Homecoming

Kids got home from their weekend at Dave's family's home. They have a pond right in their side yard, and it's so beautiful, they all went for a swim, including Kiley for a few minutes. Melanie said she splashed and had a blast with her Daddy in the water, then she got out and played in her swimming pool. They said she didn't sleep good at night while there, but I keep telling them, she will get used to going for the weekend as she grows up.

Grandma Geri had such a good time spending time with her too. Melanie said they played a lot, and Kiley kept giggling at her everytime she would talk to her. I am so glad Geri got to spend several days with her. I am sure she misses her very much between visits. I like to encourage the kids to go as often as they can to visit, for I enjoy watching Kiley grow and learn, so I know Geri does too.

When they got here last night and Kiley saw me, she did her little "uuaa" and dived into my arms. She then did the same to Aunt Leslie, and while Leslie was holding her, she reached over and touched Grandpa's cheek and "uuaa" him too. We put her on the floor and here comes Patches running over to her, so she leaned down and with her mouth open to give the kitten a kiss, the kitten put her nose up to recieve it. Was so cute, Patches had her playmate back. Kiley got out her toys and the kitty and her played with all the little easter egg farm people and animals they each love to play with. Dave and Kiley will spend the day while Melanie works, then they will spend the evening and cook out with us for supper.

Not sure weather I will be able to go to farm and finish planting, but I will head up and water my transplants at least. Fingers still tingling even while sitting here typing, but at least my ankle isn't hurting near as much as it was. Maybe I can wear shoes today and not have to sit with it up most of the day.

Growing old and Growing pains

If only I had the energy and stamina of a 2 year old. Always on the go and eager for the next challenge. Well I am eager for the next challenge in my mind, but my body says different. Gardening went well for the first couple hours, but by noon, the sun and heat had zapped my energy and my body was refusing to cooperate. Carpel tunnel limits the full use of both hands for me.

BUT...I got all my flowers planted from my startings, added to that, I planted 2 types of parsley, lavendar, spinach, onions, and more flowers from seed. I have green beans, later lettuce and radishes left to plant, as well as some more sweet corn. Just run out of umphf to finish up with the sun beating down and the humidity rising. By 1:30, I had packed everything up, had transplantings watered, put things away and headed home to the air conditioning, and a house to rearrange and clean after the 2 and half month house guests visit.

Got home and revived by cooling down, eating lunch, and contemplating where to start for the next challenge facing me. Motivation was background noise of HGTV's home shows on remodeling and transforming inside and out.

Morning will find me going at it again, hoping for the energy and the physical part of me to get the rest of the seeds planted and the house finished up before the kids get home from there weekend visit to Dave's brother and family. I have missed little Kiley, but know she loves spending time with other Grandma, so looking forward to hearing how much fun she had from the kids, as well as holding her and asking her if she had fun and watching the sparkles in her eyes and hearing her tell me in her baby talk the things she did.

Sun, Moon and Blisters

Sun shined all day long, not a cloud in the sky. Light breeze to make sitting in the shade for breaks just a beautiful day. While gardening yesterday, I know to where gloves when using tools, such as hoe, rake, and tiller, yet somehow just the idea of being alone and enjoying the time to work in garden, well gloves were the last thing I was thinking about. Now I pay for the thoughtlessness. I will take the blister in reminder that I had a very peaceful day to myself and my music while I gardened and enjoyed the sights at the farm. Again I thanked Steve's folks for the memories and the land, recalling many times we spent in the field where now I have my garden in a corner of a piece of their former family farm. Steve and I will visit the gravesites of our parents this weekend and spend sometime reflecting on those memories and others which we hold dear in our hearts.

The moon is full these last 2 days, looking out the window it almost looks like twilight, even the trees have shadows under them looking like shade spots in the dark. I sit here and wonder how many people tonight are enjoying the moon from their own homes and if they too took a minute to stand and enjoy the view and add up a prayer and a big thank you to God for such a sight of beauty and peacefulness just staring into it.

