{pretty, happy, funny, real}

I so enjoy the blog "Like Mother, Like Daughter."  A 3-generation family of women who blog and share their wisdom.  I wish I had known Lelia when I was a young mom.  She and I have many of the same goals, ideas and parenting styles.

The button above is their fun way of sharing our lives with one another.
Photos of something "pretty," "happy," "funny" and "real."  Join them/us every Thursday.


Pretty

Beautiful granddaughter #3

happy

Playing in my flowers & herbs makes me "happy."

funny

Watching the calves and their "funny" antics.

real

A "real" un-fixed photo.  Opps!

Hugs,

Kay~

** "The system of nature, of which man is a part, tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing.  Not so with technology."  ~E.F. Schumacher

A few of my favorite things

The Girlies, age 5.

Pappo reading the nightly bedtime story

One of my favorite girlies

The "Kids"

My other favorite Girlie

Hugs
K~

Harvest of Friends

The Real American Occupation.... Farming

Sorry about that little hiatus.... all of a sudden life got B.u.s.y for me. 

Blue-eyed Farmer finished harvest last Friday, cutting those last 10 acres of beans off the 80.  On Thursday, we enjoyed several hours with our Pastor Aaron and the children.  Miss Melanie had to work at her big-girl job. :(

 Here are a few photos of our fun together:

The Two Blue-eyed Farmers, Big and Little, talking about corn.

Pastor Aaron getting last minute instructions before driving the 75.

Little Blue-eyes, resting, after all the hard work of riding in the combine.

Blue-eyed Farmer, Pastor Aaron and Princess ME, waving for the camera.

We are very blessed with the harvest God has given us.  The prices are up (unusual for harvest time) and the yields were more than "enough."  We had few breakdowns and even now have the combine monitor fixed for next year.  The combine has had a "bath" and is ready for it's long nap.  The trucks are stored away in the shed we rent at the neighbors and all the other implements are situated "just right" for the winter months.  

We are ready to finish up some Autumn projects and get snuggled in for the winter.

More soon.... until then... CALGONE... take me away~~~

Hugs
K~

** "If you want work well done, select a busy (wo)man - the other kind has no time."  ~Elbert Hubbard

Wordless Wednesday-Amongst the Dill

It's amazing what you can find if you just look closely...





K~

** "How fair is a garden amid the trials and passions of existence." ~Benjamin Disraeli

Garden Photos & a special note for my Mom

I'm behind in posting, but the kids were here and now I'm drowning in undone chores. Plus I have an ear that is plugged and hurts. And I want to sew. So these few photos of my garden will have to sustain you until I return.

And one more important item of note:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!
I hope it's as special as you are!
(hugs from your favorite daughter-- lol)

and now on to the photos...


The front of the Farm House, in early June. And if you look to where the blue 1/2-barrels are, there is a blue pool there now... 1/3 empty from last night's storms. **mad face**



But on a happier note... aren't my new hydrangeas, hosta and yellow day lily, lovely together.



I can never decide if I like hot pink, red or salmon-colored flowers the best.



And sometimes it's all about texture with color.




See... texture and color.... makes me swoon....



More texture & color.... or are they tiny fireworks?


All those little branches and puffs of flowers.... **happy sigh**



And then sometimes, it's all about the eating.... does it get any fresher than this???



This is the stuff my dreams are made of.... Parsley, rosemary (out of shot) and thyme... and BASIL!

How does Your garden grow, Puffins?

Until next time (please, pray for my ear)
K~

** "Love is to the heart what the summer is to the farmer's year - it brings to harvest all the loveliest flowers of the soul." ~Author Unknown

Living in the Land of Pinkness

I'll be back soon, in the meantime, I'm living in the Land of Pink. :)

Hugs!
K~

** Grandmas never run out of hugs or cookies. ~Author Unknown

Our Prairie

Did you notice I updated the look of my blog? The green & tan background were so 2009. lol

The photo is looking north from our "other" farm, which we call "The 80", because it is 80 acres of farm ground and some native prairie grasses and 2 creek/timber areas. You can see one of the prairie fields in the above photo.

Notice the rolling hills. We live on the western edge of the glacier till from the last ice age (if you believe that) or more likely, from the climate change after THE Flood (which is my chosen belief.)

"The thick green lines in the east mark the western limit of the great Pleistocene glaciers. In these areas glacial till overlies the old rock: blue clay, then thick beds of loose gravel and boulders, with occasional buried soils where once forests grew."
(Copyright [2010] by Andrew Alden, geology.about.com, reproduced under educational fair use.)

Anyway, we live in the rolling hills, with some clay soil, some good, dark bottom ground, LOTS of rocks in some areas, creeks and woodlands in the low areas, grass on the steep hill sides.

It may not be mile-long flat row-crop land, but I think it's wonderfully diverse and beautiful.

