Life in the Garden

I don't know what kind of bee this is, but they are
aggressive. They didn't like me taking pictures,
and kept buzzing my head.
They go around my bees and buzz them too.
Last year when I was working in the garden, I watched a bee as it spent a good
couple of hours excavating and digging a hole. Then it
had a grass hopper still alive but it looked like to me
paralyzed. It brought the grass hopper over to the hole,
but the opening wasn't big enough, so it worked at enlarging
the hole and making it sturdy.
As I watched it had to figure out how to get over a hose, and how to get
the grasshopper over the hose. The grass hopper was at least 3 times
bigger. It would pull and finally it found a place where the ground was a
bit lower than the hose and got the grasshopper over and into its house.
I would watch it as it would get tired and it would go find shade and rest
then go back to it's work.
I can only imagine that it's babies were in the hole or going to be and the
grasshopper was food.
It used sticky stuff that was on my Hollyhocks for mortar.
After it was all done it turned around and used it's back legs to bury
the hole and then used its front legs to pat everything in place.

The hole was right by these Black-eyed Susan's so the bees are a bit
possessive of them. They aren't orchard bees because orchard bees
are smaller.
It was one of those days when I just sat and watched in the garden.

Can you see all of the little green tomatoes?
I always feel like a miser counting my money.
I can't wait until they turn red.

This is my two rows of tomatoes. Really, I told myself,
I was going to only plant two bushes, well, maybe six at
the most. I have no idea how it was that I brought this many
home but I did. My husband is such a good sport. ( He doesn't
eat tomatoes, unless he can't see them.) He never complains
about helping me tie them up or weeding or even running
the water line.
It is a good thing they turn into good stuff. I think though
he would help me no matter what. He is just that nice.
I hope your Wednesday, is Wonderful!

Triple Digits 104 and Counting

We finally hit triple digits today. I have spent more
time outside in the heat than in the house.
I am worried about the chickens and the garden.
I thought since I am going to be out here why
don't I take my camera. My Black-Eyed Susan's
seem to be doing just fine.


This is looking across the garden you can see
the cantaloupe, and the corn and my sunflowers.

I found this as I was looking for a place to take
a picture. Our first cantaloupe of decent size.
I can't wait. I almost gave in yesterday at the store
and bought one, I am so glad I waited.

This is my very hot, bearded Silkie. I have a new man in
my life. It is this guy. Isn't he just the sweetest
thing. He follows me everywhere. I took him
out in the garden with me. He thinks I am his hen.
I will get a better picture when I can get someone to
hold him for me. He is squirmy and I can't hold him
and take a picture.

Here are the girls. Not happy about being on the other
side of the fence from me. This is the first hot weather
they have ever experienced and they are unsure what
to do about it. I have been sitting outside with them and
they crowd around my legs and just stay by me.
My hens that are sitting, I threw off the nest and shut
the doors so they can't get back in the hen house.
I won't let them set because we haven't had a rooster until
now and the roosters I have are still youngsters.
I am afraid that they might die sitting on the nest boxes
so they follow me around the yard and complain about
not being able to sit. I think sitting hens are like
someone with very bad PMS. They gripe and complain.
They are so grumpy, I see why the other hens go peck
the fire out of them. Sometimes, I wish I had a beak and
I would peck them too. Sometimes I think having a beak
might be a real plus.
Time to do my run outside again. You know that it is going to
be a really hot day when at 5:00AM it is 80 degrees.
I hope you have a lovely Tuesday!

Raising Trees

My husband's hobby among other things is raising
trees. When we moved here we had one tree, the tree
in the front yard. We have planted all the trees
on the place. My husband says that we have about
120, he has grown about half of them himself.
This picture is of his little nursery and all of the little
trees he is currently growing.
I never thought our family was nuts about trees,
until a gal asked my daughter in her art class if she
was a pagan. My daughter looked shocked and said,
"No why," The lady said," because you always do
art work of trees."
I had never thought about that much, but when my son
moved into his house, for a house warming present
he wanted a tree.
I know that some of you have your own woods, but
living in California we are hard pressed to have our
own woods. I guess that is what we are working toward,
someday having our own forest.
I love sitting out at twilight and listening to the trees,
whispering to each other and telling each other bed
time stories. I know as a child, I lived in trees. I liked
nothing better than sitting up on a limb in the heat of
summer and feeling the movement of the tree in the
summer breeze.

