Friday, May 29, 2009

Simple Pleasures!

There are many things that I can really feel cranky about, but that kind of an attitude doesn't help matters and frankly, its a waste of energy. I can't change the things that are out of my control, and so I have really been trying hard to change my attitude, because that IS something that I can control. This morning I had joy in finding simple pleasures while I worked out in the yard. I thought I would share some of them with you!

She isn't tormenting the critters in the chicken pen, she is just loving them!

A good summer read next to the freshly weeded kitchen garden.
Yum! Yum! Yum! Can't change the fact that my berries decided to ripen right in the middle of the Girl's Camp preparations, but we are going to enjoy a big fresh strawberry pie this evening!

A visit from a feline who enjoys playing with my dirty toes.



Irises, peonies, holly hocks and lilies in various stages of growth!






Thursday, May 28, 2009

Boredom Buster

As requested by my dear friend Christine, here is my boredom Buster to add to your Boredom Bottle. Good Luck!

Supplies are pretty simple and basic and easy to gather!

I'm just not sure what you would call this! Feel free to add your suggestion to the comments!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Nauvoo Getaway!

The rest of last week, the Apple Farmer had work in the Keokuk, IA area so we joined him after I finished girls camp obligations. We weren't able to do a session as he was under deadlines to complete a bunch of reports, but the crew and I had a great time!

The attorney sports period clothing and is carrying in 'water.' Her Royal Highness is putting her pioneer baby to bed. Awwww! So sweet in an apron and bonnet!


The President! So handsome! Too bad these hats aren't the style today!

Stick Pull!
The buildings seen in this picture is the parcel owned by King Follet. The land parcels were organized in 4 acre blocks and each block was divided by into 4 parcels. A couple Greats grandfather, James Fife, lived on a parcel right next to King.


This is one of two parcels another couple greats grandfather, William. S. Covert lived at. He lived across the street from Heber C. Kimball.


Hot and exhausted! Check out her toes!

Back at the hotel to cool off!

Looks like trouble to me!

The President's Happy Thought

The President has been struggling with scary thoughts so the Apple Farmer and I have been trying to help him practice techniques to make these thoughts go away. He simply replaces the scary thought with a happy thought. We were so excited when he was able to list off several things that make him feel happy. His cat, Snowflake, was on the top of the list. Later that evening, while we were cleaning up the kitchen, we heard some scratching on the outside of the house and suddenly, Snowflake appeared up in the kitchen window. The President was so excited when he saw her there and shouted, "Hey, my Happy Thought just jumped into the window!" So little Snowflake is also known as Happy Thought.

The Attorney is holding the President's Happy ThoughtNot like we keep score, or anything, but the Apple Farmer has killed two cats with his truck, and he almost took out the dog with my van (may it rest in peace). A couple of weeks ago, the Apple Farmer started up his truck and the President's Happy Thought went thru the fan in his truck. She was hurt pretty badly but to everyone's relief, the President's Happy Thought is happy and well again. The other kitty that went the the Apple Farmers Fan was bent in places a kitty should never bend - it was a wonder that it was still alive. The Apple Farmer couldn't get his gun quickly enough to put her out of her misery. You can imagine our amazement that the Happy Thought survived.

The Apple Farmer's First Spray of the Year

The Apple Farmer has been extremely busy with work and his church calling as Branch President. He is soooo behind on orchard chores! But it is OK because we KNOW that if we put the Lord first, he will make sure everything works out OK for us. This has always been the results in countless situations. This is the best kind of insurance you can get, in my personal opinion, but this post isn't about my personal opinion so on with the story! The apple farmer finally had the opportunity to do his first spray of the season. Everything seemed to go wrong in trying to accomplish this simple task! The pump on the Berthoud wouldn't work so he had to dismantle it between trips out of town and he happened to get it working last Monday evening at about the same time the winds died down. Perfect for spraying!

He got well into his spray and started having trouble with the alternator and losing his lights and power. He explained to me and what I understood the problem to be was, "bla, bla, bla, bla, bla, bla. So I bla, bla blabbed and bla bla bla, fa la la la la, la la la la." I told him that it was great he figured out the problem. Then he runs out again to finish the spray. I go to bed with the peace of mind that he bla blabbed his tractor.

Next morning, the conversation went something like this:

me: stirring in my sleep

him: I didn't finish spraying last night because my tractor caught on fire.

me: stirring some more in my sleep trying to figure out why someone was trying to wake me up and why they are saying "fire."

Me: What?

Him: My tractor caught on fire.

Me: Fire?! (pictures of tractor ashes racing through my mind). I thought you bla blabbed the bla bla!

Him: I did and when I got to the lower part of the orchard and was really starting to enjoy the cool of the night I notice a bunch of flames leaping out of my tractor between my knees.

Me: What did you do?

Him: I watched it burn itself out.