...says the Prairie Chick....

Hugs,
K~

"He best expressed his preference for his wild homestead by saying that his Bible seemed truer to him there.
"If one stood ... and looked off at the rough land, the smiling sky, the curly grass white in the hot sunlight;
"if one listened to the rapturous song of the lark, the drumming of the quail, the burr of the locust against that vast silence, one understood what Ivar mean." O Pioneers! Willa Cather

Musing on Monday

Nothing very new to report.... it's still winter, it's still cold & foggy and frizzle, freezing rain and a wintery mix are all in the forecast for the rest of the week. yippee.

I spent 2 hours figuring out the Wii Fit today. My Fit Age is 34. I feel pretty proud of that, considering my fluffy body and all.

I cooked a basic dinner of Meatloaf, Mashed potatoes, Gravy, Roasted Carrots and Biscuits this evening. Comforting and homey and good, but not very exciting.

So just to jazz up this post, I opened iPhoto to all my photos. I closed my eyes and scrolled up and down and then pointed my mouse and clicked. Here is my random photo for today:


Autumn leaves over our pond, October 2008.

Hugs,
K~

** "It is a good thing to be rich, it is a good thing to be strong, but
it is a better thing to be beloved of many friends."
-- Euripides (480-406 BC) Greek Playwright

Photos of the Christmas Blizzard 2009

The Prairie Farm after the Christmas Blizzard of 2009

I'm still behind here on my blog. I promised you all photos of the Christmas Blizzard of 2009, and here they are. Those of you who frequent my Facebook page, have seen these. Sorry.

As it's a bitterly cold evening here tonight on the Farm. The weather people say this next week should be our coldest of the season. That can only mean, it'll be warmer the next week, right? I shouldn't be surprised at the cold. It is always frigid sometime in early January. I guess I'm just getting older and not as able to deal with it. Either that or I'm just turning into a huge weinie!

And now on to the photos:

First we had ice. (We still have ice! It's just all covered with the snow now. I hate ice!)

During the night and during the snowstorm, we kept hearing the cracks and crashes of tree branches. We were relieved to find all the biggest ones fell behind the garage and not on the roof.


Ds2 was here for the Christmas Holiday, coming out mid-day on Christmas Eve day. It was good to have him here safe and sound under our roof during the storm. And he was a huge help with trying to get the generator going and the kerosene heater going when the power was out. He helped with chores and all the other hard jobs that come up on a farm during a major winter storm. He was more than ready to get back to "civilization" by the Sunday after Christmas, when the snowplow finally opened up our road.

He scooped the steps by the garage and I did the sidewalk, while Farmer-dear did the "big" scooping with the John Deere.


This is our neighbors' across the road. Can you find their car?
And just past their place, we had this....


This is looking west from our mailbox. Somewhere in that big drift past the blue 9-1-1 sign is their mailbox. The road was totally drifted shut. The last snowstorm, there was a drift a bit smaller than this. We tried to go through it. and couldn't make it as far as that first pole past the plum thicket. Needless to say we did not try it this time. The drifts were deeper and harder and longer.

After the snowplow went through and we knew Ds2 was back in the city, Farmer-dear took the pickup out to see if we could get to work in the morning. He found the neighbor's mailbox. Or at least the front of it.

At the top of the hill to the west, in the middle of what was the big drift. (Looking east. Those first trees on the left are the neighbors'. We are just about 100 ft further down the hill, and to the right.)


Yeah, it was/is just a little deep, when it comes up above the pickup door. Some areas, it is taller than the pickup roof.

I've had enough snow for this winter. And I've had more than enough ice! And the cold can go back up North. I'm ready for Spring!

Warm hugs,
Kay

** "Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home."
- Edith Sitwell

Wordless Wednesday & Harvest update

We finished Harvest 2009 this evening. Thank you Father, for the bountiful harvest, with which You blessed us!

Hugs,
Kay~

** "Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
ALL Is Safely Gathered In, ere the winter storms begin."

I feel the same way

After the fence shenanigans of last evening & the bellering all night long;

I feel exactly the same way about you!

(I know, "bellering" isn't really a word. It's local jargon.)

A very tired,
Kay~

** "Nobody really cares if you're miserable, so you might as well be happy."
~Cynthia Nelms

Wondering where I went?

I'm still here.... Just, not "here" here. It's summer. We've been busy!


I've had some company (wonderful, loved, special company).
My "twin from another mother" and dear, dear Friend, Lisa from PA came out for a 5-day visit. It was too short and we had so much fun just being here. She even put up with 2 weddings in one evening with us-- had to go to them. Bless her heart! We sewed and talked. We played on Facebook and talked. We went shopping and talked. We cooked and talked. I'm counting the time until she comes back.