I hope you had a nice weekend, it is hot here today,
I let all of my chickens out in the yard. I have a bunch
of chickens! My yard will never be the same. Happy
Birthday L. and Father Tim. It is always nice to visit
Mitford. :)

Have a nice Monday!

Signs in The Garden

I put the signs I made in the garden. It was so
funny because it felt like putting furniture
in a house. It made it feel like it was a bit homey.

This is the sign for the sunflower house and the
names of all of our grandchildren, because well
it is their house.

I thought this sunflower looked so pretty today,
against the blue, blue sky. Not a cloud to be seen.
Sundays are like that sometimes, a day full of
hope and promise.
Have a very restful day.

Saturday Morning Musings

The sunflowers are coming right along. I love Saturday
mornings. We finally might hit 100 tomorrow. We
have only done that once this year so far. Very strange
for us, I am not complaining mind you, it is just, I bought
tomatoes today. I don't ever buy tomatoes. Being sort of
a tomato snob, I always feel it is beneath me to buy those
things that might have come from a plant.
My bushes are loaded but we need some 100 degree weather
to get some ripe. I can't wait to eat tomatoes at every meal.
Yes, even at breakfast, in home made salsa. I love it on eggs.

I went out this morning and I had a dead chicken. It sort of shocked
me because it wasn't sick. It is one of the ones that hatched last year
from my little hens. It was part Mille Fluer and Silkie. The are rather
unique but really wild and insane. I think she must have fallen off the perch
and broke her neck. There was no sign of unlawful entry and she was
all intact. Like I said she was insane, if I made a mistake of leaving my
chair set up outside the fence, in the morning she would loose her mind
thinking it was a predator. I have ran out there so many times
thinking something was killing her.
I never do good when things die.

This Saturday we will be of course working in the garden. I made some
garden signs and I will post pictures of them when I get them in the ground.
My husband starts his vacation July 1st so the days will be much different.
We are hoping to get away for a bit, between kids jobs and all of the other
things that the poor man puts off all year. I always want him to spend the
time doing only what he wants to do. Since most of the time,
he is taking care of us.
It will be a nice start to July.
I hope your Saturday is a nice one.

Box O' Plums

This is my first box of plums. I picked them and
I don't know what it is with being on top of a ladder,
in the tree branches but I was really aware of falling.
I have never been the most graceful person around,
and I do fall down all of the time, usually when my husband
is behind me and I step in a dust bath hole.
I was up in the top of the tree and I was by myself, and
it was before anyone upstairs was out of bed, so I
have these conversations in my head, " if you fell
off this ladder and broke something, you could lay
here for hours before anyone would know where you
are, you didn't even leave a note." So after some
conversations going on in my head, I was very
relieved when my grandson came and found me.
Even though I could see puzzlement on his face,
about why his gama was in the top of a tree.

My daughter came earlier in the week and took
plums home and she made jam. She brought me
this.

I will climb trees to pick fruit all the time for jam.
I guess I need a sign, "Will work for Jam."

I picked my zucchini too. I let it get bigger than
I normally do, I guess I wasn't paying attention. I picked some
on Saturday, but the dog thought I picked it for her
and she stole it and ran off and wouldn't let me get it away
from her.

I am going to BBQ this since it is so big. I love
BBQed vegetables.
I hope you have a lovely Friday.

Thankful Thursday

This morning this parrot was in the sunflower next
to our fence, I walked as slowly as I could to get a picture,
but our cat decided it looked like fun and came with me.
It flew off. My daughter came today and showed me how
to get it using photo-shop.
This is what lives in my sunflowers all summer. They are so pretty,
and so tropical. I don't think they have any predators that eat them,
so they have multiplied.

