decorated by another lamb who chose that moment to go just a few minutes earlier, and they are clean again. This morning I went down to the barn and got involved with milking a ewe that has way too much milk, bringing in lambs from the field, and assisting with pulling a pair of twins from a ewe that maybe didn't have strong enough labor to push them out. All are doing well but the second one had us a bit concerned for a few minutes laying there looking like he would rather die. Here is a pic of yours truly with one of the lambs that got an eartag and a selenium-vitamin E shot yesterday. Now I'm off to ride for a couple of hours, see you later.

Okus, hello
Been to Birmingham aeria in particular to see the Coventry Cathedral, a very moving experience, I shall never forget the cross made of burned timber from the ancient church that was totally destroyed by German bombs.
The queen happened to be their attending a service in the new cathedral, I still can see the pieces of the old stained windows incorporated for the tall slender new ones circling the altar, causing rays of sunshine through out the interior
I am not familiar with Kent, except sailing past the white cliffs of Dover but Cambrdge, I know quite well, having been a foreign studen adviser, I had been to a few Universities in England and Scotland.
One other site that was very sad for my husband, his very best friend, a pilot, was shot down somewhere in WWII and he is buried there at the American cemetery, what a moving site with so many white crosses.

I wish you safe landing in the UK and the same for your return.
Maria

MMmmmmm warm buns and coffee...and more winter here after a promising weekend. Oh well. Those lambs are precious, aren't they? I have pleasant memories of farm life, as I was fortunate to visit and not live on one. My cousins had their share of chores, but we visited in summer and had a great time running around barefoot, through the woods and pastures. We pretty much ran free all day, hiking a mile or two to visit other relatives in the area, four little freeloaders, looking for treats. By the end of the day we looked like fugitives, dirty, sweaty and exhausted, but we had a great time. Fished in the creek, harassed the cows and my uncle, played with BB guns and generally did all kinds of dangerous stunts that would probably kill one of today's kids!!

Okus, I'm going to the UK in fall with my DIL, but probably for only 8 days, as she has limited time/resources. I was last there in "76, but I had five weeksthen, as my sister and BIL were living on an airbase up in the midlands. We used that as our home base for visits to London and the surrounding area, and made two side trips, one to Italy for a week, and one for four days to Paris. I'm looking forward to it, as I will get to meet a cyber friend who I've been playing Backgammon on the 'net with for 5 or 6 years, and also reconnect with a friend in France. We'll probably just take a day trip over to Paris, and meet her there. Dangerous connection for me, she's opened her own cattery, breeding Siamese, and I've seen some of the kittens. Will have to resist. Five is enough..

Personally, I suspect all families are a little weird, odd, disfunctional, whatever. I know my youngest still resents that I worked.....to feed and clothe her!! As I told her once, "I can't go back and do it over, and I'm not sure I would do anything different, so live with it and forget trying to make me feel guilty for doing what I had to do. " I may not have been quite that polite..........memory fails me....LOL

Chores to do today, maybe stop back later to see who's dropped in. Hang in there Julie, spring will spring eventually. ha.

Here's my friend Suzie's website for the cattery, I called it her Cat House, (snort)...take a peek if you are a cat person. Of course it's all in French, and I only know menu French, but you can see the babies!!
http://chatterie.siamois.free.fr/

Makes me want to have one, they are such beautiful cats, magnifique.!
Maria

M5...LOL I loved your comment "I'm not sure I would do anything different," (I LOVE your *attitude*! hehehe) And I'm not so sure about spring getting here eventually. :-D

Mary, you're probably not enjoying your stint as 'mid-wife' nearly as much as we are! (To tell the truth, I'd love to be there with you. I don't thing there's anything quite as marvelous as a new born 'critter'...I need to take a ride out in the country and see all the new 'cow-puppies'. There should be lots of them out there by now.)

Good morning Maria...grab some coffee or a cup a tea.

Well, I went ahead and planted those tomato seeds...and I'm SHOCKED! I checked on them this morning...and NOTHING! ~big grin~ I guess I'm getting a bit spoiled. If something doesn't germinate in less than a week, I'm liable to toss the whole flat. hehehe

I think the thing that's really amazing me is the fantastic 'luck' I'm having with all the IBLF (indoors before last frost) seeds I've planted so far. I couldn't believe I actually have ONE abutilon (Flowering Maple) that sprouted from a few seeds I managed to collect from my plant last fall. WOW! This seed collection may well be worth the effort! :-D

Well...I'm in the middle of getting some more seeds and plants ordered (Lord only knows WHY I'm buying MORE hehehe)...then I guess I'd better do a little housework.

