Eye Catching Title Goes Here

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Sometimes something comes to me and sometimes nothing does. Today is a nothing day and I'm blaming the whole thing on the prednisone I am on, which seriously interfered with my weekend.

I'm trying to beat down this lupus flareup and poison ivy rash, so I began taking prednisone. Along with prednisone comes lack of sleep and nightmares. I ended up waking from sleep Sunday night with a nightmare I won't even mention because it would give you the willies. Needless to say, my adrenaline was flowing pretty well and I remained awake the rest of the night. I did get my "To Do" list posted so it wasn't a complete loss, but the whole next day I was not worth beans. LOL

Poor Michael was such a trooper the whole time he was sick. He kept working a doing as much as he could. I fought some frustration that my son has to work so hard because his father barely sends anything and is apparently hiding from being served with papers to make his give proper support. Michael is helping me work jobs nights, or weekends just to try to make ends meet, while his father is off in another state, with a girlfriend, and keeping 50,000 dollars a year for himself while sending us about 5,000. And this week, we got nothing again. But Michael never complains and he's such a young man of integrity. I am a blessed mother.

I also know that God will take care of us, somehow, when each difficult thing comes, He makes a way. We just try to work diligently, put Him first, and go about our lives with joy and gratitude.

Sunday we got up, did a few things around the place and then took off at about 9 to do an office cleaning and try to visit my parents. We had no time to go to church that morning as we'd not been able to clean on Friday due to Michael being sick.

We dropped by my parents and left some things there, they had gone to an early service and came home, so we visited. Michael is turning into quite the shutterbug and took many pictures of their place.





























My father, my son.





My mother, who has Alzheimer's, began chasing this dog away from the house with a stick. My dad would prefer to keep on good terms with it. It's a pit bull.





We are from California originally, or rather I am. My dad moved there with his family shortly after the Depression when things got too hard in MO for his family. They all migrated there. But we grew up in the country on a farm/ranch. When dad got older, he could not keep up with the work due to his neck vertebrae being fused. They sold and bought a place in town, swearing to live a life less buried in farm work.

The result is that you can take the boy out of the farm, but you can't take the farm out of the boy. They have the world's tiniest farm, on a city lot. The house still looks nice, but it works like a farm and doesn't fit in so well with the neighbors' places any longer. LOL

Here on the back lawn is one part of the garden, a netted hoop house. Dad also likes his songbirds, so he's got quite the menagerie, and they must be kept from the garden. We went out so I could show them how to harvest their cut and come again lettuce crops. He just built an outdoor sink area for the garden. Very handy.





And here is the result:














It was a nice visit, but we still had the office to clean. 12 operatories as well as the rest.












Yesterday we did a little work outdoors, but honestly I was still so messed up from the prednisone that not a lot was accomplished. I finished spraying under the last of the grapes when I'd finally had enough of our broken sprayer. We bought a 10 dollar replacement one at WalMart, which, given proper care, might last a month. LOL

We weeded and pinched runners off the strawberries. Watered and fertilized garden, the sprouts are all coming up, but struggling for nitrogen. I was going to spray fungicide on the grapes again, but we had intermittent showers between hot sun all day long, so it was not the best time. This also made BBQ for Memorial Day more of a challenge, but we got one in late.

Michael is trying to balance this fan that wobbles terribly. I've tried in the past and failed, but it sure is good to have another person here who is learning and trying new things. More and more often he figures something out that I haven't, so I appreciate his help more than I can express.





Our first radishes, tasty, sweet, delicious:




Our first Sugar Snap Peas:




Some daisies I picked from the horse pasture while down spraying for weeds and poison ivy around rocks.




And we spent time in the kitchen. YAY! I miss time in the kitchen. I hoped my parents could come for dinner, but they were not up to it. We made a few salads, some new potatoes, had delicious corn on the cob, and Michael did a great job BBQing some juicy, pepper-jack stuffed burgers. Served with banana peppers, BBQ sauce and other fine fixings. He was too full for the chocolate shakes I had planned.

