Fishin' with my Daddy, Sunflowers

Last Saturday, I went fishin with my Daddy. We had such fun! He has access to a couple of private lakes and they are full of crappie, perch and bass. Every time you cast, you catch somethin'! Below's an awful picture of me holding up one of my catches. It was hotter'n heck, but we stayed up under the boathouse instead of going out in the boat and fryin'. Daddy had some old shrimp in the freezer that we cut up to use for bait. I love me a good crappie or perch fish fry! The meat is so white and mild, not fishy at all. Here's a pic of Daddy with one of his bass. He is a FISHIN' MACHINE!

I've always been a Daddy's girl all my life. I still spend as much time with him as I can. I wish I had a photo of us together fishin', but there was only the two of us. I was catchin and he was cleanin. Mom tells me the story from when I was little - 2 or 3 years old. I followed my Dad around like a puppy anytime he was at home. He was alway busy doin somethin'. He is a mechanic, he can fix anything, make anything, patch anything, you name it. Whenever I would ask, "Doin', Daddy?" he would always answer, "Aw, um, business." He probably told me that a 100 times. One day, I was following him around watchin what he was doin, and said, "Doin', Daddy? Binness?" He fell out laughin! I still follow him around today. We make stuff together, repair stuff together, go fishin', garden, whatever he's doin, I wanna do. I sure hope the Lord lets him stay with me for a good long time. I don't know what I'll do when he's gone...
Now, here's a couple of shots of my sunflowers from the garden. This big ole bumblebee kept flyin around me and the flowers and finally landed on this big flower so he got his picture made. I love sunflowers - they're so cheery and smiley, and they look "farm-ie". I'm for all things "farm-ie" lookin'!You can see our little farmhouse in the background. It's been so dry, the ground is crinkly and the bermuda is brown. We did get a little rain Sunday, I think, and that ole bermuda will green back up in no time. I hope we get some more this week. The only thing left in my garden is some green beans, and some late peas. If I get real industrious, I may try a fall garden this year. My roses look beautiful and so does the plumbago. The June bugs are flourishing and have found a little gap in the weatherstripping on the back door and are making themselves very comfortable inside the laundry room of the farmhouse. They love to get their legs tangled up in the rug and make me have to get down on my hands and knees and pick them off!

Pulled up the last of my onions. I have alot of 'em in the shed and these babies will join them. I do still have to dig up my Yukon potatoes. I've got several good size ones, but thought I'd wait just a week or so longer on them... Well, my boy leaves for England tomorrow. I'm missin' him already. It's hard to think about him bein' half-way around the world and I can't get to him. I know he's gonna have a wonderful time at the university over there, get to do some traveling while in Europe and see and do things that I'll probably never get to see and do. Princess is taking her finals from summer school this week. It's been busy... update on MIL - she's continuing to do better each day in her new assisted living apartment village. She's meetin people (even tho she can't remember their names) and eatin well, and enjoying herself. It's a good feelin to know that she's in a safe place and is being looked after and taken care of.

Anybody having problems with blogger this morning? On my favorite blogs to visit, it wasn't listing their latest post - it was taking me directly to a "feed" to subscribe to. It wouldn't let me do anything! Drat!

Have a good one, friends!

MIA - Sorry!

Good mornin all! Sorry I've been MIA lately. With all the things goin on in my life right now, it's a wonder I'm here at all. I've been tryin to catch up on readin your lovely blogs when I can and makin a few comments, but it's been so crazy on Sand Flat Farm and elsewhere around here that I'm findin myself stretched way too thin.

Main item - we have been searching and have found an assisted living/memory care facility for my MIL. She cannot stay by herself any longer. She's been takin her exercise by walkin in the heat of the day (and we've been havin 100+ temps the last couple of weeks), she goes out at midnite (the neighbors tell us) and checks her mailbox. There's probably no tellin WHAT she's been doin that we don't know about. We've been dreadin this day for a long time. As long as Tony's dad was alive, she had someone there with her. My FIL has been gone a couple of months now, and we wanted to see how she did alone. If she didn't go walkin and go out at night, she would've been fine for awhile longer. She can certainly take care of herself and her home.

We found a really nice place that actually doesn't look like a nursing home at all. It looks like an upscale ground level apartment complex that is enclosed with a beautiful courtyard in the middle, places to walk, all kinds of activities, very caring staff, and happy residents her own age.