Got quite a lot acomplished yesterday in garden, yet not as much as I had hoped to accomplish. Cousins got moved into their place this weekend, so while I had to quit for the day gardening, I come home to an empty house and after a refreshing shower and knowing Steve would be home late for he was mowing waterways at farm, I revived and was able to get my living room carpet mostly steam cleaned. When it dries now, I will be able to move the furniture to cleaned area and steam clean the rest of it, then rearrange it and put furniture back into it and get the walls and stuff cleaned. Another mental thing to ease the mind of my weird troubled brain. lol

Today will find Steve and I heading back to farm and continuing for him, the mowing which is about 3 weeks behind due to weather, and me again crawling around in the dirt playing in my garden and the only things watching while I dance to my music is the dozens of different birds flying around in the trees while I work. We even had a little humming bird visit out truck yesterday while Steve and I were talking in corner of garden. I think cause the truck is red, the little bird thought it was a mega find in a red flower. It buzzed around the tail lights back and forth for a few seconds then went in hunt of real necture into the woods. Cute though, for it was only a matter of feet from us standing there. Maybe it will come back once my flowers are blooming in the garden, it sure would be welcome to come back and hang out with me on the days when I am there to enjoy watching it. Will keep an eye out when blooms come onto flowers now. A new little friend to entertain me.

Sooo Big

Kiley stands alone now, won't be long til she will be walking. Kids left for Dave's brothers high school graduation and will stay for the weekend. Grandma has some time to work in garden and maybe sleep in on one day if I can make myself stay in bed. lol Leslie is house and dog sitting for them while they are gone. She needed the privacy and alone time. Steve and I will have house to ourselves too, as cousins will be moving this weekend into their much awaited place. Their nephew is all moved out and place is getting cleaned so they plan to start moving I think they said Saturday. So glad things are working out for them now. It was frustrating for them thinking they would be able to move in within a few weeks of relocating, then weather and time to get the nephews house ready took longer than anticipated, so that put them waiting and waiting.

I was able to work in my garden yesterday afternoon. Mentally it makes me feel better knowing I was able to get at least most of the weeds out and my veggies look great. I should be able to get the rest of my stuff planted this afternoon, as I will head up early to finish tilling and then to plant. I did find 2 more potatoes which finally came up. Total now of 3 out of the three rows I planted. So I should at least get my money back from seed potatoes. I have tons of seedlings to get into the ground that I started in house due to the rain and cool weather we had for 2 weeks, then the week and half for drying time, they are getting big and need to be free for the roots to grow strong plants. I hope to get them all into ground today and be able to sit back and watch everything grow now during the summer.

Kiley's first swim

Oh what fun we had today. Aunt Leslie bought Kiley a swimming pool earlier this spring. This weeks hot weather made it a must get out and let Kiley swim day today. So Leslie blew up the pool and added hot water to it then cooled it down with the garden hose to just the right temp for little one to be in.

So, we pulled out the brand new swim suit, and put her into her pool to play. She just loved it. She splashed and crawled around and laughed and just had so much fun entertaining Aunt Leslie and I. Of course we took more pictures than we needed, but it was just so cute watching her, it made our day. I am sure she will be in this little pool most of the summer. Aunt Leslie said she was jealous that she couldn't get in with her and play too. Maybe I will have to let her get wet with the garden hose one day.

2010 Yellow Roses (first blooming)

My yellow rose bush has bloomed for the first time this year. They are big like last year and the bush has a total of 8 roses on it. 3 have bloomed fully, the others will bloom within the next week.
My red rose bush didn't make it thru the winter. I could kick myself for not keeping the tag from this bush to know exactly what type rose bush it was.

Last year this same bush got to be over 7 foot tall and bloomed all summer long. Don't do anything special with them, just leave them be and they grow to whatever size they want. I am hoping to run across another similar rose bush this summer or next spring and buy it and plant where the old red one was. I love the color of these yellow ones so much, I think I will stay with like colors for all the green in my flower bed. Late summer, early fall, my bed will be colored with purple and white and cream color flowers, along with my bright red canna's. Can't wait to capture the colors as they bloom on the rest of my plants.

He's still got it.