Farmer-dear has decided just having a bad back isn't enough.... he had to add to it, not only weird statin-drug side effects but a cracked ankle too. **picture me banging my head against the wall**

The ankle is not horrible. After all, he did it back in May/June and we thought it was "just" sprained. The pain finally bothered him enough, he went to have x-rays. Which prompted the diagnoses of surgery and screws. Not going to happen in August! Not with an 8-week recovery timeframe and harvest around the corner. No, we'll wait until November when I'M super busy and then I can do all the chores alone. **picture some major face-pulling here!**

The statin was a suggestion from his doctor after his annual physical. Given his family history, and a slightly elevated cholesterol count, he was given a perscription and told they might have a side effect of leg pains. MIGHT?? 2 days of taking the drug and 5 nights of little to no sleep because of the pain. We finally figured out that if he drank sports drinks in the evening, it helped. I guess the drug affects the electrolyte level in your body. He will not be taking that drug anymore and we'll keep on our regiment of Fish Oil Pills and adding in oatmeal, more fruits and veggies and more fish/chicken/no meat meals. He is much better now but it was pretty bad while it lasted.


The tomatoes are coming on. :oD I'm enjoying every sweet, juicy bite and will be canning juice soon.

And it being August... that means the Blue-eyed One decides we must do some major farm project that either involves digging or painting or both. It's always hot, and sweaty and the flies eat me alive. This year we are doing 2 projects.


One is totally redoing the white board fence along our driveway.




I am painting the boards. I found that a 7" roller works really, really well for this. Unfortunately, we don't have enough tall stands for the boards so I'm in a stoop most of the time. My back & hips have been protesting over this.

The other project does not involve me, I hope! The Blue-eyed Farmer has demolished our feedbunk and is moving earth and will be redoing that.



I figure that is a 2-MAN job, not a one man, one woman job and DS2 will be called in as reinforcments.

And if all this was not enough, we had a mouse!!!! *Oh MY Stinking Gosh!!** In my pantry! I found "evidence" and discovered the little so and so had to taste alot of different foods. Taco seasoning, Crisco shortening sticks (?!), salt-water taffy, Ramen Noodles, Pasta, cereal, flour, etc... And crawled and pooped on every shelf, all the way to the top! We caught the little bugger, still alive and the cats finished the job. (And no, I did not feel badly for ending it that way! Go Cats Go!!)
So there was that big job of putting everything in bags or boxes in to jars, heavy tupperware or totes. And some in the freezer or an upper cupboard in the kitchen. And then washing/disinfecting everything.


So, as you can see, it has not been boring at all here on the Prairie Farm. I have plans for lunch with some favorite people in the next few weeks. I've been to the Cosmic Cow Quilt Store, the local Mall and some antique stores to indulge in the Retail Therapy.
Oh and the mowing continues. :op

I'll have photos soon of the new projects and of Lisa's visit and maybe some sewing projects I have in mind.

Until then, Stay Safe!
Hugs,
Kay~

** “I bet deep down you still wish your mom would take you clothes shopping every August for the new school year.” ~~Bridget Willard

Musing....

Why does one bank statement end up missing and it's always the one I need? If anyone sees our May 2009 statement floating around the cosmos, let me know.

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The weather is gorgeous! I don't know how we got late September weather at the end of July, but I'm not complaining. I'll even give up my much-loved fresh, home-grown tomatoes, if the weather will just stay like this until real September.

********

We received our fifth wedding invitation of the summer. Wonder if I should start on first baby quilts now and get ahead of the game? lol

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My guilty-pleasure tv show is turning into an obsession. (Darn that new DVR! lol)
This is not a good thing, so starting Aug. 1st I will be going back to my self-imposed tv restriction and cutting back on Facebook time. I have some projects I need to work on and a beloved friend coming for a visit. Before I know it, fall work, harvest, orders at the office and the holidays will be here and I'll be moaning about my unfinished projects and no time to do them. NOW is the time!

*******

Speaking of that beloved friend.... Can you see my smile from there?! Stay tuned for photos of all the fun Leesie & I will be having soon!!

And here is a recent "fun-time" I had with my new/old friend, Iris. We finally met in real life (we only live 20 miles apart!) and had lunch. This will not be the only time. :o)



And here is the latest Zane cuteness. (His mommy lets me borrow him when I need some toddler hugs.)


and here are 2 sweet kidlets (minus little brother) who make me smile everytime I see them:
Miss ME and Master S (our Pastor & Miss Melanie's)


My cup is running over with friends. I am very blessed.

**********

Tomorrow- Hopefully a recipe or two from tonight's dinner. Cumin-scented kabobs and marinated grilled veggies.

Until then,
HUGS!
Kay~

** "Musing on roses and revolutions,
I saw night close down on the earth like a great dark wing." ~Randall

Wordless Wednesday