It's only 2 years old and it looks like some kind of mountain lodge - very attractive decor. We took her to visit yesterday afternoon and eat supper there, and she was very impressed with everything. After about 30 minutes, she realized why we were there, and she started poutin and givin Tony EVIL glares. He should have had a hole burned right thru his head by her mean staring and clenched teeth.

Anyway, it was an answer to prayers, and Tony & I both looked at each other when we left out the front door and said "this is IT!" We were in total agreement on everything about the place.

The best thing is that if/when MIL becomes worse with her dementia/Alzheimers, they move her to their own Alzheimers unit, switch her furniture from her apartment to one in the A. unit, and it makes a very easy transition, as it's all done while she's out of her apt., and they set up the new apt. just like the old one. She may think something's a little different, but she won't be able to figure it out. We move her tomorrow - pray for us - she WILL be angry and upset, but we know that's to be expected.

Also, we're gettin Josh ready for his trip to England to do a foreign study program for the rest of the summer. There's alot to do on that, too. He and my daughter will finish up the first semester of summer classes next week, thank goodness.

We've been havin to go the farm nearly everyday, too, to water the garden and all the trees/shrubs/flowers. It's been SO HOT AND DRY here. My fruit trees look wilted, my corn didn't make, too hot, the squash & zucchini have quit bearing, etc. It's like they all can't get enough water. That old bermuda grass out there is all brown, but a quick little rain'll bring it back out immediately.

I've put up another dozen quarts of pickles - we DID do well on cucumbers this year. The tomatoes are comin in now, and I need to put some in the freezer. I have some more green beans about ready, too. This gardenin business is sure time-consuming, but I love it. It's physical, it's calming to my nerves, and it gives me such pleasure to see and eat the fruits of my labor.

I'll post some pics of my sunflowers tomorrow maybe. I DID get alot of sunflowers to grow this year, and I took some pretty good pics of em, even if I do say so myself. Sorry I didn't have any cool photos to show you today. Just boring reading material. Let's see if there's something on this here computer at work to let you look at....

Where is this beautiful, dreamy place, you say? http://www.elmwoodgardens.com/ Elmwood Gardens, just outside of Palestine, TX. My little photos don't do it justice. It's a beautiful area where they have brought lots of old buildings, cottages, there are fountains, pavillions, flowers galore, vegetable gardens, horses & carriages, a place to have get togethers, honeymoon in the cottages, get married on the grounds, have bands play at your wedding, have a reception and dance, OR you could have some other kind of get together! You MUST see the website. My daughter was invited to model in a bridal show out there a couple of years ago and I ran across these photos. It's only about 45 minutes from us, and it would be a wonderful, romantic place to get married. The cottages are all decked out in antiques, quilts, shabby everything and the bathrooms have old clawfoot tubs. They did it all up right! It's beautiful! Check it out!

A little Advertising...

Check out Suzanne's new Etsy shop! Her blog is At Home With the Farmer's Wife. She has got some CAAYUUUUUTE stuff on there! I may do some early Christmas shopping... check out this apron - they are so original and I especially like the pink/brown one.

I aim to go back and do some more lookin. I know Suzanne would love to have you come by - she's such a sweet and interesting gal, and I love reading her blog! She takes us on road trips all the time and it's always fun to see what her agenda is at her Monday Morning Staff Meeting!

Have a great weekend ya'll!!!

PUCKER UP FOR PICKLES, YA'LL!!!

(BLOGGER IS NOT LETTING ME DOUBLE SPACE BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS! SORRY!)


Are ya'll ready to make Mamaw's Spicy Pickles??? I finally got around to makin' 'em Friday night. This week's been busy. Okay, here's the ingredients: one batch is about 4 quart jars. sliced up pickling cucumbers - I don't know how many - I had about 2 1/2 gallon size ziploc bags full. onions - slices or quarters

fresh garlic cloves - about 2 per quart jar

celery - 3 stalks cut into 1" chunks

jalapeno peppers (or serrano if you want it spicier) - cut into quarters or smaller if they're big

apple cider vinegar - 1 quart per batch

1 pint water

4 c. sugar

1/2 c. canning salt

dill seed/fresh dill

Like on the jelly, I take my jars fresh outta the dishwasher, all hot & steamy - 4 quart or 8 pint jars at a time and set em on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Into each jar (I'm going with quart, if you use pint you'll use a little less of each of the veggies) put a couple of sprigs of fresh dill, 1/4 to 1/2 t. dill seed, several pieces of onion, 3-4 pieces of celery, a couple of cloves of garlic, a piece of jalapeno, and as many slices of cucumber as you can stuff and squeeze down in there and still get a lid on. (When that hot vinegar solution hits those cukes, they'll shrink up alot)