Since my blogging is mostly journaling for myself, I won't be embarrassed to write this.
Yesterday I oggled Steve and got all warm inside like when we were dating and first married. After 30 years, the man still turns me on. We spent the afternoon together, just the two of us. He had to work his half day on Saturday this weekend, so I got mowers ready and loaded on trailer, charged the batteries for his cordless impact, sorted thru my "to the farm" totes, un-knotted rope and rolled it up for future ease of use, raked up more tree debri from flower bed and driveway, put tires from my truck onto trailer, then sat down with glass of tea to wait for him to get home from work.
He had his lunch, and we headed to track to mow, which is when I started watching him as we passed each other. Radio blaring from my earphones, country songs about having a sexy tractor and taking it for a ride, brought back memories of when we were first married that spring of 1980, he helped his Dad put crops in. I rode with Steve as he worked the ground, til my butt got sore from the fender, then I would sit and watch him from the bed of the truck, or take walks around the woods close to the fields to pass my time.
So today as we passed each other I again noticed the things I loved to watch him do all these years, just one of those "sigh" moments. I offered up a thank you God prayer for making Steve just for me. A prayer that I have resited many many times over the years.
Then when we were done mowing, he had to put tires on the dirt scrapper, and I got to oggle his muscles at work. I have always loved to watch his muscles when he lifted, turned, or repaired things, he has always been big and strong. The years have been very good to him, and he still has the best looking arms I have ever seen. And the power and strength of those arms I'd trust anywhere anytime for anything.
So he packed the wheel bearings with grease, and mounted the tires and the whole time my little heart just went patter patter patter and my mouth watered and I probably drooled shamelessly, so glad we were alone out there, and I oggled that man like a hussy. I often wonder if other woman are like this with their husbands, do they still after all those years find the man they married is still the man they fell in love with and why. I have seen it in the elderly, I watched it first hand in my in laws relationship, and I see it in the mirror when I think of my Steve, and I feel it when I watch my girls with Daddy and now when we have Kiley around.
Steve, til the day I die and beyond, I will always love you. Thank you again God, for making him just for me.

Got News

Got news last night that cousin's place is suppose to be ready to move into next weekend.

So happy for them. It's been years since they lived close to this area, and now they can visit with family more often by living close.

They said they are ready to get in so they can get the grands to spend the night sometimes and be able to play with them. Something they haven't been able to do waiting for the owners of the place to get into their new place. It took longer than they thought it would, but weather didn't cooperate for them, so finishing house for owners and then them getting to move in has taken time. So glad for them to be able to finally get settled and get their things out of storage and them settled in for their own privacy and alone time. God does listen to prayers and they have been praying for this everyday.

Making Friends

There is nothing like having a best friend, and ones never too young to start making friends. Kiley and Patches seem to have hit it off very well. At first Kiley wanted to pull kitties hair and touch her hard, but with constant watch and correction Kiley has learned to be gentle with the kitty, and now the kitty thinks she needs to be everywhere Kiley is. Neither of them know how to share yet, as the toys are taken away from each other by each other. So far they are both even on who wins what toy.

The biggest challenge now seems to be keeping them out of things. When one is investigating somewhere, something they are not suppose to be investigating, the other is either waiting in the wings to do the same thing, or else already there helping. I am sure I will have my hands full when Kiley is here when she is walking and the two of them start running thru the house and climbing on everything. Should be a circus here by then. Oh, I just can't wait...........

Odds and Ends

Somedays the mind gets off track of the way along side the heart in thoughts and deeds.

The last month my two seem to have been at odds with one another instead of walking hand in hand.

A light bulb went off in my head last night, I found the source of turmoil which has separated the two. It seems it was a very simple thing to fix, guess my eyes were closed on the journey.

This morning I woke early to a very peaceful feeling, contentment, happiness, no worry.

Last night I opened my mind and heart together and prayed. God has answered by opening my eyes and showing me what I had forgotten to really include in my days.

The simple thing - pray with my whole heart and mind. God Bless All.

The Circus at our House

I think we have a circus going on in the family room with Patches and Kiley during nap time, or suppose to be nap time for the grand baby. I put Kiley in her playpen for her nap this afternoon, and it wasn't 5 minutes til the new kitten Patches had figured out how to climb the side of the playpen and get in with her, then climb back up and walk
around the top edges of it just out of
Kiley's reach. They seemed to have fun, and it revived Kiley so, that she didn't get her nap in til much later.

Kiley had her 9 month Doctor visit today. She is doing real good the doc said. She is in 90% for her height and 75% for her weight, and doc said she seems to be doing very well. Asked if she is eating table food yet, and yes she is some things, and doc said she seems to be doing good with it, but we will keep her on partial baby food still, she has yet to cut teeth. Doc said she can see the teeth, but they just haven't come thru yet.

Oh, can you see the little bracelet on her wrist? Her Daddy made that for her, and she loves it, doesn't bother her it being on her, and I told her it was her pretty like Grandma's rings are her pretties. So now she touches my rings and then her bracelet and smiles. Doc said most kids would have a fit and not keep something like that on their arms. She was amazed that it didn't bother Kiley. Well, her mom and Aunt Leslie wear one too, so we guess she figures she needs one too.

