Yesterday early a.m.

Yesterday, after bragging about my grandkids, I thought about you and took a walk with my camera. All of the pictures are in my back yard I own 8 acres and there is a small forest of Saguaro Cactus. To those of you who are not familier with my desert, that cactus is pronounced Sa-wha-ro. If you can work a little clearing of the throat sound in the "wha" part, you have it. One of the first pictures is a baby Sahuaro. One of the last pictures is a dead Sahuaro. Next to the baby is a picture I took in a wash (dry riverbed when there is no rain) of a growth that looks a bit like Shamrocks. I think I need to take another early morning walk before the heat destroys everything.

WHAT? Nothing.

I guess I need more coffee. I can't think of a single thing of interest for you this morning so, I will just do as grammys have done thru the ages. I will show you the pictures of my grand children.

Worthy of Jeff Fox-Worthy

I am a person who takes great pleasure in using what I have to do what I want to do and NOT running to a store to get what I need. In the picture you will see what I have done with left over pieces of materials from my porches. Last year I used them to line the borders in my vegetable garden. I decided I didn't want to do that again. The pieces get lost in the growth of the veggie plants or covered over with dirt. Not a good thing when the garden was tilled again for next year. We will see how long the Red Neck Porch lasts. There is nothing but dirt and sand around my house and a whole lot of it gets tracked in when this door is used. Hopefully it will help. I will attach a couple of pictures of my house and porch.

YIKES

YIKES? I should have previewed todays post. The picture is the remains of the garden last fall during it's last hoorah. I will try again.

READY...SET...GROW ! ! ! ! !

After two 4-5 hours on two Saturday, baby brother Carl and I got the garden cleared, tilled, tilled again and then leveled and ready to plant. I spent a few hours on a few different days planting. I decided that this year I would heed the package directions and give the plants the required space. Except for the expected Bermuda grass (which I will have to fight all summer or it will win) it is ready to grow and has already started. The lettuce, beans and beets have topped the soil. I spent a good share yesterday of planting my daughters garden. (She is not able) and paid for it yesterday and will continue to pay today. It is hard to move right now. Today I think I will go over there and plant melons, just out of reach of the dog. Hopefully, the dog will scare the little varmits away that would eat the plants. Just an experiment. We will see if it works. I LOVE SUMMER. Of couse it isn's Summer yet. Just feels like it. It is supposed to be in the 70's & 80's in the forseeable future. YEAH! The Ol' Farmer Lady

Another week ahead to look forward to

Yesterday was Sunday. A day of rest, from the blog anyway. As for the rest of the day, it was church as usual then work on a knitted vest I am working on, plant a few hills of tomato seeds and then tilled the garden area in my daughter's land. I think I will get that garden started since they don't have the time nor the energy to do it. My garden is nearly all planted. I love playing in the dirt.

Charlotte, I will attach the pictures of the only things I have left from my childhood except the good memories. One picture is the sad little Story Book Dolls my Aunt Carmon made the clothing for. The other two pictures are of hair and body parts I picked up at a thrift store with the thought of fixing up my dolls. I found that I don't have the interest in pursuing that after all.

Thankfully, still Down on the Farm

A few very short years ago I never had a problem falling asleep. I had always heard that OLD PEOPLE didn't need as much sleep as younger people. I guess it is true. I didn't get much sleep last night. This morning I got up thinking about what to tell you. Here 'tis: (I was going to discribe in detail the efforts toward trying to sleep but decided it is very boring)

I went garage sale-ing with a neighbor & then lunch before we came home. Had a lovely time. She loves to cook and ALWAYS brings something yummy when we meet. Yesterday it was chocolate & butterscotch chip cookies made with flour she made from the mesquite beans off the trees in her yard. I had thought about trying that but have never gotten around to it. It is a very big and time consuming job to get enough flour from the beans. Even with a food processor it is still time consuming. You must pick the beans off the trees when they are at just the right stage, roast them in the oven or the summers very hot sun to kill any bugs that might be in them, then grind them and sift out the parts that don't grind up fine enough. I loved the cookies and love her. She is a beautiful person, inside and out.

Then, my baby brother brought supper. (I can call it supper now if I want. My late husband preferred the word dinner for the last meal of the day, now I am going back to my roots) Supper. Carl worked for two days on Green Chili Stew and homemade salsa. It was by and afar the best Green Chili Stew I have ever eaten. Don't tell my son, he also makes that dish. Good, but not as good as Carl's.

Kala, I promised to take a picture out of YOUR bedroom window. I will attach it. To the rest of you who are reading this, it is taken ALMOST at the same angle as the sunrise of yesterday. In the distance you can see snow on the mountain.