This is thankful Thursday, so I will share a thankful post,
but it is more like I am in awe post.
Our upstairs air conditioner went out on Sunday night.
When we went to bed that night I was just sick, sick because
these things cost so much money to fix, sick that the kids were
going to have to sleep with the windows open, and with 4 new
roosters crowing at 4:00 AM I was going to be in hot water.

I get all shaky inside when I have to call repairmen. I have been
thinking all summer that instead of being a worry-wart, I should
just pray about everything. So I prayed that God would show
me what repair company to call. He did. A very nice company,
but they couldn't come out until Tuesday morning at 7:30.

Tuesday morning the repairman arrives here at 7:20 ( good sign)
My husband was still at home, ( good sign #2) He talked to the
repairman and explained everything.
I could hear the repair man, who I am going to call Lynn just to make
it easier working on the air conditioners ( we have 3) See why I shake
in my boots, one is bad enough but 3 that is just nuts. Pacific, Gas and
Electric think we are their best friends, we have put all of their kids through
college. No not really it just feels like that.

Finally Lynn, comes in the front door and I have to talk to him. He begins
by saying to me. " I just wanted you to know that I am a Christian, that
I believe that Jesus Christ is my savior and when I pulled in the drive way
today, God spoke to my heart and said, that these people have been through
a lot and I want you to give them a break and tell them that I have heard
their prayers."
I just stood there, flummoxed. He turned to go upstairs and I went and
found a chair. On Monday, I spent the day praying and listening and
searching my heart. I prayed Psalm 139 over and over that God would search
my heart and see if there be some wicked way in me. I decided that I would write
out my prayer request and I would be a distinct as possible.
I also wondered if in the years I have walked with God was it possible
I missed Him and that the way I have always thought He answered me
was just my imagination.
Then this man who does not know me, has never been to my house,
heck he grew up in Pasadena so he isn't even from here. I have never
called that company before. For him to walk in my house and tell me
this was shocking to say the least.
The air conditioner wasn't broke either. The company who worked
on it before, even though we were paying for servicing wasn't servicing
them. He cleaned them and now they work better than ever.
He only charged us for the service call.

I was the doubter yet God has said that He has heard our prayers.
The trial isn't over yet, but I know because this man was willing
to look like a nut, God has heard my prayer and I think I can wait
a bit longer for His answer. I know this sounds really weird,
but I am so thankful today that when I thought the air conditioner
was broke, it wasn't, God was using it to show me that He is still at work
and He promised to never leave me nor forsake me, He didn't.
So today as I read, this,
"It is nothing short of a transformed vision of reality that is
able to see Christ as more real than the storm, Love
more real than hatred, meekness more real than
pride, long-suffering more real than annoyance,
holiness more real than sin."
(Discipline; The Glad Surrender, p.62)
"We have the mind of Christ."
l Corinthians 2:16
Have a lovely Thursday!

Twenty Things I Love About Summer

1. Eating breakfast on the patio.
2. Going for walks early in the morning.
3. Going outside when it is still cool and walking in the garden.
4. Canning fruit and produce.
5. Watching the sun rise.
6. Watching the sun set.
7. Watching Venus and the moon rise.
8. Cleaning my flowerbeds.
9. Watching my chickens
10. BBQing dinner
11. Having watermelon.
12. Watching bees on sunflowers
13. Staying up late.
14. Drinking coffee, blended.
15. Eating ice cream cones.
16. Watching movies.
17. Going to the theater to watch said movie and being excited like I am six.
18. Cutting flowers and having fresh flowers in the house and on the tables.
19. Going shopping with my daughter, stopping by Jamba Juice and asking for
a secret drink, ( The "Thank you, Jesus") The guy just smiled so sweetly when she asked.
20. Going to the library.
I love summer!

Why There Are No Pictures of Bigfoot

This is why, you get scared, you try to do something
fast you get glare. You get a picture of yourself
trying to take a picture out the window.
Last night, my two youngest sons went outside for a
walk, I yelled, as they went out the door, "Watch for skunks!"
About five minutes later, I hear them hit the door full blast,
"Mom come quick, the skunk is on the front porch, get the
camera!!"
I grabbed said camera, but I was so afraid I was going to get sprayed
through the window mind you that I could not get close enough to take the
picture.

