Saint Patrick's Day

 

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! I hope your day is off to a wonderful start. Can you believe how fast March is racing by. I feel like once March hits we begin racing to get all of our major work accomplished before the heat comes on.

Even in drought years weeds still grow. Maybe not as fast but they still grow. We were able to get our berry vines trimmed. Last years canes cut out and the new vines put up on wires. I was very nicely surprised to find that the berry vines did very well from last year. I am happily anticipating
a nice crop of boysenberries.

 

We also got the artichoke plants cleaned up and I was very happy to see how wonderful they had done through the winter. The thing about artichoke plants is never be nice to them. Just ignore them and they go crazy, but if you pay attention to them they will just up and die. This was originally two plants that I think has morphed into about eight. There are babies coming up every where.

The end that is planted at was about five feet long and it has now filled in all of the space. Fresh artichokes are wonderful.

I wanted to show you this little Japanese Maple. I wish I had taken pictures when she was first coming out and her tiny leaves were so red and perfect. I love her name. It is Red Haired Dancing Girl. That is one thing I have liked learning about Japanese Maples is all of the cute names they have. That whole table that you can see in the background is different kinds of Japanese Maples.

I was finally able to get a picture of Mr. Pointy head. Those of you who know your birds do you think you could tell me what kind he is, I am terrible with bird books. He normally never sits still this long so I was glad to get these couple of shots. His breast is snow white.

That is a tiny bit better you can see how black he is so that now the black and white make a very sharp contrast. He eats all of the bugs around the lights on the porch and his favorite place is the swimming pool where he gets bugs there too.

 

I was able to get this little finch eating these weird blossoms in the cottonwood trees. This is the first time I have ever seen these blossoms and at first I thought it was bats hanging in the trees. The finch and Mr. Pointy Head fly from tree to tree when I am out there walking. Today they let me get their pictures.

Finally I have iris blooming. Spring will be here officially this week. I have tomato and gourd seeds coming up. I have lots of weeding to get done this week. I need to get some kind of planting plan drawn up this week too.

I hope you have a lovely Monday.
~Kim~

  "Like all magnificent things, it's very simple."
---Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt, 1975

Chicks and Seeds

 

I have to say, I went a bit crazy today.  I woke up this morning and knew today was the day. I was going to get chicks. I got up, went and got all of my chick goodies out of my shed. When they are tiny I use an guinea   pig cage, the heat lamp with the red bulb and the chick water and food dish. I washed every thing and put the heat lamp on so it would be nice and warm when they got home. I did chuckle to myself. We have a small bathroom in the garage and now that is where the chicks will be for awhile. We have seeds in our bath tub and chicks in the garage bathroom.

It isn't a very good picture but it was the best I could get with trying to hold the lid open and keep from getting burned holding the heat lamp and trying to take a picture.

There are 3 Buff Orpingtons
2 Brown Australops
4 Black Wyandottes
2 Black Sex Links
I think. I will know for sure when they get bigger, all of them are breeds I have not had previously.
Something nice about having chicks to watch.

I need to clean my chicken coop tomorrow morning so I needed shavings. I stopped at my favorite store, Tractor supply and went in and looked at their chicks and ducks. Then had to buy some seeds ( as if I already don't have enough.)

My seed box is starting to get a little packed. The seeds in the bathroom are starting to sprout. There are now tomato and pepper seeds in there growing.

 

The pepper and the tomato seeds have a different kind of potting mix so that is why they are so much lighter. 

I was taking some wool out of the dryer today so that I can finish up my Mrs. Rabbit rug and I had that thought " I think I have too many interests, maybe I need to slow down a bit." Then I thought no, it is fun to be busy. My grandma always said, " Idle hands are the devils workshop." Well it is better to be busy I think.

I will be busy this weekend, lots of work to get accomplished. It is all good though. I hope you have a nice weekend too.
~Kim~!

" You've got to be able to make those daring leaps or you're nowhere," Said Muskrat.
---The Mouse and His Child, Russell Hoban, 1967

Oh So Thankful

 

I was so happy I had to tell you about my day. I decided that on Wednesdays it is going to be my quilting day. I have the house mostly to myself on Wednesdays. Today, I put my iron and ironing board, my sewing machine, my cutting mat and my rotary cutter and my material and my patterns on the dining room table. I measured and cut and just had such a wonderful time playing with quilt blocks. I drew out one of the blocks for my Calendula Patterdrip.

