Love & Stars

Of all the things I enjoy about living in the country, I must say that the peaceful, clear, stary nights are on the top of the list.  I enjoy relaxing in our front yard with my family on those calm evenings.  I love turning my twinkle lights on that hang from our Walnut tree, it adds a nice ambiance to the evening.  What even makes those evenings even better is being able to look up into the clear night skies and seeing the wonder around us.  Nothing but pure beauty.  I could gaze at the stars all night if I could stay awake that long! Hahaha! 
Another favorite is when my sweet husband lays down a blanket or brings out the hammock and we lay under the stars and talk and cuddle and just enjoy the stars looking down on us.  The peaceful activities that happen around our house on those nights brings so much joy and love to my heart.  Sometimes those moments are too few and far between but I'd rather have a few to remember than non at all.

Mmm Mmm Good

One of the benefits of having your own garden is being able to just walk outside and pick most of your dinner.  I really enjoy it and I often call my garden, "my own grocery store".  Last night I baked a couple turkey zucchini pies for dinner.  All the vegetables were picked from my garden just before baking.  The pies turned out great and my kids even ate them and came back for seconds.  One of my kids is very picky about food and even he had seconds!  Here's the recipe I used:

Zucchini Impossible Pie Recipe

Ingredients
1. Bisquick (1c)
2. cubed zucchini (3c)
3. eggs (4)
4. chopped green pepper (1/2c)
5. chopped onion (1 large)
6. vegetable oil (1/2c)
7. grated cheese (1/2c)
8. chopped garlic (1clove)
9. salt (1/2 tsp)
10. pepper (1tsp)
11. meat (1 1/2c) use any meat of your choice: hamburger, turkey burger, cubed ham

Method of preparation:-
1. First heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Take a pie pan of 9 inches. Spray with Pam.  Place meat, zucchini, green pepper, pepper, salt and onion into the pie plate.
2. Take a blender, blend the bisquick, garlic, eggs, vegetable oil and cheese in it. Blend the mixture properly and then pour this mixture over the zucchini mixture into the pie pan.
3. Place the pan in oven and bake it for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees F. Bake it until the pie changes to golden brown in color. Now take out the pie from oven and keep it to cool for about 5 minutes and then serve it.

Nuts & Love

Life is nuts you know.  Sometimes the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree but sometimes it does.  Friday our kids surprised us by popping in for the weekend!  It was the most wonderful surprise! They are moving back here in a week but getting to spend time with them unexpectedly was the best!  They always make me smile!  They've been through some tough times lately and it's hurts me as a Mother to imagine why anybody would want to hurt them.  I'm so proud of them and they will make it through this and be stronger and wiser because of it.  I'm excited for the future with my family.  I'm also excited to see how they walk their own path and learn from the past and from the ones that came before them.  Just because a person has come from a rocky road doesn't mean they have to continue on with that same path.  Sometimes they need to mow down the grass and walk a new path.  Sometimes an acorn doesn't fall far from the tree but sometimes it does....it falls and then bounces around till it finds it's own feet and then runs like hell to a new road to travel.  The nuts in the picture above fell from the tree in our front yard.  We found them while chatting with the kids Friday after they arrived.  Funny how a couple of nuts can make you think. :)  

Fall Fun

Fall is just around the corner!  Where did the summer go???  My gardens are still thriving and I'm enjoying it immensely.  Above is a snap shot of some Pom Pom Dahlias and Gourds I grew.  It's pretty fun to be able to grow my own goodies to decorate my home with!   

Poor Poor Chickens

Jim Bob, our rooster!

Oh, how Momma goofed!  I forgot to lock my rooster and hens into their chicken coop last night and about 2:30 a.m. I woke up out of a dead sleep to the sound of my chickens screaming with fear!  Oh what a horrid noise they can make!  I jumped out of bed, ran down the stairs, made my way to the back porch, flipped the light on and started making noises with a coupe things I found on the porch.  I did not see a predator but there were feathers everywhere.  I ran back up to my bedroom and grabbed my cell phone so I could use the flashlight option on it.  Then went out to the chicken coop and started picking up hens and putting them in their house.  It was slow going to say the least.  My daughter heard all the noise and looked out her bedroom window and saw nothing but a shadow behind a tree by the fenced chicken area.  Freaked her out!  She watched for a couple of minutes and then realized it was me!  She yelled down to me to see what was going on so I told her and she willingly got out of bed on a school night to help me gather the chickens and lock them in the coop.  At first she thought I had flipped a lid....2:30 in the morning and her mom is running around the chicken yard! :)  I couldn't sleep and felt like playing with the chickens in the middle of the night!  LOL  ROFLMAO!!!  NOT!!!  So we were both outside under the clear sky with the stars above laughing at us! lol  It took us about 30 minutes but we caught them all and put them to bed.  We must have been a funny sight!  No chickens were hurt, just some lost feathers.  After chasing chickens, I was wide awake!!!  Took me forever to get back to sleep.  Today I kinda feel like a walking zombie!  :)