I finally got this picture as the little varmint was walking
by. Then one of the kids said, " Is that another skunk out in
the yard?" It was and pretty soon we had two on the front
porch. Then one of my sons friends that live on the street
over from us, (You can get to their place through pastures.)
said that his dog got sprayed last night.
It feels like we are under siege. I guess it is time to call a trapper.

First Day of Summer

When I think of summer, I always think
of the beach. I think summer should smell
of suntan lotion, hot corn dogs, and salty
air from the ocean.
I bet by August I won't be singing this tune.
I will be pining for fall which where I live doesn't
happen until after Thanksgiving.

I think summer should be filled with firefly's glowing
in a jar with holes poked in the lid. When the kids
were younger we went to visit my parents when
the firefly's were out. My husband and me and our
babies were in our travel trailer and my older kids,
were in the house with Grandpa and Grandma, sleeping
in sleeping bags on the floor. Unbeknown to me, my kids
opened the jar with the firefly's in the house.

Later when my Mom got up to check on them she said, there
was little fairy lights blinking off and on in the room where the kids
were sleeping, and the bathtub was full of little glowing lights.

My parents lived really far out in the country, so when we sat outside,
we could see all of the constellations in the night sky. We sat outside,
so late because we could see so many.
Here where I live now, we can't see to many because of of the glare of
the city lights. It is still fun in August, to get out quilts and lay them
out on the grass and watch for shooting stars. The correct name is
the Perseids. I like to make a fire in a old BBQ that I took the legs off
and let it burn down and make smores and then watch for the falling
stars.
When you are laying out in the yard with your kids in the dark, staring at
stars, you can really talk deeply. When you are there all together, that
is when God seems so close and I can never understand how it is that
when we look at the sky and the Bible says that the heavens declare the
glory of the Lord, how we cannot fail to see how blessed we are to have
been given the gift of life.

Happy Summer!

Sunflowers

I love Sunday mornings. The sunflowers are coming
along so nicely. It won't be long before they will
be filled with finch's speaking to themselves of all
of the good things to eat, to stand and watch the orchard
bees, fill their little pollen bags up with pollen and to wait
for the parrots to come flying back from where ever they live.

My bees are doing wonderfully and are busy, well as bees.
Little do they know I am plotting the robbing of their hive.
I can't wait to have our own honey and not have to buy it
at least for a year. I hope that when we do rob the bees,
that the honey will be a lovely, sunflower yellow.

One of the thing I love about Sunday mornings is waking
up real early and knowing that the house will be quiet, and
all will be well.

Today is Father's Day. I hope that it will be a nice quiet day
for my husband. Also for our married son and our son-in-law.
They are all very good dads.

I hope that your Sunday will be restful.
Happy Father's Day!

Thoughts on Saturday Morning

This has to be the prettiest June I can ever remember.
I can leave the windows open all day and there is this
very nice breeze that keeps the house about 71 degrees.
I walked out this morning and it felt like I was at the beach.
The air even felt cool like it was blowing in off the ocean.
One of the things I love about living where I live, is the
Alfalfa is blooming and getting ready for a cutting to make
hay. I love the smell of new cut hay in the morning.
As I stood and smelled the wonderful smell with just the
hint of warm sunshine mixed in and the gentle breeze blowing
the wind chimes so I could hear them making small sighing sounds,
it gave me a nice feeling of contentment.

There has been a grackle in a cotton wood tree just behind the
kids playhouse. I whisper to him to please take up residence and
bring his wife and raise a family. I love grackles and the sounds
they make. So far they prefer to live at Wal Mart and Target.
He was sitting in the tree, laughing to himself like some beggar,
who had fooled someone out of some loose change. I sat and listened
but I did not want to get close enough to take his picture so he can
bring the missus back and make a nest. I want him to think this is
prime real estate.
I saw a interesting thing the other night. The sun was going down and
My husband and I had got back in the yard from our walk and since twilight
is our favorite time to sit on the porch and talk we were doing just that.
When the rooster next door started his warning cry. We went to the gate
and looked over at his pen but couldn't see anything.
We looked down our fence row and we could see that a skunk
had just come from that way and was now making it down the
fence line stopping at every tree and digging in the tree well.
We wanted to get a closer look so we walked across the yard to
another gate and as we stood just inside the gate there was a small
black cat following the skunk. They were just meandering along together.
We kept saying to each other that wouldn't happen would it?
But it did, they walked all around the pasture together and it looked
for all the world like they were just visiting as friends.
I think why we could see that then was the wind was blowing away from
us so they weren't aware we were there.
I hope your Saturday is lovely.