We went out tonight and bought her a little walk behind baby stroller, for she is at the stage of wanting to walk, but yet not walking unassisted yet. It sits put together right now with Elmo as the passenger for her. She will get to try it out on Thursday, as her Dad is off work Wednesday and will keep her home with him. A day off for Grandma to do some work that gets put off while she is here everyday.

Patches - Kiley - Sharing

Introducing Patches, my new little kitten. Thank you Tony and Tara. She has already figured out she can climb behind me on my desk chair and I will scoot over and let her have over half to get comfortable on for a nap.


She found a hiding place away from Kiley, behind the chair in family room, there sits a basket of Steve's farm show magazines, on top of the magazines, there lays a old teddy bear. On top of this teddy bear lays my little kitten, hiding from that 9 month old baby who likes her too much and pulls the tail and the hair and wants to kiss her all the time.

When I am able to get the chair moved back into living room, my kitty won't have that place to hide then. But til company gets moved, she should be safe. Patches has found she can get me to pick her up if she climbs my leg. Well of course I am going to pick her up, my leg isn't a tree, and her sharp little claws leave holes for blood to drain out of me. She's very loving, is learning "No" real fast, and has learned to entertain herself by climbing on my trophy cabinet and chewing on the muffler of the tractor lamp, which gets my attention real fast and gets her held and petted and scolded, too.

When the grandpuppies come to visit, a border collie and a corgi, they stay clear of the kitten, she is a terror when she puffs all up and spits and hisses at them, for her claws are razor sharp and makes the dogs whine when she connects with their noses. So while walking in a room with the kitty any where in sight, the dogs take the long way around the area she is at. I am sure within a couple weeks they will all be playing together, but for now, I will let her be boss of the house.

Kiley on the otherhand, well, the kitty lets her be boss, and runs and hides when she is down on the floor anywhere in sight of the kitten. Patches does like Kiley's toys, but Kiley goes and takes them away from when her if she sees her with one. I keep telling Kiley she needs to learn to share. LOL

Mudding thru for a peek

I walked along the edge of the corn field today to see if corn crop Steve planted last week was up, and sure enough it is looking good.

Reason I was able to take picture of corn is, I couldn't stand it any longer. I had to go to farm to check out my garden. Mud and all. I was able to get in the driveway and down to corner, but couldn't turn around for the mud. I got out of truck and walked in the mud just to take picture of garden and see how it is growing.

It is growing real well after the inch and half of rain and then more showers this last week. Oh boy, the weeds have come in with the rain too. As soon as it drys I will have to get tiller in there and get them knocked out.

My tomato plants look good, and my lone potato plant which survived is growing great. Wish more had come up, for it looks like I would of had a good crop this fall. I will tend and weed this lone potato plant and hope for at least enough to get seed money back from my seed potatoes which I bought. I still have things to put in, but waiting for the timing of produce to be ready and producing thru-out the summer season into fall. Things I planted have only been in just around a month, so another week or two and I can start planting again. I will add my flowers to garden as they are able to be transplanted, they are growing in window sills in kitchen as I type.

Can't wait to be able to start harvesting radishes and lettuce, for they will be the first things we can eat out of garden. Then the waiting for the first tomato to ripen.

Anticipation is half the reason for gardening for most people. It sure is around here.

Just another day

Little Kiley has a day with Daddy today. They should have lots of fun as he's much younger than I to chase after her and enjoy her antics. At almost 9 months old, she is so fun to watch and interact with. She loves to learn and do things she sees. I see so much of both my girls in her that the memories are so precious she evokes. Melanie and Dave did real good when they made this little grandbaby for the family to enjoy.

My day is just to find things to do inside, as the 4 tenths inch of rain last night and the 3 tenths night before put a hamper on my outside activities. Steve got his lawn mower finished last night, so now we can use it to mow at track area also. Should make mowing move so much faster. Funny how I have down days when there is no outside work to be done. I think after keeping busy inside over the winter months, I don't like to have to find things to do inside in the spring and summer months. Then after the long hot summer into fall, I look forward to working inside as it's so much cooler than sweating away outside. But so far the heat hasn't been unbearable, so I am still wanting to play outside.