Me: Oh - OK. Thats kinda wierd. Does it still work?

Him: Yup, I waited til morning so I could bla bla the bla bla of the bla bla when it was light. It was impossible to bla bla in the dark and get it right.

Me: OK - can I take pictures of you bla bla-ing for the blog for the family to enjoy?

Him: sure.

Here is the Bla-Bla

Here is the Apple Farmer Bla-bla-ing the bla bla.

Here is the Apple Farmer after he bla-blabed his tractor and suited up.


And away he goes!

Boing Boing Boing!

This post is in honor of my niece, Annaliese. My sister-by-choice posted a blog entry on her blog called Boing Boing Boing. This is my version ;) Enjoy Shan (and of course everyone else)! Six photos later and this is the best shot from behind that I can get of her curly curls!

Didn't Drown!


We didn't drown a week and a half ago when we got all of the rain! We've just been so busy! So once again, you get the joy of reading multiple posts.
The rain was amazing! All of our roads to civilization were flooded so we decided to be a bunch of Looky-Loos and check out some of the water!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Girlie Cookies

Saturday morning we enjoyed going to Sarah's baptism. I had lots of fun making these cookies for her! Today, people at church were still marvelling at how much time I must have put into them! But I didn't put hardly any time into them at all! They were easy and LOTS of fun!


Saturday, May 9, 2009

Double Bow

We got a quick rainstorm yesterday evening which watered all of our little garden seeds we planted on Thursday!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

A Hunting We Will Go.....




Mushroom Hunting season is now open!



Everyone is talking about their great hunting expeditions to their wooded hillsides and creek beds! The morrels are selling for $20.00 a gallon. We've hunted, but have never actually eaten any. I'm not a huge fan of eating fungus, but this year is the year that I will actually eat one and find out what the excitement is all about!


The Attorney and Human Resources accompany me. They are my protectors from any uninvited critters! The Attorney asks why we are going hunting without any guns...


I explain that I don't anticipate any hostile fungus while we are out in the deep woods of the Great and Shaded Ditch.

We encounter a colony of friendly fungus.

We visit a bit and then bid farewell as we continue on our great hunt.

We travel onward, braving branches of the dreadful poisonous ivy and cautiously making our way around the prickly wild goosberry bushes. We stop to rest (this is hard work you know!) and as we modify our hunting strategy we spy our first Morrel!










The Attorney picks it. His adrenalin is coursing through his body and he proclaims, "Wow! This is so much like fishing!" He gently places it into his walmart bag and within seconds another morrel, and then another and several more are found! We triumphantly march out of the woods with our treasures in our bags and make our way up to the castle - I mean house- to clean and cook them up!






As we exit the great woods we find that the rumbling we had been hearing wasn't a fierce fire belching dragon after all, it was thunder!

We race to the house and are greeted by the Apple Farmer who informs us that we need to go down into the cellar house because the clouds are rotating over top of the house. We run from the house and into the cellar house and down the stairs to the awful dungeon - our only defense against a tornado.

The dungeon is equiped with its very own welcoming committee! A toad.

"Can we come up now?"

Nothing came out of our really creepy cloud movements. We went back to the house after while, and cooked up our morrels which we ate with our chicken and noodles.

I prepared the morrels how the locals all love to prepare them - egg wash and cracker crumbs - fry in a bit of oil and butter. They taste a lot like...

...Cracker Crumbs.

Using Our Noodle!

My neighbor Lizzy taught me how to make noodles! I was amazed at how easy and fun noodle making is!

It was a beautiful morning last Tuesday! The work crew grabbed their math books and did math on the front porch while her Royal Highness insisted on wearing her apron and helping! She sure helped!

After spreading floured foot prints all over Lizzy's kitchen floor while Lizzy and I kneaded dough and talked about her brand new granddaughter, her Royal Highness insisted on rolling out the dough!While her Royal Highness and I rolled out dough, Lizzy made marshmallow cream out of the left over egg whites and a sugar syrup which she cooked to the hard ball stage. Wow! I thought that stuff could only come from the marshmallow cream factory! Yum!When we were done making noodles and there was nothing left to do, her Royal Highness started to cry, so Lizzy gave her one of her homemade oatmeal cookes and everything was all better!

So you are probably wondering where the picture of the completed noodles is? We cooked them up in chicken noodle soup, chicken and gravy and other yummy dishes already! They sure didn't last for very long! Time to make more!!!!

April 28 Flower Power!

I'm a little behind on my entries! So much has been happening and I've been anxious to share!

With Bloom happening on the 28th of April, we are looking at beginning harvest during the first or second week of August.
Everything is in bloom and the spring breezes are heavily perfumed with the sweet smells of Heaven!! Wish you all could be here!
Little wild violets

Wild Plum

Dandelions as far as the eye can see!

Peaches are already at petal fall

And, of course, APPLES!

...just to name a few ;)