My Sis & Me & Alice

This past weekend, my sister came to the farm to help me make jelly and pickles.  We've got plums running out our ears around here from my daddy's tree.  We had two big ole 5 gallon buckets and another bucket full on Saturday.  I'd already put up a slew of jelly already, but we can't let this go to waste. There's also another bucketload of ripe plums still on the tree and a bunch on the ground! We've been givin' 'em away!

We cooked  plums down nearly all day long, and also made jelly while we waited. My seester is my bestest friend in the whole wide world. We're both country girls 'n we figger we can do just about anything alone or together that a man can do -'cept pee standin' up!  And we could probly do that, too, just might not be able to hit what we're aimin' for!  Why wait on your husband to do somethin' for ya when you can probly do it yourself, and you don't hafta wait!  Together me 'n her have gotten into some fine messes, but always got ourselves out of 'em.  We can fix stuff, build stuff, we can fish and hunt, and clean a deer & fish, we can re-wire a dryer from gas to electric (actually seester did most of that), you name it, we've probly done it.  We hung around with our do-it-all dad all the time.  He is still the bee's knees to us!

OK, back to jelly.

Here are the plums cookin' down. It smells heavenly to breathe in all that lusciousness!

Here's me in my farmhouse kitchen warshin' more plums for the jelly...

Sis is dipping up juice to run through the strainer. We put the whole plums in the pot, and the skins and seeds come out in the strainer and we're left with just juice!

We're havin' a laugh over somethin'.  We laughed all day long. AND we never could figger out who took our picture together. Was it Mom? She was there for awhile, or was it my daughter? She was there for awhile, too! Not the most flattering of photos, but good memories nonetheless!  And voila! The final product!!! I sent half home with her for her family and some to mom and dad.  It was so good!  Now with some homemade bread and real butter, I'll be in hog's heaven!  We still have almost a whole 'nuther bucket of plums, ripening and fermenting. I hope I can git 'em done before they rot!

Alice the farm kitten is doing so well.  She is growing right before our eyes.  She's getting less skittish and runs out to the car when we get to the farm.  Loud noises still make her nervous and sometimes she'll take off and run under the porch.  But she's getting better.  She's finally started purring whenever you pick her up and scratch her.  It's been awhile since I've had a cat.  I've had cats all my life and it's nice to have another one. I still think I'm gonna git her a buddy.

Is this not the cutest kitten you've ever seen? She always has dirt in her nose from playing under the porch all the time.  She seems very healthy and playful and she's eating like a little pig.  I'll have to get her to the vet for a check up soon.   Take care, people!  Have a great week!  And keep your dress down!

More Rain & Our Trip to Jefferson, TX

Hey my lovelies - over the last two days we've gotten about 10 inches of rain. Can you believe it? We caught up on our rainfall totals for East Texas all in two days! Some places around here are having problems with flooding, bridges washed out and roads washed out, and even a few homes flooded. I personally didn't have any problems. You oughta see my pastures and my garden! WOW - what a little natural rainwater can do!!!

Guess I must apologize for my crudity on my last post. Most of you avoided acknowledging my crass-ness when I called our torrential rains a gully-washer, a frog-strangler, and a t*rd-floater. Ya'll made me feel bad, so I deleted that. However, I did have one blogger buddy comment AFTER I'd already deleted it that a t*rd-floater is exactly what they called it, too. Yea! Somebody understands where I come from! But, to those of you who were offended I apologize.

OK, on to other matters! If you follow Debbie Wisdom at her blog, Wisdom, then you'll know that she, Tara from New Day, New Seasons and I had a blogger buddy get-together and we all met up in Jefferson, Texas, on Tuesday! We had the BEST TIME EVER!!! We visited this very cool Confederate cemetery first...
This was the Scottsville cemetery just outside of Marshall... Beautiful monuments of old, lots of stories that we'll never know, babies, soldiers, husbands, wives... I always wonder what their lives were like... This was the family chapel...


Here is one of the monuments - the cemetery was very well cared for...

Here's Debbie checking out some of the headstones. A bunch of the gravesites had little wrought-iron fences around them, and alot also had footstones...


This beautiful monument was called the weeping angel - it was gorgeous & I'd love to paint it someday!