Friday Ramblings

My new chickens had escaped their chicken yard,
the grand children were playing in the water and the
dog was mad at the kids for wanting to take her ball and
for wanting to pour water on her, she went to the far
side of the yard and then the chickens found her.
She was not a happy camper. I tried to get a close
picture but as soon and the little hens saw me they
thought it was snack time.

I can't figure out why they don't see her as a threat.
She could chomp their little heads in one bite, they just
don't have any fear of her.

I had some other thoughts as I was writing this post,
I have felt out of my depth since our kids got married and
of course being a grandmother. Maybe I over think this stuff,
but I was starting to get this feeling that maybe being a "mother,"
is going to last the rest of my life.
I admit, that I thought that when your kids turn 18 and graduate and
then go to college and then get married and have their own families,
I thought, I would enter into Mother Nirvana. Never worry again,
I would have all of the answers and life would just pass on by and me
getting to be skinny, and have great fingernails and great hair and
always look like I know what I am doing. I don't know where I got this
as I know now, silly, silly idea.
But I did.
Then I bought this book this week, it is called, Praying For Your Adult
Children, by Stormie O'Martian. She mentions this in her book and she
says, " 1.You need to Know It Never Ends" She says, " Although there are different stages
and season of parenting responsibilities, your heart and mind will always be with
each one of your children for the rest of your life. And this is no easy task,
for no matter where they go or what they do, a part of you goes with them.
When they"re happy, your're happy. When they suffer, you suffer."
I have thought about this all week.
One summer, my aunt and my grandmother went to visit family in Oklahoma and
while they were there the hot water heater exploded and the whole place was
a inferno. My aunt was trapped in the burning building and one of the other
people was telling my Dad how my grandmother was crying and saying, " save my
baby, save my baby!! They did rescue her but she was in the hospital for a while.
My grandmother never left her side. I was a teenager then and I thought about that
and finally asked my Dad why did my grandmother act that way, my aunt must have been
in her 40s or so. My Dad said, " because no matter how old your kids get,
they will always be your kids."

It is kind of like the day when it dawned on me that you don't ever get to a place where
you have got finished with trials. I thought you did, I think I thought you out grow them.
There is a lady in our family who is 99. She goes through hard trials, and when I finally
realized that you don't outgrow trials it was huge for me.
Then I read this today. To want what we don't have is impatience,
for one thing, and it is to mistrust God. Is He not in complete control
of all circumstances, events, and conditions? If some are beyond His control,
He is not God.
(Keep a Quiet Heart, P. 135)
I have always thought I would get to a place where I would trust God, where my faith
would be such that I could know beyond a shadow of a doubt God was listening.
I would be lying if I said, I was there, because there are days when I think, I have
sinned too much, I have blown it one time to many. I think God is up there looking
at me wringing His hands saying" well what am I going to do with you now."

Then I am reminded in some small way, that I know so little of God's great love
for me. I watched babies today, I see how they trust me and how they just accept
anything I do and they crawl up in my lap and I can feel their little body relax as they
settle down to rest and I know that as love washed over me. God's love is so much
greater than I can even begin to understand.
Because after all, "If God is for us who can be against us?"
(Romans 8:31)
Have a Wonderful Friday!