Have a good day!
~julie~

Hello, anybody home? I'm just stopping in quickly before I head outside to tend the greenhouse quickly, then get down to the barn on my way to town just to see what is new. Last night there were no new lambs on my check, so I did a quick check of those in the barn and came home. I get a chuckle out of the barn notes. We keep a barn chart that has information on the ewe, the ear tag color and number, face color, hour of delivery, and notes such as " good attentive mom", "wouldn't follow" (the cart with her lamb in it), and the one that cracked me up last night was "homicidal" for an apparently overprotective mother. Some get nicknamed after cartoon or movie characters, or because of their attitude. After a couple of days in the barn with people around them most of them settle down, but there are exceptions. Yesterday I thought one of the yearlings was going to jump out through the window in her pen, it was open and even if it hadn't been she could see daylight and would have opened it if we hadn't backed off and let her settle down.
This lamb is "tiny" who is a surviving twin whose twin was twice his size. You can see the window in the background, similiar to the one I referred to in the above paragraph. His mother has so much milk we are taking some of it every day to feed the less fortunate ones when we need it. Milk and especially colostrum is harvested any time we can get some because often we need to tube feed a weak or chilled lamb. The excess can be frozen. Milking a sheep usually requires two people, one to hold the ewe against a wall or fence, the other on knees with a jar doing the milking. It can get to be a close contact sport at times!

This message was edited Mar 8, 2005 10:06 AM

It is raining, it is pouring like a monsoon, I see some grass and the mountains of snow are getting smaller.. However it suppose to get very cold tonight so what wiil we have? Icey roads!
Having my last left over coffee from am..and put in the oven a peach kuchen so come back and have some, I won't eat any of that stuff, usually give it to my neighbor or daughters but I love to backe. If I ate everything I cook I'd be as big as a house LOL

Have to tell you a small conversation I had with my youngest son who was about 15 or so That startled me since I never worked till he was about 14,
I came frome work before he came home from school one day, he looked awfull, I knew he had a terrible headache from which he suffered a lot. I said please lie down and rest, you will feel so much better, He looked at me and said , just because you are home when you never are you suddenly worry how I feel ! That startled me and sort of left me speechless. Oh boy! Today he is 45 years old and is married to a working wife and has a daughter, he now is saying he would have never considered marring a girl who was dependant on him alone. Ha Ha
Maria

PS never have done anything with seeds, I go to the nursery and just buy what I think I need. I did however snip some impatience put them in water to root , they were beautiful the next season in the huge window boxes on the porch.

"No sharper than a serpents tooth.." .............even back in biblical days. All we can do is wish children on them who are just like they were. I'm cranking up enough energy to go drag out my old pasta machine and make some noodles for turkey tettrazini for dinner. This will also mean I have to clean up the kitchen floor after too since I'm not a very neat cook.

Julie, you are going to have a jungle down there before you get to planting outside! Be sure to leave a trail of crumbs or something in case you disappear...I'm sure they'll come look for you if dinner is late. Nothing green coming up here, and if it does, I'm sure the frost will take it out of commission. Looking forward to seeing the forsythia this year, this is the second year, for one of them and third year for the other, so I might see some yellow blossoms. Takes a while when you start from scratch. And there should be some crocus and snowdrops soon. Last year some of the wave petunias self seeded which was quite a surprise, hope they do it again.

Off to the scullery.....

want to see if I can show picture of peach kuchen

Have some with your coffee
Maria

one more , a herb bread if you don't care for anything sweet

I did not knock on wood this morning when the temperature was 42, now we are going to have a lot of snow again with high winds, just hope we won't lose electricity as it is going to be bitter cold again.
Will spring ever come?
Maria

Hi, Everyone... :)

I took today off and drove upstate (still in FL, 3.5 hours each way) to visit my oldest living aunt (mother's oldest sister), who will be 92 in June. She's had several strokes but does her exercises, walks with a walker, dresses and gets meals for herself except for dinner with the family, goes to the hairdresser and to senior exercise classes, plus a few other outings when a driver is available. She has some memory loss from the strokes but is still sharp.

Heck, I'd be glad just to reach that age without being bed-ridden like my mother... and to have my mental acuity intact would be wonderful!

