Memorial Day & Farm Kitty

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Memorial Day - brings to mind lots of different things for different folks.  Altho I haven't had anyone directly that has died defending America, I have had many in the armed forces who've served our great country.  Memorial Day has a special significance for me this year - my nephew, Clay, is serving in the Navy.  My sister has made a great sacrifice, too, even tho it was Clay's decision.  She puts him in the hand of God every single day.  I know there are countless other parents and loved ones who do the same.

My dad was in the Navy and later in the Naval Reserve.  I remember when I was a little bitty girl the weekends that he went off to the Reserve activities.  He would put on his "whites" that mama had starched 'n ironed stiff as a board so carefully.  I remember him picking me up and swinging me around, and sometimes he'd let me wear his sailor hat for a few minutes before he'd go. Didn't wanna get it dirty, ya know! 

Tony's dad was in the Marines and the Army - two different stints.  I don't know much about his days in the service. Tony's uncle Horace's plane was shot down in France and spent some time in a prisoner camp until the war was over.  He would never talk about it but he never quite got over it.  He has Alzheimer's today and struggles in his mind over things that happened to him during the war. I've got some great uncles that served who of course are long gone now, but I remember them.  Let's remember ALL of them who served in the past and those who are serving still today in prayer - for thanksgiving and for His watchcare over them.

IN OTHER NEWS...

Meet ALICE THE FARM CAT

She protested loudly that she really didn't wanna have her picture made right in the middle of her dinner.  She really didn't wanna have her picture made at all.  "No paparazzi!" She kept squeaking! She has food on her mouth and is being very immodest indeed! "Well, that's what you get for interrupting my dinnertime!"

Alice, please quit being so rude!  That's not a nice way to meet new people!!!

I'm sorry, folks, that Alice is making such a little pill of herself upon her introduction!  She really will have to learn some manners.  Wait - cats don't ever learn manners, they always do what they want!

WHICH MEANS...

Aunt Amelia, YOU have won the "Name the Farm Kitty" Contest!!!  After much debate and much discussion around our house this weekend, the name "Alice" has been bestowed upon this skinny little orphan.  Thank you Aunt Amelia!!!  If you'll please email me your address, I'll get your grand prize in the mail ASAP!!!  And it WILL be a surPRIZE, cuz I don't know what it's going to be yet!!!

Thank you to all who entered - they were all cute names and there were several we liked alot, but "Alice" came out on top!  Now, Alice, mind your manners!!!

Little Farm Cat Contest!

Howdy from Sand Flat Farm!  Ya know when you live in the country how your house always seems attract stray animals or drop-offs?  We had our stray chicken back at Christmas & New Year's if you'll remember. I've missed that chicken come running up to me when I'd come home to the farm.  Something got her - probably an owl or hawk.  And since we don't have any immediate neighbors around & she couldn't have traveled through the acres of hay by herself, I've got a feelin' that somebody dropped this little baby off at our farmhouse...

Yep, we now have a farm kitty.  I found her Monday.  When I got to the farm, she came running out from under the porch, crying her eyeballs out - she's teeny-tiny, can't be more'n 5-6 weeks old. Skinny-skinny, and it made her eyes look HUGE. (just look at the picture - looks like "space kitty")  Well, you know what happened.  Soft hearted me (I LOVE animals of all kinds) fed her and gave her water.  She ate till she had a big fat tummy and plopped herself back under the porch.  She's still a little scared, but she wants to eat more than she's scared. 

I did manage to scoop her up and turn her upside down to see what she was - pretty sure it's a girl - we'll know more in a few days maybe.  But her bobo is all black fuzz and it's hard to see right now.  Plus, she was panicked and trying to get away.  She's coming around now, tho, and letting us hold her.  I guess she's decided that we're not the mean people that dropped her off and we do have good catfood.  I hope she'll stay under the porch and out sight of the owl that lives in the sycamore tree until she gets a little bigger! Now, I'd almost like to have two kitties so they can keep each other company.  Will check into that more...

Who knows?  Maybe she'll be able to earn her keep by catchin' gophers and moles???  And the rat that's made a home in the garden shed...