Friday morning @ 7 a.m.

... then I turned my back for less than one minute and it was gone.

Down on the Farm

Today I am responsible for my daughters animals. Feed the dogs, feed the ducks after I seperate them from the roosters. (the roosters terrorize the ducks and won't let them eat, give a little treat to one goat to keep it from eating all the fowl food while waiting to be milked, milk the QUEEN goat (she is the oldest) then the newest goat, water them all, then process the milk. I will attach the pictures I took this a.m. The black goat is the youngest. Her name is Patches, the Queen is Tara and I suspect the roosters and ducks are not named.

'nother no inspiration day

I cannot think of a single thing of interest to you so I will go and do what I didn't get much of a chance to do yesterday. I need to get some yarn in my hands. I will attach a picture of my newest completed project

Be glad and rejoice

One of my favorite scriptures: This is the day that the Lord has made. Rejoice! and be glad in it. Following are three of my favorite reasons for getting up in the morning.

1. Because I can: The Lord has graciously given me good health
2. Coffee: I love it and can hardly wait for my first cup.
3. You: I wake up in the morning searching for things about me that you might be
interested in.

IF I ONLY HAD A BRAIN!

My hat is off to all you bloggers who are "in the know". I am not. I found this lovely little counter that some of you have on your sites to show how many people have visited your site and like it very much. I just cannot figure out how to install it on mine. Guess I will go do what I do best for a while before it is time to get ready for church. Needle work. I am almost finished with an afghan I started less than two weeks ago. I found a bag of very pretty yarn (at a thrift store) in some of my favorite colors with 2 finished mile a minute panels and one part way finished. I brought it home and matched up color shades from my stash and some new type patterns and stitches that are fun to make and VOILA! (is that the correct spelling?) an afghan. When it is complete I will take a picture and let you see.
Meanwhile, some of you have mentioned how much you like picture. I will show you one of my Tennessee grand kids.

SILLY SATURDAY

I have never been able to keep a Christmas Cactus from dying for a whole year. I think I love them to death. A little drink here, a little drink there. DEATH! Three years ago, after Christmas, I was in Lowe's and bought a CC with spent blooms. The second Christmas (Did you recognize that? SECOND CHRISTMAS!) My newly aquired cat had chewed tiny kitty teeth holes in each of the new leaves. No blooms that Christmas. I had to move the CC up high so as to both protect the cat and the CC. So, up it went to the top of one of my kitchen cabinates. I did't think about taking a picture of it while it was in full bloom, but here is a SILLY SATURDAY picture to prove it did in fact bloom for me in our third year. YEAH!

Rainy day

What do you do on a rainy day in the Arizona desert? Why, play on the computer, thats what. I wondered how Charlotte got a great big picture of herself when her blog site comes up. And a lovely blog it is. Athomeinscottsdale.blogspot.com
Not only did I discover how to do it, I also learned that when putting that large a picture up for the whole world to see, that it is better to put up a picture that is not such a closeup. I can see me as I really am. 70 y/o and way too many wrinkles. WOW! But, I don't have any other pictures of me to put up on here and I don't believe any others would be anymore flattering. Whatever. I am just happy to be a healthy 70 y/o

Crafts and grandkids

I think I will show off both crafts and grandkids this a.m. Just before Christmas I stuck very close to one project to get it finished by Sunday. I seldom do only one thing. I move from project to project and at the time I was working on a Christmas Quilt. I wanted to finish it so that I could put it in a basket and nest the many half pints of Apple Butter I had made for members of my little church. I didn't want to simply sign someone's name on the outside and my name on the inside and call it GOOD. A little bah humbug, a little rebellious and a whole lot of ME. So, instead, I put up many, many half pints of Apple Butter and gave each household in my church a jar instead of a card. Pictured are the two Arizona grand kids, Michael (pretending to sleep) and Danica on Christmas morning under the quilt. Michael claimed that project. I have found that new quilts are warm and comfy. A nice thing in my Arizona desert, especially when it rains all night, as it did last night. In fact, it is still raining. RAH!

What can I tell you today?

I simply have no inspiration today. Once again, it is too early, my brain has not yet awakened. Perhaps I will just show you another picture of something that I have made. Maybe I will stay in bed tomorrow until the sun comes up and then perhaps my brain will wake up with my body.