She looks pretty spry, and for that matter you don't look bad yourself. I'm so glad you got to visit her. You must come from some good stock, and as my hubby says, it is good to pick the right ancestors.

Today was busy, mostly with going to town to do some errands and grocery shopping. I bought a nice purple orchid in bloom with at least 5 more buds for far less that the prices a couple of big box stores were asking when I was in Salem a couple of weeks ago. This is a nicer plant too, and adds another color in the greenhouse. My daughter in law has one I am babysitting for her that is making 3 bloom stalks, so I thought another color would be nice but didn't expect to find it at the local grocery store! At another store I bought 4 Snow in Summer for $5 and a couple of heuchura that have gold leaves, I don't remember the name right now, maybe Amber Lights or something similiar. Those will be planted in a patch that already has 2 of the burgundy leaved ones, and I have 2 green ones I will also put there. I think it will be interesting sort of like a little patchwork quilt. The Snow in Summer will enlarge another patch of where I will place a small childs sled for an ornament, but first I have to transplant a couple of other things to make room.

I intended to do some garden work with what was left of the afternoon but a neighbor came over so I sat and weeded while we visited. The next thing I knew my husband was home and it was time to feed the critters and get dinner. We had pork chops with rice and gravy and a green salad with lettuce grown in the greenhouse. And now it is time to clean up the kitchen and get myself to bed. I go to bed by about 8, get up at 12:30, check sheep from 1am to whenever I am done with what needs to be done at that hour, and then when I get home it takes an hour or so before I feel sleepy. So you could say I am sleeping on a split shift. By the time it is over I get pretty tired but it is much better than when I was checking my own flock every 3 hours for several weeks by myself, that got really old. Really old! I slept on the living room floor so that I would not get too comfortable and miss getting up for my next check, so this is a piece of cake.

See you tomorrow, the dishes and the bed are calling my name.

Darius, me too, I want to be that age and still in charge of me, doing things my way. She looks sharp and impish even, after all, she's related to you. So glad you made time for the visit.

All that energy you've been expending seems to agree with you. Lookin' good lady. And approaching goal's end. What d'ja end up with in the newly renovated pots?

MaryE, if I'm tired enuff I sleep well even on the floor. LOL
Doing any job like that alone would be stressfully hard.

Maria, I hope you saved some of that kuchen, hear it's going to get cold and blustery like winter all over again at your place. With more snow and icy stuff under it - watch your step.

Blooms, this morning and most of the day it was 42', and I saw green grass in my yard, suddenly in the evening with in an hour it was 14" winds so strong with icy rain turning into to snow, i started to get my mail when I could not take another step, sheer ice, and I have a very long driveway, so no way was I going to hike down there. It is a miracle we still have electricity. Have no idea how much snow has come down so far, with the drifts I can't tell.

What a nice picture, Darius, I have no relatives in this country, I wish i had, they are still in Austria
Maria

Sounds like you are getting our winter weather Aria, we had a couple of nice days where it warmed up above freezing but we're back in the cold stuff again. Watch out for pantry burglars, last time I put out a fresh apple pie here, somebody who shall remain nameless took a huge bite right out of the middle!!! LOL Can't remember which "part" the photo was posted on but when I saw the big hole in the pie, I just roared!!

Darius, you and your auntie look pretty chipper! Are you making any progress house hunting? After we built this place, I said I'd be going out feet first....but DH said yesterday that one of our neighbors has their house on the market for just a hair under a half million....and that we should sell and build again. But when I think of all the perennials I'd have to dig up and take with me, that doesn't sound too appealing.... Plus, we did all our own tile work in the bathrooms, entry, and laundry room, because it's so costly to have someone else do it and I'm not sure I want to tackle that again either.

Besides, I'm not sure anyone would be anxious to buy a house with a four and a half car garage attached and a separate two and a half unless they are a car nut like DH. Did that make sense? Maybe not, I'm up since 4 since DH had a restless night and woke me up when he came back to bed at 3:30. I'm not as good as MaryE at getting back to sleep!!

I've resigned myself to perpetual winter. Spring is never coming. Bahhhh!

morning, everyone, lots of snow again coming from the west and south and so very cold was 0 '
No spring this year, I think. show you what is new here in the meantime have some kuchen.

Good morning everyone. We're home again. Got home about 9 pm last night. Interesting and a bit frustrating trip.