Green & Brown Eggs

My small flock of 7 chickens has grown to around 24.  If they'd hold still, I'd get a better count. LOL  Try telling a chicken to be still when you want her to be, is like asking a 3 year old to play the quiet game!
Anyway, we added a bunch of new hens early last spring and they are starting to lay.  Many of the are Araucanas/Americanas.  The hens are also known as,  "Easter Egg Chicken".  They lay green/blue eggs which is always fun for the kids to see and me too!  It adds a little spice to our normal brown eggs. These new hens of ours don't just lay green/blue eggs, they have a fun look to their faces to which always makes me smile.  I call it, "Fluff".  They have "fluff" on their cheeks and its so cute.  Here's a picture of this bread of chicken.  Funny huh!  I really enjoy watching my hens and collecting their eggs every day.  It's like Christmas everyday!  You open the door to the nest boxes and you never know what you're going to find!  Cluck Cluck!!

It's A Lot Of Work To Get Rocks

What a day yesterday!!!  I decided to borrow my husband's truck so I could take my kids up to a well known mountain biking area up in the mountains....so pretty much in the middle of NOWHERE!  First we stop at a mini mart to get some munchies to go along with the lunch we packed.  We come out of the store and hop in the truck and it wouldn't start.  It was like the battery was dead but it didn't quit sound like it but we got a jump anyway.  After a bit it started right up and we took off for the mountains.  Once we arrived at the bike trails we parked and the kids went biking and I turned my ipod on and pulled out pen and paper and wrote for about an hour.  I actually knocked out about 5 or 6 pages of thoughts and poetry.  Felt good.  Once the kids were back we loaded up and tried, yes, I said tried, to start the truck.  "No can do" said the truck!  What an old fart it was being! LOL  A very nice young man who was parked next to us tried jumping our truck but no luck.  He then hooked our truck up to his truck with a rope and pulled us out of the parking spot and then moved his truck around to the front of ours and re hooked the rope to us and pulled us so we could try to pop the clutch and get it going.  Stubborn old truck didn't like that idea either!  So I walked up and down the road until I found service and called AAA to come save the day.  We waited an hour and the tow truck showed up....in the middle of nowhere he showed up!!!  We popped the hood and we all looked around to see if everything was good and we tried to start it one more time before he put it on his truck.  You know what.....the dang fart head started right up!!!  By then we were pretty sure it was the starter.  We were able to drive it home and park it. While we were waiting for the tow truck we loaded some river rocks into the back of the our truck.  I use them to boarder my flower beds I've been working on for the last two summers.  We got a few and would of gotten more if our truck didn't keep dieing. lol What a day!  We traveled to the mountains to bike and get river rocks and ended up having to fight with our old Ford all day. A lot of work and headache just for some rocks and a bike ride but oh well....our lives are always and adventure here....nothing is ever simple. LOL 
There's more to this story too!  After I gathered together some dinner for my husband I hopped into the truck once again and once again it wouldn't start!!!!!  Hubby needed the truck back to load his tools from the job site when he was finished.....I needed to swap rigs with him.....I drop of the truck and ride the Harley home.  Well, of course, it wasn't that easy.  I drove my son's car to town and gave Hubby his dinner and got the debit card from him.  Then went to Auto Zone and bought a new starter for the truck, went straight home and my youngest son installed it into the flippin' Ford.  Once the new starter was in, the old fart started right up!  We shut it off and tried again, still, started right up!!!  Happy dance!!!  Finally I was able to drive the truck in and swap vehicles with Hubby.  At least at the end of all this madness, I was able to ride my Harley. LOL  So all in all it was a crazy crazy day!  A lot of work for rocks for my flower beds!  Needless to say, we still need to get more rocks.  

John Jr. installing the new starter.

Hopefully the old Ford will be on better behavior on the next trip!!! 