Completed Project

I just completed a tote bag yesterday. I had put it in aside and forgotten about it. It is lined in heavy white material. I think the lining might be drapery yardage. I have crocheted roses out of embroidery floss and attached clusters of them to the seams of each side of the tote. Somehow, I am going to figure out how to sell some of the things I make via the computer. I tried my hand at ebay with no luck at all. I think I didn't know enough about it for it to work. I sell some of them at the church craft sale but they don't all go. The money I make from my crafts goes to missions.

THREAD PERSON

When I first moved into my new house in my new location in 2003 I invited many people from my former church in Phoenix and my new church in Marana plus neighbors, friends and loved one. BIG PARTY, lots of work and all worth it. While giving one new friend "the tour" I took her into my sewing room, opened all the closet and cupboards and she exclaimed with excitement, "OH, you are a thread person". I have many interests and one of the most enduring is working with thread, yarn and fabric. I have many project going at the same time. I NEVER use the word boring! I believe if you allow yourself to become bored, it is your own fault. There are too many things of interest in this priviledged world we live in to ever allow that. If I get TIRED of what I am doing, I just move on to something else for a while. In the next few days I will show you pictures of some of the things I am working on. That is, when I am not playing in the dirt in my vegetable garden.
The picture I have added here is of my Little China Doll. Her mama and daddy went to China to bring her home when she was 8 months old. While I was knitting one day she ask me to knit her a sweater. She said blue was her favorite color and she wanted one "with glitter".

My little church

Yesterday, being Sunday, I thought you might be interested in seeing my little church but had no pictures. I am often the first on to the church building as has been my habit most of my adult life. I was there a little bit later than usual, paused across the street and took the picture of the outside of the building. It is the 1st Baptist Church of Avra Valley. I was late enough that a couple of cars were already there. The first picture taken just shortly before the service started. You see people milling around, greeting people and deciding on a seat. The people up in front are some of a group of people that gather each Sunday morning and sing and pick for about 15 - 30 minutes. All enjoy the "prelude".

Sunday Morning

I am trying to develop my artistic side. I have several artistic people in my family, some with jobs that depend on their art work. I worked 5-6 hours in my garden yesterday. (Be patient, this is all related) It was beautiful here in my desert yesterday. I had been looking for several weeks at thrift stores for a pair of old and VERY INEXPENSIVE mens boots ( have very long feet) to work in my garden. I always get dirt, sand & mud in my shoes and stain my socks with all and cannot get the stains out. I finally found just the right pair last Friday at a garage sale. A great pair of Wolverines for two dollars. Along side of picture of the boots is a hankie. That is my grand gesture toward my artistic side. Sad attempt isn't it? But then, I will keep trying.

I spent much of my day yesterday with a dear friend I met in Iowa. I lived there just a year and a half and have kept in touch with several of the sweet ladies I spent time with while there. We had an organization within the Bettendorf (Iowa) Christian Church called "Care and Share" Those are amazing CHRISTIAN ladies. While I was there we made caps for the homeless, tiny shirts and cloth diapers for babies in a far away lands, cookies for the orphanage, drapes for some room in the church and when they finished a project they ask, "What else can we do?" I have never been associated with people who deliberately looked for things to do for others.

The picture attached is a picture of my dear friend Dorothy. She now lives near to St. Lois, MO but visits her son in Chandler, AZ once a year and if life doesn't interrupt ( I was ill one year and didn't want to pass it on so didn't get to see her that year) I have the pleasure of visiting with her. Her son is an avid ROCK collector and visit the Gem and Mineral Show each year held in Tucson. I believed Dorothy would enjoy spending time Down on the Farm instead of trouping around the rocks for hours so I invited her home with me while her troups trouped. The picture inserted is Dorothy with the as yet unplanted garden.

Early morning

It is way too early in the morning to think of anything interesting to tell you, so I will simply input a couple of pictures. My mother taught my 2 brothers and me to dislike cats. My youngest brother and I have gotten over that and I now have a cat that I enjoy very much. She requires very little of me just as I require little of her. She is half Siamese and I am really not an animal lover. She came to my house with the idea that she was going to be just passing through and on to my daughter's house but it didn't work out that way. I believe I would miss her now if she were not here.

She is sleeping on my antique buffet in the late afternoon sun.