The pickup we were driving out for the guy in Indianapolis developed a rather serious tranny fluid leak just north of Waterloo, IA, so we left it at the Ford garage in Shell Rock and the owner is going to take care of it.

Decided to stay at my niece's house in Alsip, IL. Got to the Neth. Consulate before 9 am and met brother and niece (different one) there. They went in first and finally were finished at 12:10 pm. The consulate closes at 12:30 so that meant we had to stay over again. I filled out the 'preliminary' papers and the passport form, they copied and verified all the documents I had along and an hour later we were headed out of the 'windy'. The kids didn't have to go along so they missed 2 days of work and school for a lot of driving and floor sleeping. lol Now we ALL have to go back Mar. 28 because the deadline for filing this is March 31.

The Consulate General was kinda crabby and totally overwhelmed with work. He has one staff out on prego leave, another sick and was short-staffed to begin with. He was complaining that this law was published when it came into effect back in April 03 and now when the time for filing has almost run out, all these people are filing. I suggested that apparently word just has gotten out that this is an opportunity for some people. I think they published it in very obscure places so few people would see it. The idea of the law is to cut down on dual citizenships. That's why they're making it so difficult to get. (That's not my take on it, that's what the Consulate General in Toronto told my brother. She also told him that we would not find the Consulate General in Chicago so easy to work with - her office found him to be difficult at times so.... She was dead on!)

And I learned a new word - apostille. It means authentication. Every piece of paperwork must have an apostille stamp on it. from the federal government. All the birth cert., marriage license, background check, must go to the Secretary of State and get an apostille stamp on it. So I'll be off of DG in a bit and on the phone for the next couple of hours trying to find addresses and forms. Fun, fun! NOT!!!

have a good day all!

'Morning... yawn... slept too much and I'm dragging my fanny this morning. BUT, after a quick cuppa coffee here, I'm off to the front yard to give the 3 large pots another coat of stain if it doesn't rain, and to help weed so we can get the shrubbery planted.

I only have a few plants for the pots so far, need to find something trailing for all of them. It's all my sis and I can do to move those very heavy pots with the new hand truck but move them we must. Then back to the nursery later today for another 10 bottlebrush shrubs to hide the heat pump. $4 for a 4' tall shrub isn't bad.

I hope by Friday the front will look decent and I can post a before and after photo.

Have a wonderful day!

Hi everyone...haven't taken the time to read all the posts between this one and the last I posted.

I'm not feeling like 'me' at the moment. I've been having chest pains for the last day and a half...so far the nitro is taking care of most of it. But I'm feeling really weak and 'out of it.' Now, don't everyone chime in and tell me to go to the Doc at once. I'll get there if it's necessary, trust me. LOL

News from the "divorce of the day" club (youngest DS and DIL) Looks like it's going to be 'joint custody' of my fantastic DGD. At first it was going to be a week with daddy and a week with mommy...now it's going to be 2 *days* with each one. Or should I say...2 days with mommy...2 days with GRANDma! LOL

And yes...I know...stress causes chest pain. :-D

Gotta run...
Try to come back later to read and reply.

~julie~

Yikes Julie, those chest pains sound worrisome - you know your body - be sure and get your butt to the doc/hospital if you need to!!! Glad to hear that it is 'joint' as far as the son and DIL. Haven't had any divorces yet here, but it seems like it is only a matter of time before we cross that bridge.

Youngest son is not speaking to me at the moment. We went out for dinner in celebration of his wife's birthday. When it was my BD, each family paid their own way - which I thought was wonderful - then no one has to drop a load. However, he thought we should treat both of them...Stalked off and his wife paid for theirs. I called several times and my DIL said he didn't want to talk to me. Good grief...like to shake that kid by his ears!!! I sent him a check in the mail to cover their dinners and don't really care if we go out again or not. He is usually a good kid, but has had a lot of major bills lately and I know $$ is tight. Sheesh - we all go thru that!!!

Aria - that bread looks delish - I could use some right now. It is so colddddd out here and we have a couple of more weeks of it (so says the weather man)

I cleaned my cousins house today - it was six weeks since I did it. Man, what a gosh awful mess it was. He's the one who had a stroke and lost an arm.

Darius - you are putting stain on pots???? Never heard of that - why?? I just plant mine!!

Well, gotta go, I found a bag of cinnamon chips in the freezer and they are calling to me!!