When we had finished cleaning the kitchen, I took a picture of our table. I love the natural light, natural air... But it was a bit warm and muggy yesterday. Made me think of the future of turning on the cooler. It sure is nice to have a lower electric bill though.





So we played some card games, talked and laughed, until bed. And I did not have nightmares.

Now it's off to sewing class.

Faith

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Sea Monkeys!

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Michael has been sick since Thursday. Yesterday, being our usual sabbath day of rest anyhow got him to thinking about our tradition of pulling out a craft or activity from the studio on Saturday afternoon. His choice was to grow another batch of troips, or what I used to know as Sea Monkeys, from the backs of comic books as a child. They should be hatching by Monday if they work. I'll post pics. Try not to fall off the edge of your lawn chair in suspense. LOL

I have figured out how to drag and drop pictures in a larger format here, using my Flock browser. I do like this browser, though I've heard that Firefox has an extension that is almost the same. I don't want to try another extension. My computer has about (__) this much room left...

Gardening successes and failures are coming to the forefront.

We started the last herbs we had in seed last week and these little guys are coming up. Aren't these German Chamomiles cute?




I did do a quick deadheading on my one fragrance-free peony by the studio.




Thanks to Tracy at Peaceful Acres We are trying to save a little money by finishing out our potato bins in straw. I'd heard of growing in straw but didn't think of applying it to potato bins. The bins are new to me, so it's an interesting experiment.




Blackberries and grapes are all pruned and tied up.




Flowers on the wild blackberries are white, these Doyle's are very light lavender.








The sunflower cutting garden. We're succession planting.




Not confident in our first pumpkin planting, in which we followed instructions for a 12" high hill in the garden, we dug a spot in a well fertilized area of the pasture and replanted. The stakes are high now in our competition. If we win, the other family has to dress up for the Christmas Ball.




An overview of the garden. Really a slow start this year.




Our first flush of Sugar Snap Peas.




Our second and third plantings.




We put in new melon seed one week ago. They are actually coming up this time. I think our spring was just too cool and moist for them. I'm so glad we are getting melons!




The summer squash are not doing well at all. The weather kept us from planting and I've read that if they stay in the pots too long before transplanting they will bloom far too early for their size. Just like this.




Michael gets 30 minutes a day for computer games. He doesn't use them up sometimes as we are so busy, but he got to use some saved minutes while sick on Saturday.




Where we went outside to enjoy perfect weather and work on our seasonal to-do list.
You can see, the front yard has had nothing done to it. The soil is awful. Some day! :)




Me, sporting that bruise from falling down while chasing the filly.




Seth, the Faithful Doggy.




Our initial lists, to be added to as we find the need. Don't know if you can read them. I'd like to put a list at the side of my blog that I can cross off here, if anyone can tell me how to do that.










Now that my list is done, I'm a lot happier!

Faith

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To Do List - Three Days Old

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Wednesday morning we made our first list of the season.

This is front and back of last year's major projects. We also had sub lists, but Michael gets as much pleasure as I do on crossing them off, so we had fun.










I have always been a list person, and it might surprise you to know this is my first one, but honestly, I'VE BEEN TOO BUSY TO EVEN MAKE A LIST YET!

Things have slowed down enough that we can sit down, take a pencil and paper and casually write down what needs to be done that day.

It's usually a wish list, if all goes well. Keeps us motivated. We hit a few snags so this list actually to til today to finish.

Buy: Straw Bales, Fungicide, Sprayer

Plant: Corn (again), Pumpkins (again), Brassicas (changed my mind on filling in the missing ones. They are planted close enough already.

Prune Grapes (took 5 hours, not 2)
Tie Grapes
Talk to vineyard owner
Spray grapes with fungicide

Prune tame Blackberries
Tie Tame Blackberries
Fertilize Blackberries

Weed spray along fence lines

Check Cherry progress. (Oh no! Is that black rot?)
Check Gooseberries (doing well)

Strawberries: pick fruits, pinch runners, pull weeds

Pick up rocks (Lots of places, we just worked for 2 hours.)
Mow around house, garden, greenhouse and crop areas.
Take clippings to compost bin.