Then the real test came when my thread broke on my machine. I hadn't realized until then why I stopped using my machine. It was because I lived in fear of my thread breaking. It would take sometimes 30 minutes to an hour to thread my machine. That would be after I would put on this head lamp thing with my glasses and a flash light. You have no idea how long it would take to change bobbins. So today, when the thread broke, I took a deep breath, and looked down and threaded the needle as quick at that. I could see the eye of the needle again.

I was so proud of myself, I was glad I was by myself, because I sat and laughed and I admit almost cried because I can sew again. I can use my machine. My singer feather weight is very dear to me and I really didn't want to have to get out one of my other machines. We have a bond you know.

 

I feel so thankful. Never have I been so happy about the time change. When I wake up I am so thankful for a new day. I didn't know that it would be like this. When the doctor told me that first time I saw him, that he was going to give me my life back, I really didn't understand because, well I didn't know it was gone.

This is one of my favorite passages in a little book I have called The Daily Light.

I know whom I have believed and am  persuaded that He is able.
Able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.
Able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have and abundance for every good work.
Able to aid those who are tempted.
Able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
Able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.
Able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.
Who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

"Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord." "According to your faith let it be to you."

I have always looked for things to be happy about, but now, I don't have to look because it is all around me. There is a song the Ron wrote for our wedding and a few words are, " If we live for a thousand years,
we won't know to tell how deep in love we fell." Well, I feel like that every single day now.  Because that is what it feels like. Madly in love with life. Ron says it is like having a new wife. I am glad because I know how hard it was on him. So thank you all for putting up with me.

I hope you have a lovely Thursday..
~Kim~

" Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one's life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; Perhaps it crept to one's side like an old friend though quiet ways. "
---Anne of Avonlea, L.M. Montgomery, 1909

Just Living Life

 

I wish I could show you how I saw before. I just sit amazed at every thing I see. Yesterday it was a perfect blue sky kind of day. My hens really needed a bit of time in the yard. I let them out and they were just enjoying the sunshine and all having dust baths and singing as only happy hens can do. It was clean house/laundry day so I would check on them every now and then when I noticed not a white Silkie in sight. Which means that crazy hawk was back.

 

I wish I could get a picture of this hawk when he is up to no good. He is a little what we called a sparrow hawk. He is a dreamer though, instead of sparrows or even doves, he wants chicken. He is very brave and doesn't even feel threatened by me. Now before I could see, he had to come right up on the porch before I could see him. Which he did I am sure and laughed fiendishly. He races so fast around the yard as he swoops and tries to get my hens.
I went outside to gather my hens and put them back in their house. When here flies in Mr. Hawk and does his swoop and laughs as he knew before I wouldn't be able to see where he was sitting watching me. But now I can see, and I saw just exactly where he was sitting. I walked down to his tree, and walked up to where he was and I yelled at him. He flew off,  I was hoping he was scared of me now as I can see again. Now if he would just go some place else for awhile. He is too small to get a hen, but  I have seen them tackle a dove and eat them on the ground so I am afraid he could do that to one of my silly white feather head Silkies. They really are not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Now that it is spring. I think the boys will not be working on the giant mud ball any more. My youngest son Peter though has been working on something else. I thought I would show his newest project.

This is one of them this perfectly round ball. He has another one but it doesn't have the designs this one does.

Here is I think the fourth one he has made. He is having to figure out things as he goes along.

Can you tell what they are made from? Well, they are made from mud. Just like the giant mud ball. Only he makes small ones and then polishes them. He has learned that it only works if we have a warm day. If the day is cool the mud won't stay together. This is something they do in Japan. He saw a video and decided to see if he could teach himself to make these.
It has been so much fun to see how each one will be different.  Not to mention just the smallest change in weather will keep the mud from staying together. It all started, when Peter and his Dad were talking, Peter wants to start a business. His Dad said, " Use your brain, think of something no one else has ever done, use what you have, because if you have an idea, you could change dirt into money." Peter decided to see if he could do just that. This was what came out of his head. I love that part about the field of dreams, it is still producing dreams after all of these years.

Have a wonderful day.

~Kim~

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Langston Hughes