Oh, oh, get this!  Yesterday, I picked cucumbers again - about 2 dozen more.  Did you know crows like cucumbers? Perhaps they were just jabbing holes in them for fun and to irritate me.  I thought crows were just carion eating critters.  Well, I had to throw away about 10 of the cukes that had crow beak stab holes in 'em.  I knew it was crows cuz there was crow tracks all around my cucumber vines.  They also managed to scoot an already-exposed potato the rest of the way out of the ground and peck on it, too!  What are they doing? Playing soccer? We've got alot of crows.  I even have a big plastic owl on a pole above my garden.  Lotta good it's doin!  Guess I could set out there with a shotgun or my .22 and take pot shots at 'em, but that wouldn't work for long. Kill one, two more come back.  Dadgummit!  I'm gonna get me some aluminum pie pans and hang 'em all around my cukes. Hope that helps!!!  Daddy runs a radio 24/7 by his garden and his pecan trees to keep crows away.  I don't have electricity to my shed yet, unless I run a 200 ft extension cord out there so I can't really do that.  Got any ideas??

Ok, sorry for the interruption - back to the topic at hand. I'm open to suggestions for a name for the kitty - I'm partial to pet names myself - none of the Chloe or Zoe stuff. (My daughter's dog's name is Bella). Adam wants me to name her some cute little Spanish name.  If you have a cute name for this little black and white kitty, send me your suggestions!  Whichever one wins gets a prize!!!  Don't know what it'll be yet, but a prize just the same!!!  Start thinkin'!

Harvest Time!

The harvest season has begun!!! YEA! I have harvested ONE big juicy tomato - it's almost ready for me to slice and eat over the sink with juice running down my chin and hand, 2 dozen jalapenos, dill, onions (still got a bunch in the ground - just pulling 'em as we need 'em), 6 big yellow squash, 4 zucchinis, and about 2 dozen picklin' cucumbers!!! I know what I'm doin' on Memorial Day weekend!

I love this time of year. I put up 2 1/2 dozen quart jars of my spicy pickle recipe last summer and they were all gone before the end of the year 2009. We love 'em and so does everybody else. I did a post on making 'em last summer in June. If you're interested go to this link Pucker Up For Pickles! So hopefully I planted more this year and will make more than ever.

Jelly's still a ways off, but that's coming up, too. I also planted plenty of tomatoes and peppers so we can do some hot sauce. I can make a meal on hot sauce and chips (and do sometimes!) Monday evenin' I made some fried squarsh (haha). I never fry stuff except in the summer and except for fried squarsh or okra. That's about it. Wanna see it even tho all of you already know how to do it? Well, you're goin' too, anyway, as I'm hurtin' for blog fodder.

Ok, here we go.  I've got a bowl with about 2 parts flour to 1 part corn meal and I'll stir it with a fork til it's all mixed up.  I've got milk and eggs, too, and maybe a cup of vegetable oil in the skillet heatin' up.

I mix two eggs with about 1/2 cup milk and whip it up real good.

I've already got my yellow squarsh & zucchinis washed straight outta the garden and sliced up.  They get an egg bath now. Swish the slices around in the bowl and cover 'em real good and slimy.

Then, I take them out one or two at a time and salt & pepper them and put 'em in the flour/cornmeal bowl.  They get coated all over with this mixture and then...

...throw them babies into that hot grease & let 'em fry!  Not too hot, or that corn meal 'll burn before your squarsh is done.  I let 'em fry for a few minutes on each side til they start turnin; golden brown.

Here we go - see, they're lookin' purty good on one side there, flip 'em over and do the other side!

Ok, have ya a plate with some paper towels standin' by and when your squarsh is done take it out carefully (so you won't lose your crust) and lay them on your plate.  VOILA!!!

Now, don't they look great?  My mouth was waterin' way before these were done.  I love to get a little Ranch dressin' in a salsa bowl and go to town on fried squarsh.  I don't need anything else to go with this supper!  In a week or so, I'll have some fresh homegrown summer tomatoes to go with these! Or how 'bout an onion and tomato sandwich???  Love 'em!

Edited to Add--- and other stuff - MY LITTLE CORNER

All through my last post I talked about "blue salvia".  There is a blue salvia, but what I meant to say was that the blue flowers in my beds are "blue sage" - very similar but very different, too.  So, I stand corrected (by myself).

I ran into this lady from California at the Blue Moon Gardens in Edom, Texas, yesterday and she was carrying around a leaf of this little plant she called "silver dichondra". I googled a picture of the 'silver' to show you but she was wantin' the dark green color - She wanted to cover her yard with it...

 

source - http://wzus1.ask.com/r?t=a&d=us&s=a&c=p&ti=1&ai=30752&l=dir&o=0&sv=0a5c4242&ip=4ac07927&u=http%3A%2F%2Fnature.jardin.free.fr%2Fimage%2Fdichondra_repens.jpg

I told this lady that this was just plain ole kidneyweed (some call it dollarweed, but dollarweed is completely circular) and that if she wanted some all she had to do was come over to my house and dig all she wanted out of my yard under the shade trees.  She said in California, people put this stuff in their yards and it makes a nice lawn - never have to mow it.  Well, I guess here in Texas we have centipede, saint augustine and bermuda and we like to see a nice "stand" on our grass. 'Course we have lots of hot summer sun here in Texas, so we don't usually have alot of cool, shady, damp spots in our yards.  She ain't from around here, for shore!  Hope she's not plannin' on having a kidneyweed yard here in Texas!