Oh yeah, before all this, remember to wash your lids and bands, and put them into a pot of water on the stove, bring to a boil, and then simmer and keep steaming hot to seal your jars with.
Ok, see in the above picture, I've got my jars all packed & ready with the funnels for the vinegar solution. Here we go:

In a large stockpot, put your quart of apple cider vinegar, 4 c. sugar, 1/2 c. canning salt, and 1 pint of water. Add 1/2 t. dill seed to this solution and heat on medium high heat. Stir and get all the sugar and salt melted and bring the solution to a full rolling boil. Open the windows and turn on the fans!!! It'll open up your sinuses for sure, peel the hair off your head and make your eyes water worse than onions!!! Keep your face out of the steam! Hey it's a great way to run your kids outside if you're tired of 'em being underfoot! Mine used to scatter to the four winds.

Sorry, I got carried away with the vinegar stench... It gets to me sometimes... After your solution has boiled a couple or three minutes, turn it on low, get you a cup with a spout on it to scoop, and start scoopin' the vinegar into the jars & use your jar funnels if you have em. Go ahead and fill all the jars to within 1/4 inch or so of the top. Wipe off the mouths of the jars, and get your tongs or your nifty magnetized lid and band picker upper and put the tops on and then screw the bands down real tight. I always use a couple of wet, squeezed out dishrags to handle the jars. They'll be VERY hot and sticky. I invert the jars and set em on the cabinet for awhile and then turn em over later when they've cooled a bit.

Here's my disclaimer again - This is the way my mamaw taught me and I've always done it like her and will continue to do it like her. Some people at this point may want to put the jars in a canning bath and that's fine. But we like our pickles crispy and if you do the canning bath, they cook some more and get kinda soft and floppy. It's probably not by govt. standards but I figure the vinegar takes care of the pickling. We've always eaten em this way - no problem.

That's up to you. (As you can see, I had enough cukes to make 2 batches.)

You can eat em the next day, but the longer they SET, the better they'll be. I usually go open a jar about 2 weeks after or so, and they're great. They won't last long. I've got scads more cucumbers getting ripe, so I'll make some more. And with the big green ones that are too big to slice, well they're getting made into sweet pickle relish. I put up some green tomatoes like this, and they were good, too.

Good luck! Let me know if you make some - hope you like em!

Big Red Tractor Shed

HEY PEOPLE, I HAVE A QUESTION?????Anybody out there have a barn or shed that is a RED metal building? Tony's fixin' to have a building built at the farm because he's buying a tractor. We want RED metal (I'd rather have a wood barn, but the pasture fire we had last year scared us a little) but we have heard that the RED oxidizes after a few years and starts lookin' chalky. One manufacturer told him that their red doesn't fade, but all the other ones have only a 3-5 year guarantee.

Does anyone have any personal experience with this??? I'd love to hear --- if it fades, we'd do another color, but we'd really like red. I hate to have some ole ugly color shed out on my farm, but oh well.... maybe a light yellowish with dark green roof? I just don't know...

I have to go to the farm this afternoon. We had some strong thunderstorms move through last night and possibly more this evening and my corn is FLAT on the ground. I have to go stand it back up. We've had to do this in the past and it usually works okay. Thank goodness I don't have a whole pasture of it! Tony was out there last night during the storm and he said there were limbs on the ground and some of the other garden plants look a little battered. But, hey, that just goes with it I guess. I shan't fret.

I will be making pickles tonight. Stay tuned because I'm going to do a tutorial and take you through the process. Once, again, it's Mamaw's recipe and man is it great! I'm so glad I learned some stuff from my grandmothers before they were gone!

Lemme know about thuh rayed color thang, ya'll!

(PS - I can't get Blogger to double-space between paragraphs this morning!@$^*(^^&$@!~$^@%!!!!