Thursday night

>>> A 1st grade school teacher had twenty-six students in her class. She>>> presented each child in her classroom the 1st half of a well-known>>> proverb and asked them to come up with the remainder of the proverb. It's hard>>> t o believe these were actually done by first graders. Their insight may>>> surprise you. While reading, keep in mind that these are first-graders,>>> 6-year-olds.>>>>>>>>>>>>
1. Don't change horses until they stop running.
2. Strike while the bug is close.
3. It's always darkest before Daylight Saving Time.
4. Never underestimate the power of termites.
5. You can lead a horse to water but> How?
6. Don't bite the hand that looks dirty.
7. No news is impossible
8. A miss is as good as a Mr.
9. You can't teach an old dog new Math
10. If you lie down with dogs, you'll stink in the morning.
11. Love all, trust Me.
12. The pen is mightier than the pigs.
13. An idle mind is the best way to relax .
14. Where there's smoke there's pollution.
15. Happy the bride who gets all the presents.
16. A penny saved is not much.
17. Two's company, three's the Musketeers.
18. Don't put off till tomorrow what you put on to go to bed.
19. Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and You have to blow your nose.
20. There are none so blind as Stevie Wonder.
21. Children should be seen and not spanked or grounded.
22. If at first you don't succeed get new batteries.
23. You get out of something only what you See in the picture on the box
24. When the blind lead the blind get out of the way.
25. A bird in the hand is going to poop on you.
And the WINNER and last one!
26. Better late than Pregnant

Down on the Farm

I have wanted to pass on the following note sent a few days ago by a neighbor but couldn't find the picture that I had saved. Holly sent the e-mail again and it follows along with the picture. Life here is always different than the life I lived when I was married to my IBM executive. When he passed over to Glory, he had no idea the change that would come to my life. I loved him, loved the life he gave me and now I love my new life out in the desert of Arizona and DOWN ON THE FARM.

Hello All! I don't know that I would normally share this tidbitof information in an email, but given the loss of ourhorse, Jake, just over a week ago, it seemsappropriate...As you know, we had to put Jake down on Friday,January 25th. A week or so prior we had agreed toadopt a pygmy goat that had been living just down thestreet, in deplorable conditions. We were told shewas about 9 months old and really needed better home. Well, we have a young Nubian goat that could use afriend (pigs don't make the greatest playmates forgoats!)... so we said we'd take her. The neighbors that convinced these people to givetheir animals up to new homes asked if bringing thenew goat over on Sunday the 27th would be a bad time,given our loss just two days earlier. Although it wasa considerate thought, we said it would be fine tobring the goat over. ...so "Penny" found a new homewith us last Sunday.Fast forward to last Friday night, just five daysafter receiving Penny...Anthony and I got home around 7pm and drove around tothe back gate where the animals are closest... theywere sure to be hungry. As expected and normal, allthe pigs were grumbling at the pen gate waiting to befed and Skittles, the Nubian goat, was with them...but where was Penny our new little goat?Then I saw her across the pen - she was standingbehind one of the pig houses... I entered the pig/goatpen worried as to why she hadn't joined the others atthe gate...I walked over to the pig house, looked around thecorner to see why Penny has stayed behind... Andthere, still wet and shaky, was Penny's new baby! Ourbrand new goat, just a baby herself, had a baby!Exactly one week after we lost Jake, we were blessedwith a new, unexpected little life! Photos of Penny and baby Archie are attached. Had to share!... -Holly

Yarn storage

There was a comment on yesterdays blog in which Nannykim ask where I stored my yarn. I took several pictures of those places and still there is some yarn that didnt' get a picture taken. I am a yard sale/thrift store shopper. I was taught well how to save my pennies and I have taught my children the same. Problem is, when I see a great deal on yarn/yardage/thread/sewing room item, even though I don't have a chance of using all I already have, I purchase it. I said to my oldest daughter one day, "I wonder if the Lord will allow me to live long enough to use up all this yarn", and her comment was, "You'll just buy more". It is true, and I am working as fast as I can to use it all up. I will see if this blog site will allow me to input all four pictures.

Already Tuesday

I had written a very nice tribute to a very nice neighbor but lost it and lost the picture I was going to share and then lost my enthusiasim for today. I wrote and ask for the picture to be sent again and will be more careful to note where I store it and do it all again another time. For now, I will show you a picture of my oldest grand child, Kala, who is 20 y/o wearing a sweater I made for her. Down here in my desert, there is not a lot of days anyone can wear some of the things I make because it simply is not cold enough (not counting today, there is ice here and there from the rain we had all day yesterday). Kala lives in TN and is in school in Cleveland, TN and tells me that it is VERY COLD there right now.

Desert Rain

Woo Hoo! It is raining. It was promised but I have allowed growing things to die awaiting for the promised rain. I don't know if we will have a lot of rain but any rain in my desert is welcome. A good day for a good book. I may even have to turn on the heat and make another cup of coffee.

Success

There. Pays to read ALL the instructions for uploading a picture.