In other news, I went to the "SPRING FLING" at My Little Corner in Noonday, Texas, on Saturday. It was fun. I was actually pressed for time, cuz we were having my sweet dad's 75th Birthday get-together-charcoaled hamburgers -n- birthday cake - with the fam - minus one grandson, SO I didn't get to shop like I wanted.  I did get a few pictures for you, tho, and highlight of my trip over there was meeting a fellow blogger - Elaine from Soggy Bottom Flats!  also Margo from Margo's Junkin' Journal was manning the cash register - she has a booth over there doncha know.

Margo has become a sweet friend of mine that I don't get to see enough - she's going 90 MPH all the time with her hair on fire. Her booth is well-stocked at all times - if you've not been over there, YOU NEED TO GO! I don't know where Margo gets her energy!  We meet up at our local favorite Mexican Food restaurant from time to time to catch up! Here's a shot of Margo and Bill,one of the owners - he's real nice!

You really should see this place - might take you a couple of days. There are so many different vendors and lots of tastes and styles of antiques, vintage items, and junk - good junk, mind you - repurposed industrial junk decor is the "newest thing" in junk, so I hear.

This is a lovely lady from around Canton, Texas, way - meet Elaine, from Soggy Bottom Flats Quilting & Stitching.  You should go visit her blog - she quilts beautifully and she has a gob of blogging friends that do, too! 

Of course she was drawn to all the quilting stuff right off!  Here she is again checking out some squares amidst some of the ever-so-cool stuff for sale!!!  Happy hunting Elaine! It was SO nice to meet you!!!

See the tan slender lady behind the popcorn machine?  She's Sherri, Bill's wife. Together, they have a great thing going here at Our Little Corner!

You see that old vintage Coke cooler?  Well, I WAS TOO LATE. I wanted it bad, but it was done got. Dang.

Hey, go inside and tell somebody to come out here n move their big ole Mercury out from the front of the store so's I can take a decent picture!!!!!  If you wanna see more pictures of the sale, go check out Margo's blog, and also Our Little Corner's blog!!!

Well, there you have it folks.  My trip to Our Little Corner.  I did not spend any $$$ which was good, cuz my husband keeps tellin' me that I don't need any more junk. Can you believe that?  But I DID get to meet Elaine, a bloggy friend, and I got to see my friend Margo again.  Margo, I got a hankerin' for some enchiladas, girl!

Our Little Corner SALE!!!

Our Little Corner is behind the Blue Store in Noonday Texas.  Just a few miles south of Tyler on Hwy 155 S.  It's a neat place - all sorts of vendors and all sorts of goodies there ripe for the pickin'!  Make it YOUR FIRST & LAST STOP for the day's shoppin' for lotsa good stuff, vintage, antique & quirky!  My friend, Margo at Margo's Junkin' Journal has a booth there and she'll be there all day. Go check her blog out for some sneak peaks! Great folks out there!  Hope to see you there, too!

Around Sand Flat Farm...

Meanwhile, back at the farm..

Just a few shots of what's going on at the Farm.  They're not in any certain order. I just haven't had much time for blogging lately.  But I thought this might be a little bit entertaining - at least it was for me!  Garden's going good so far... cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes, purple hull peas, green beans, onion, cukes, watermelon, cantaloupe, a little corn, some dill for my pickles, cilantro for hotsauce, all kinds of peppers, squash & zucchini.

Into the sun view - don't look at the weeds...

Here's the side of my little tin garage with the rusty roof. I did this flower bed last year and my son made me a flower box and covered it with this old shutter. Neat, huh?  Planted dianthus here last fall, and they came back beautifully as did my roses.  I added some lilies of different colors, but they haven't bloomed yet. I also added some blue salvia and I think I'm going to add some more - I love that stuff!  Found these old fence pieces at a garage sale for $2 apiece.

Can you see my little mini-gardener perched on this piece of fence?  He likes it here very much - I see him quite often!

Here's a better shot of my salvia and my rock edging.  Eventually I'm going to collect enough rocks to do all my flower beds. Looks more old-timey, and I'm all about old-timey, rusty, chippy, and broken-down!

Another view of the back of the house. Oh yeah - red potatoes - I forgot to add them to my list.