I do find things to have to walk around outside to check, but then I want so bad to play in the soil and I have painting to do on the shed, sanding to do on an old wagon I am refinishing, but the rain has put a damper on those things for the time being. I need to go shopping for some wood, I still have flower boxes to make for front window, guess that's a task I can do. Lumber yard shopping.

My Garden Grows

Today was spent hoeing volunteer corn out of my garden. So far not many weeds seem to be growing, that's a very good thing. But the corn which the deer and rabbits didn't eat this winter go disked under and now it is sprouting all over my garden area. I am disappointed that after I planted 3 rows of potatoes, I have only one lone little plant growing. I am hoping to see more sprout in the next week or so, if not, I will till up area and plant something else there. My green beans, radishes, lettuce, spinach and carrots seem to be doing great. My tomatoes, sweet corn and green peppers are slowly taking off, now I need to work the other part of my garden and start planting the later seeds, so I have producing veggies all summer, into the fall. I have cucumbers and zucchini yet to plant along fence line too.

Then I have all my flowers to get planted, but working the rest of the area needs done before any of those goes in. My herbs will be planted in corner area also. My green onions have not come up yet either. Don't know why, as onions are usually very easy to grow.

Today I had to ready outside the fence to plant grass seed around outside the garden area to keep it from washing out so bad, since I put the garden on a slight hill side. I used 3 bags of grass seed, and think I need a couple more to make sure it's going to cover good.

My nephew come up this morning to look at field cultivator and see what is needed for welding it where I broke it working the ground while Steve was planting. He said it had been welded there before, and was breaking in the weld spot for awhile. So now we can get it fixed before we need it again. He will weld it and then weld a plate over the weld area to strengthen it. Glad he's a welder, that's one thing I never had any interest in knowing how to do. Guess I don't like working in the dark.

Got home and Leslie had the mail, she said we had 4 license letters. Sure enough, all the June due license came on the same day. Grain truck, D-plate on red 4x4, plate on Steve's blue truck, and the trailer license is all due end of June. Great, another chunk out of the pocket book for the broke state of IL. I think when Obama left IL , he took all the money with him, for this state is so broke, they can't even pay the school districts, and there are signs all over the county stating IL owes $$ to the schools, and Gov. Quinn saying we are broke and have no money. Guess Ryan scared the backers of the state when he got caught taking his share a few years ago.

Anyway, I got the corn hoe'd out of planted areas and plan to till the unworked ground for future planting, and the grass seed is sown too. I mowed some, but most is too tall for my little mower, Steve will have to use the shredder now to get the tall stuff cut.

Just another Day

Dodging the rain, getting things ready to plant. It was a little muddy when Steve brought the tractor to our farm last night, and when he pulled in the drive, he motioned for me to follow him in his truck. I shook my head "no" and pointed to me and then pointed to tractor, pointed at him and then pointed to the truck. I didn't want to drive the truck back to area to get field cultivator, with it being so slick and muddy, lol, so he let me drive the tractor back and he drove the truck. I figured I could get back there without much trouble on the tractor, I had more rubber holding me up out of the mud holes.
Steve drove the stakes in that had worked up on field cultivator and counted how many we needed which have fallen out.
While he was working on that, I walked around taking pictures of the sky, the tractor, him working, my garden, tree line along side our creek. Fought off the buffalo gnats, boy they are annoying little insects.
Got home about 7, so supper was late night again. Get used to it after so many years, but our house guests aren't quite used to it. There way of life is so different than ours, and they are amazed at the things we do. It's just life for us, nothing different than we have done most years, only thing now is we have to make all the decisions, which we wish we had paid more attention and were more active in the paper work area, not just the physical part of the operation. But we are learning, and things are looking good, it just takes time, planning, and hard work.

Today we plan on planting. I will run one of the tractors, and Steve will do the other one. Will decide when we get to the field which one does what. One has to work ahead of the other one planting. I too will work some in my garden. I have quite a lot of volunteer corn coming up all over. At least with some of the stuff up, I know what to weed out and what to leave in. I marked my rows for that purpose too, so I know what and where it's all planted. Green beans, sweet corn, radishes, lettuce, carrots, and spinach is up so far. Still watching for green onions and potatoes to emerge.

So off I head to get things going for the day. Kiley and I had breakfast together this morning, and today was first day I let her eat on her own, she enjoyed her scrambled eggs, and toast. Did real well feeding herself. I took pictures of course.