Build next potato bin level
Add straw to potato bins

Water garden.

So yesterday while we were house cleaning for income, Michael begins coming down with a bug. Yup, he's sick. So we took it easy today. I was tired of eating junk food because I'm too busy to find food, so I went on a refrigerator rampage. The whole thing got cleaned out. It's clean, I know what's in there, and I know where it is!

We were supposed to go clean an office and do our window washing job today, but Michael is too sick and it takes the both of us 4 hours to do it. So that will wait until Sunday when he's better.

We will also miss our usual Friday get together with friends, and we had another on Saturday to play music, but I suspect we'll be missing that as well.

It's very strange to be home. I'm going to wash my hair, I hope to cut Michael's hair, and we are going to - YES - clean up the house so we can really enjoy our day of rest which will begin at sundown tonight. (I realize most people don't consider housework relaxing, but to us, it's like a day off! LOL ) We might even make a trip to the grocery store to pick up a few essentials and some well-deserved ice cream.

Missing a cow and my ice cream maker...

Faith

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Did You See That? Me Either!

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Whoosh! That was life, speeding by, leaving me spinning like those old cartoons.

We spent a half day today cleaning a large house for extra money. The owners are arriving in town today and wanted it ready for them. That will be helpful!

I did not pick up my camera and document much. We have been busy, but nothing seemed noteworthy, really. I suspect because I've about hit burnout from spring gardening madness and now it's getting a little tedious. I'm ready to move on now... THANKS!

There were a few things we took pics of. Here we are continuing to add on to the potato boxes. A lovely evening provided the backdrop, though I do wish we'd have been gnat free.





Ta-DAAaaaaa!





And Michael came back down from his project on the hill. He is not only clearing the hillside, but has decided to liven up the tree house by building another platform on a tree some distance away and creating a cable for a zip line.

Michael is currently over at the potato boxes when I snapped this picture of the tools of his trade.





So, we were replanting the corn. AGAIN! Michael was working on another hill for our Giant Pumpkin project, and he says, "Do you hear those bees?"

"No." Me standing to ease my aching back and swish the gnats away from my face.

"Do you hear the sound like wind down in the trees in the horse pasture?"

"No," says his rapidly-going-deaf mother.

After a few more exchanges we decide this could be a cool picture taking event, so off we scamper.

We found the swarm behind the blackberry pit near the round pen and took a lot of fun shots. Michael took most of the cool ones. He likes to play with the camera settings, I've just gotten to busy to care beyond point and shoot lately.

Here's where they were at...













It was at this point that I hoped beyond all reason I could get our old hive out and coax this new hive in, but upon running to the feed and tack room, I realized fully what I already knew. It needs work first. Another thing on our list...





Here they are clustering around the newly crowned queen.





Yes, I'm on my third planting of corn. I have one hill that behaved itself. Only one sprout didn't come up.





But most look more like this one. Only one sprout DID come up.





We have spent a couple of days in the vineyard. Pruning, tying up, and spraying with the most obnoxious chemical I have ever used. We have used Sevin for the bugs that are coming, and a fungicide for the Black Rot that has begun already. Needless to say, we won't be eating any grapes this year, but I hope to get the black rot under control enough to use a milder fungicide next year.





Here is the beginning of Black Rot, otherwise known as Mummy Berry.





More problems. Cane borers, or girdlers. Judicious pruning and hopefully Sevin will take care of that.





Honestly, grapes have taken up a lot of our last few days. We had to burn all the trimmings. That took gas to get the greenery up in flames.

I talked with a vineyard owner today. He invited us to come and see his operation and learn from him, so I hope we can do that in the next couple of weeks.

I know we've done other things, but my brain is currently going into shut down. So here is where I'll quit.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Faith

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Blackberry Winter

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A term used to describe a brief period of cold weather that coincides with the time the blackberries are in bloom, (typically in early to mid May).



I think we dodged the frost, though.

Faith