A Fourth Anniversary

Today is our daughter and son-in-laws
4th anniversary. I know I just did my son's
and daughter-in-laws but they got married
three weeks apart.
I don't think anyone has ever lived until they
have planned two weddings. Three weeks apart. At your house.
My daughter got married at the first church
built in our town. Then had the reception at our
house.
I lived and breathed weddings for six months.
Our daughter got engaged on Christmas morning and
our son got engaged on New Year.
When it was all over I got sick and the doctor sat me down
and said, " Now tell me what is going on in your life." I said,
well, my two oldest children got married 3 weeks apart, at our
house... She said "Stop right there, "I get put in the hospital every
time one of my kids get married." She told me that if
I didn't go home and get in bed and stay there, she would put me
in the hospital. I never obey doctors I am sorry to admit, but that
time obeyed because I was so sick.

I am not good at letting go, one of the things that people failed to mention,
is that you get more kids. I love that part. I love having so many people around
my table. I love seeing my kids happy and not alone. I love seeing them fulfilled.
Then the best part is they have babies. That really is just the best.
I also like being friends with them now that they are grown I really like having my best friends be our kids. They get all
of the jokes which is a real plus.
What I like about having them be adults is the deeper the relationship they
have to their personalities. They have all gone through hard things, but
they have used it to make their marriages stronger and I think they have
in turn become better people.
I have been blessed so much and I am thankful for the gift.
Happy 4th Anniversary!

Pool Reading

One of the things, I think about doing in the summer,
is reading around the pool. Jumping in the water,
drinking a glass of iced tea. Just reading a book for fun.
We have lived her almost 10 years and I think I have
went swimming maybe 10 times. The most I have
went swimming was when my daughter was getting
married and I was scrubbing pool tile. But this summer,
I decided I was going to go swimming and sit out by
the pool. My husband bought some lovely umbrellas
so I can not be in direct sun and I went to the library
and got this book. The Quilters Apprentice by Jennifer
Chiaverini. So far I love it. I would love to be a
quilters apprentice.
In the book they talk about a Lone Star Quilt. I took
a picture of the one my Grandmother made for me
when I graduated from high school.


It is all hand pieced and she didn't cut it out with a
rotary cutter and the batting is flannel and she hand
quilted it all. The really great thing is she made one for
all of her grandchildren when we graduated from high school.
There were 17 grandchildren and she made us pieced quilts.
Not to mention when her children got married she made
Double Wedding Ring quilts. She had her great big
frame in her living room and when she wasn't using it
it was up on the ceiling. She had it set up so it raised and lowered
on brackets. She lived on a tiny little street, in a place called
Weedpatch. She came out here from Oklahoma and when
they moved from the farm labor camp to a house of their
own, it was a converted wooden box car. She worked
in the fields, picking cotton. In her spare time she made
quilts. By the time I came along, she was older because
my Dad was the youngest but all of the ladies that lived
around her had lived the same kind of life and they all
quilted together. The quilts those ladies made were
works of art.
How I wish I had learned from them. They used what they
had and nothing was ever thrown away.
So today, I read a bit of this book and I had to share my quilt and I also
wanted to show my sewing machine, because the lady in the book uses
the kind I use.

I love my Singer Feather Weight. I learned to sew on
it in sixth grade. I have had other machines and I do
have quite a few, but I stay with the Feather Weight.
It is always dependable and I am so happy with it.
So I think instead of sitting by the pool, I might just have
to make a quilt.
Have a lovely Wednesday!