Out With The Old.....In With The New

My Petunias were starting so look pretty sad and there wasn't much hope for them so I had to put them down today.  Yep, I put them out of their misery.....in the compost pile they went.  So sad, but I'm over it. LOL  I then just had to go shopping for some replacement flowers, fun fun!!!  Home Depot had just what I needed...Mums!  So many colors to choose from.  They sure don't make it easy....I wanted them all!  I was good though and only bought the 8 Mums I needed to replace the Petunias.  Fall is just around the corner and Mums are a great flower for my planters on my deck railings.  Right now most of the buds are not open so in the next week or two I'll get to enjoy watching them pop!  I can't stand buying plants where all the flowers are already open.  I buy them with lots of buds on them so I can enjoy the flowers from start to finish.  I also dead head them often so new buds will keep coming.  I'll be sure to add a photo of the Mums when they are showing off all their beauty.  Another happy day with my flowers. :)
      

Fireworks In My Yard

I sure love my Dahlias.  You'll probably read about them a few more times while they are in bloom for the next couple of months.  Yep, it's Dahlia season, one of my favorite times of the year!  I absolutely love watching each one open up and say hello to the world.  The only thing that drives my nuts is the aphids...they love my Dahlias too but I really don't want to share my flowers with these horrid little bugs. LOL  I'm sure you all feel the same way. I've used a few different things to get rid of them but it seems like I'll treat the plants with "Good Earth" or just a soap and water spray and it will work for awhile but it doesn't take long for the bugs to come back.  Last year I used some bug sprays from the store that's supposed to wipe them out but it was the same as this year, just last for a very short time and then those bugs are right back at what they do best...eating my plants!!!  Does anybody have any suggestions that may help with this problem?  I know if I get Lady Bugs that will help but what if I still need to spray the plants if the Lady Bugs aren't getting them all?  Won't that kill the Lady Bugs too?  Anyway, bugs aside, watching each Dahlia opening is like watching fireworks on the 4th of July.  Some of them look like a firework bursting open in the sky!  Love it!!!  Dahlias are also great for gloomy days....just look at one and boom....instant smile on your face! 

Potatoes With Character

This was our first year growing potatoes.  Love it!  It's such a joy to just go out and dig up some extremely fresh spuds!  We've enjoyed fresh Yukon Gold, Reds, & Russet potatoes.  Yes, we are a potato family!  Hubby loves a meat and potato dinner with a salad or other vegetable.  What's been fun with the taters is the Russets.  They can sure have some character.  Some look like animals and other figures and some look like they just landed on earth from outer space.  There are two potatoes in the above picture....yes.....two!  They have many other potatoes growing off of them! Cutting them up is an odd ball activity for sure!  I have to cut all the small potatoes off first to find the main potato and then I can just slice them all up for whatever I'm wiping up.  Oh how we love a good tater! LOL :)  

Brighten My Day Dahlia!

I love Dahlias!!!  Today I picked a "dinner plate" size Dahlia from my garden.  It's as yellow as yellow can be and brightens my day like the sun!  I placed it on my coffee table in a glass bowl of water in hopes it will bring a smile to all that visit!

Black Walnut Tree & Fluff

Today is a nice, sunny, yet simple, summer day.  My flowers are blooming and my garden is full of vegetables ready to be picked.  I love being outside in the early mornings and today was no exception.  I said hello to my Dahlias and was busy admiring their new blooms when I heard our squirrel in one of my favorite trees on our property.  It's a black walnut tree and it's lovely to relax under in our lawn chairs.  I have white twinkle lights strung around some of the branches so in the evenings I can turn them on and enjoy the beauty of the tree and my front yard as a whole. 
Our walnut tree is a favorite "snack shack" for a local squirrel.  Let's call him, "Fluff", in honor of his tail!
Every year Fluff works hard gathering our walnuts.  There are a few ways he lets us know he's visiting our tree.  Sometimes we'll notice the branches moving around, sometimes it's simply the drop of a walnut onto the ground & sometimes you'll hear him talking.  I often find myself chatting with him when I know he's in our tree.  He will chatter back. I'm not sure what he's saying but hopefully it's nice!  I truly love listening to his noises. It's so darn cute!  Our walnut tree is such a lucky tree.  Almost every walnut it produces is nicely picked by Fluff and carried off to his home.  A few do fall to the ground but not many.  He harvests the bountiful blessings and by the end of the season there are only a handful of walnuts on the ground.  Maybe those are the "bad" nuts that didn't pass his inspection, you never know!  Fluff brings us a lot of entertainment and joy.  Every season we look forward to his time with us.  I feel so lucky to have our black walnut tree.