And I don't wanna bore you with too much cemetery stuff, but here were my two buddies having way too much fun in such a  somber place!

In Marshall, we visited the old rennovated Weisman Building - a used-to-be a department store downtown. It's now been converted into a lovely antique place with a WONDERFUL eatery where we had lunch. I forgot to take a picture of my lunch but it was DELISH - chicken salad, tuna salad, spinach quiche, banana nut bread, fruit - YUM!

We then pedaled our way on up to Jefferson and spent the rest of the day cruising 'round the place, checking out all the bed/breakfasts (wow - they're were way more than I remembered!) and they were SO beautiful.  We visited a few shops, visited the old restored Excelsior Hotel (where I heard there were ghosts, but we didn't see any), and ate our way through the afternoon.  We had coconut pie at one eatery and a root beer float for me at another place.  Huge hydrangeas in the garden at the Hotel in this photo - they were in the fountain area...

I guess you could say this little guy could be a ghost from the Excelsior Hotel - he appeared each spring and disappeared each winter.

At the end of the afternoon, we sat outside and enjoyed some cloudy weather and scooted inside quickly as a storm hit.  We got to sit inside for an HOUR and visit and laugh and cut up!

Look who we ran into at the General Store???  Why, John Wayne!!!  Tara here had to take her turn giving the Duke a big hug!  But he kept his stoic face.  Matter of fact, he never changed his expression when each of us hugged him and posed with him!  Come on Duke - lighten up!!!

Well, I had 50 pictures I could show you, but maybe in another post.  All I know is that these two girls are precious and special to me.  I had gotten to know them via their blogs and so just meeting them in person was the icing on the cake!  We all learned so much more about each other and it seems like I've known them forever.  Our personalities just clicked and I have never laughed so much as I did Tuesday!  At least not in a long long time.  I can't remember when I've had such a fun getaway.  We missed a couple of gals that were supposed to come, so I'm hopin' we can repeat this blog buddy meetin' and just have a big ole blogger convention!!!  Thanks for Tuesday, Debbie & Tara - love you two, too!!!

RAIN!

IT'S RAINING TODAY!!!

It's come a gully-washer!  A Frog-strangler!  The 8-10 inches that we were behind this year so far is ALL COMING DOWN TODAY!    My garden may float away, but I won't have to water for 3 hours this afternoon!  It's coming down so hard I cain't even see my car from my office!!!

Lotsa farmers 'round here needed it alot worse than me, but I'm so thankful!

Cain't nobody water a garden like the Lord!!!   THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, Lord!

Pay It Forward 2

Hi folks!  Whatchy'all been doin'?  Me?  Well, lookie here what I got in the mail yesterday!

This gift is from Sunny at Sunny's Place.  She is doing a "Pay It Forward" giveaway. I'm participating, too.  Look at the lovely things she sent my way - a beautiful candle holder and votive, some handmade (by Sunny) candles from her real beeswax when she was raising bees (wait - I mean beekeeping), a little windchime that makes the sweetest sounds and this sweet book entitled His Princess, Love Letters From the King, which is just grand. I can't wait to read it. Short devotions that I will be able to share with my daughter about the love that our Heavenly Father has for his daughters in Christ.

Sunny, Thanks so much for this lovely gift.  I know I'm going to enjoy it immensely.  Now, I have 3 sweet friends that I am "paying it forward" to, so they will be getting something from me very soon!!!

Got WORMS???

Well, WE GOT 'EM! Hornworms that is - on the tomato plants. They are huge. They start out little bitty and in a day or two or three they've eaten enough of the plants that they are engorged and sure make a mess when you snip 'em in half with your garden shears.  They leave little poops everywhere, too. I wanted to just snip 'em, but Tony said he was gonna leave 'em in the metal pot in the sunshine... They've bitten holes in some of the tomatoes, too.  I've dusted with Sevin so we'll see...

Got baby birds?  Yes?  We do, too, baby mockingbirds.  The nest is in front of my kitchen window in the crepe myrtle tree.  I can do the dishes and watch the mama bird stuffing bugs down their throats. I'm keeping an eye on 'em to see when they jump out of the nest or fall out.  We've got cats all around.  I guess I should just let nature take its course.

Good night, friends.  I'm sleepy.  Take good care of yourselves and I'll see ya on the flipside!

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!!!