Berries From The Vine

I picked these and I can't wait to turn them into
a cobbler.
This is Tuesday and I am supposed to have a
Tales from Mohawk Road post. I have sat down
at the computer and I am hoping for some inspiration.
I thought I would tell you some back ground of the area
first.
I have the original land deed with the name of the people who homesteaded this land. They owned the whole 160 acres and then they
parceled it out piece by piece. The parcel that my grandparents
bought was a 10 acre parcel. In this place I now live, it is
part of 80 acre section that is divided now into all different size
parcels. My Grandparents parceled this land into 2 1/2 acres parcels
My brother and sister own the parcels on one side of me and the other
side which was my mothers parcel was sold after her death when
my Dad remarried and we moved away.
I always think how weird it is to have lived so many other places and
then after my grandparents death to find out they left it to us and now
I am back.
When we moved here originally, it was the middle of a sewer farm.
That was across the road and farmers leased the land from the Sanitation District. They could plant crops for seed.There are still these huge pond
looking things that used to be filled with sewer water. We used to
walk up there and throw rocks in the water and watch the birds
that made the place home. There would be in the fall, Canadian geese,
swans, ducks and other kinds that I didn't know the name of.
There were so many frogs that sometimes you couldn't sit outside
and talk because of the sound. It was still considered country and
mostly farmland. When we first moved here there was even a dairy.
We rode our horses all over the place out here and one time we rode
up on the bank of where the sewer ponds were and there was a couple
with a small boat. They were launching it into as Hank the Cowdog says, " the
emerald pond."
We were on our horses watching, laughing our heads off.
Finally the people paddled over in the boat and wanted to know,
what " you fool kids are laughing about." Me being the oldest,
piped up and said, " Do you know what kind of water you are in?"
They look kind of blank at each other for a minute. They say, "
isn't this just a pond.?" We start laughing again and when we
could get our breath we say, " it's a sewer pond."
The people paddle away and we watched them trying to get the boat
out of the water and not get any water on them or step on the yukky
sides of the bank, because well, the bank was pretty bad.

The place out here was also a giant oil field and there was oil wells
everywhere. The only people we saw in the summer was just the
men who took care of those wells. The city has grown so much and
the neighborhoods around us are built on the places where there
were oilfields and oil wells and I always wonder if the people who
bought those houses were told what the place was first.
When we first built this house and the city appraiser came out to
do a walk through, kept calling this house, " Our dream house,"
I kept looking at her and wondering why she kept saying that,
finally I asked her why she called it that. " She said, well, because
you over built for the neighborhood. I looked out across the road,
and yes, there is a bare field that is brown and about a mile away
you can see a oil refinery, and next to that is a gas plant, but beyond
that you can see the mountains and the foothills and I can see the sun
rise and the sunset. I can go out and walk in the pasture and I can
have a farm and in five minutes I am at a shopping center.
The trees are the ones I climbed as a child, the trees are the ones
my children climbed and now my grandchildren can climb the same
trees when they are bigger.
The giant tree in my front yard is the tree that I sat under the branches
and dreamed, I built a tree house, then my son built a tree house and
someday the grandchildren can build a tree house.
I am thankful that God does impossible things and
When life doesn't make sense, God always does.

Pictures of the Garden

I haven't posted any pictures for awhile of the garden.
It is hard to find a view that shows up really well
in the camera. Things are growing quite nicely.
We have been picking peppers and having them for
breakfast each morning. The tomatoes are loaded
with tiny green tomatoes. I finally have blooms on
the cantaloupe and on the zucchini.

I planted more sunflower seeds today. I planted
Giant Mammoth. I don't usually plant that variety
but I thought the sunflower house need some bigger
sunflowers for the posts. I plant sunflowers because
I read once that sunflower honey is gourmet and that was
what I wanted.

The pumpkins are up I am so glad, I think I get more excited
about pumpkins than anything else. I really enjoyed them in
fall decorating last year.

I had a shock today. I have a black Silkie that I thought was a hen.
He is the bearded kind and I have been cuddling him/her and it comes
up and wants to be held. I went out to do some chicken shuffling,
when all of a sudden he crowed. I couldn't believe it. Then he did it
again to make sure I was paying attention. So I have 3 Silkie roosters
and a Mille Fleur rooster. Too many roosters! Now I have to decide
who stays and who goes. I still have my white Silkie hen I think black
and white chicks would be wonderful. But of course that would be more
chickens and I don't know if my family is real wild about more chickens right
now. I need to expand and I don't want to move them out to the pasture because
of the fox problem. It would be hard to rest if knowing that the fox would be
always at the door.
Have a lovely Monday!

Sunday Ramblings

I was out browsing through my flowers today.
I just thought these were beautiful. This is a new
plant and these are the first blooms.

I finally finished my counted cross stitch I have
been working on and my eyes will never be the
same.

It was fun and I have never done a one quite
this big before. I made myself stick it out. I have
a short attention span I realized and I get halfway
and I am ready to do something else.
But it is finished now and I will let myself think
of a new project.

I hope you have a lovely Sunday.