I'm really proud of this flower bed of roses. It was the first one I did at the farm.  I've been learning as I go. Tony and I attacked this one and did it.  It has pink and red roses, snapdragons, zinnias, verbena, a crepe myrtle, and a vesuvius plum - the dark purple.  Gotta find me some more rocks...

Ok, I'm having trouble moving these pictures in the order that I wanted so you're gonna have to bear with me here. Sorry.

Now - look at this old iron crib. I got it for a steal at a garage sale. I thought my husband was gonna have a fit when I got him to go with me to pick it up. "WHAT DO YOU WANT THIS OLD PIECE OF JUNK FOR?" Well, I don't know yet, but I just couldn't pass it up.  So I'm asking YOU guys - what do you think I should do with it?  Make a flower bed in it - maybe roses or something?  Maybe let some viney flowers grown on the end pieces?  The one side piece comes off, and I thought maybe I could hang that up or put it in a flower garden somewhere and put clematis or something on it.  GOT ANY GOOD IDEAS???

Oh, and what's THIS I see on my tomato vines?  Ah-HA!  Little tomatoes! Oh I can't wait til tomato season!!!!  A tomato and onion sandwich with mayo (maybe throw in a couple of slices of bacon - that's called "baconizing", people).  YUMM-O!!!

Ok, see I couldn't get this one to go where it should have.  Just another pic of my roses...

The bluebirds would NOT come to the door of their house when I wanted a picture.  This house has been up for nearly 4 years now, and this year is the first year for bluebirds to nest in it!  We have tons of bluebirds out here on the farm, those and also scissortails - you can always hear them fussing.

Lookie here - can anyone tell me what's been chompin' on my cabbage and what I can do to get rid of the chomper?  I'll fightcha for my cabbage.  Daddy says we gotta let nature have a little, bitty portion of our harvest, gotta share a little, but looks like nature could limit their chomping to just ONE of the cabbages and not all of 'em.  Greedy little boogers.

Now on to other matters.  My guys are leaving today for a fishing trip to the White River in Arkansas.  They are looking forward to it and I hope they have good weather, and no tornadic activity!  Adam, my oldest, will go on back to Nashville, so that leaves me a sad mom today.  I told him he better not wait for 5 months to come back home again.  I know he's been super busy song writing and on the road playing, but that's just too long.  We had a trip planned to go up there, but that was when MIL fell and broke her hip. (by the way, she's doing well, but now she's having a problem with "drop foot". I'm taking her to the Dr. on Tuesday - bet she's got some nerve damage or something...)  I will be enjoying having some time off to do what I want - either go see family or spend time with friends, etc. YEA!  Princess will be home, too, so I'm sure we'll find something to get into!  We always do!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends.  Sorry I'm brain dead and can't blog about something worthwhile of your time.  So many of you have such wonderful well-thought posts about politics or current affairs or religion or such, and I wish I could do that. But I can't today. Take care of yourselves and know that I'm thinking of you "con mucho carino" (I can't get the tilde thingie to work)   Bye!

Let's Hear It For The GIRLS!!!

My daughter put the whoop on her brother and PopPop last Saturday.  My little tomboy all grown up into a girly-girl kicked butt on their fishin' trip.  Princess has been wantin' to go fishin' but has been away at school, so when she got home Thursday afternoon, she called my daddy to take her.  Her big brother also went. Princess hasn't been in awhile, but you flat couldn't tell.  Daddy and bro were cryin' when it was all over.  See what I mean ---

Just gonna show you pics - Daddy took them to a private lake up here - it was so beautiful. I've gone with him to this lake, too.

Look at this lunker!!!  She got several fish that would go 5-6 lbs or better!

Ok, son, it's about time - you gonna let your little baby sister make you look bad???

OK, son, she's several up on you now!  Here's another big 'un!

WHat's the count now???

I'd be ashamed if I were you, son!  I wouldn't let anybody take my picture with that lil ole minnow!

Ok, that's much better - are you sure that's not your sister's fish? Ok, it's yours. Good.

Good job, Daddy - don't let your little granddaughter show you up!

Twins!  Cool!

Way to go, Pop!

Look at that smile!!!  She had a wonderful time with her PopPop and her brother. 'Specially when she knew that she was the fisherwoman extraordinaire!!  She wants to give them another fishin' lesson when she gets back home again!  I'll bet she will, too!

Take care peeps - been busy - I'm visiting and maybe will get to catch up some this weekend. All my guys will be gone to Arkansas to trout fish on the White River for a few days so I'll have some time to myself. I'm looking forward to it!