I am so glad that we finished the basement. It makes it so nice when everyone comes home. We have lots of room to spread out in and the kids have so much fun together. The grownups can visit while the kids play and we aren't on top of each other any more. I just wasn't very well organized this year. I didn't get the turkey in soon enough and so it wasn't quite as done as we would have liked it to be. I forgot to buy frozen white grape juice to use to baste the turkey like I usually do and I decided to just use a brown in bag. Oh, well, I'll do better next time. Annalise rolled out "90 billion" rolls and every single one was eaten by the time Saturday came around. I still have a little stuffing left, guess I'll add the last of the turkey and gravy to it and call it dinner tomorrow or on Tuesday when Brian and Kattie's kids are here.
The kids were all so much fun! Winnie and Ashlyn just played and played. I need to add to my dress up clothes, they just love dressing up. I need to add boy dress up clothes too. Aidan wore the cave man costume though. Too bad the elephant ears headband is broken. The big boys played Wii and DS games to their hearts content. There were even a few pool games played. I guess it is time to refurbish the pool table and get a couple of new cues. I think that you could say that a "good time was had by all". We really missed Kris and Kristi and their family. They couldn't come because they were all sick for several days. We watched Toy Story 3 and went to Burley for the new 3-D movie, Tangled. Such darling movies, very cleverly done!
Johanna and Annalise went home on Saturday, thank goodness, because I-84 is closed today and may not open for a day or so. Jenni left today after Lynn used the snow blower to clear out the road. Once she got to the freeway, her drive wasn't too bad.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Vegetable Garden
My vegetable garden was a true disaster this year. I don't think I have ever had such a bad garden. True, it did freeze hard on May 7th and then it rained for almost the next two weeks and I couldn't even plant until the second week of June, but I just was not a dedicated gardener this year. I usually get up about the same time as the guys go out to move water and work for a couple of hours every morning. I just seemed to have a really hard time doing that this year and consequently my garden is a big mess. The weeds have truly taken over. I went out today and raked up all the fallen apples and believe me there are bushels of them. We picked all the golden delicious apples, but the earliblaze just dropped most of the apples before they were ripe enough to use. Now I have a big stinky pile of them to dispose of. As if that weren't enough, because I let the weeds go so much, it is hard to rake up the apples and I am planting weed seeds with every pass of the rake.
I decided that everyday this week I would try to dig up 5 square feet of my asparagus bed. It has become completely over run with quack grass. Have you ever seen quack grass roots--they become a thick mass of roots that spread for several feet and about every 6 inches they sprout blades of grass. Between the quack grass and the dog digging it up, I don't have too much asparagus left. I'm tempted to just spray the whole mess with Round-up and start over! It's just that it takes so long for asparagus to really start producing and have enough to really eat. Now I know why my mom didn't have much of it in her garden. My dad made a 2x4 frame and nailed wire to it and we would sift all the dirt in the garden if there was any quack grass in it. We kids thought it was all fun and games to put that dirt through the sifter, but I'm sure now it must have been to get those darn roots out. Of course, my mom would never have let the weeds go like I did this year unless she absolutely couldn't work in the garden. I think of the raspberries she grew and I know there were never weeds in them. She somehow managed to keep them in orderly rows too. I'm not sure how she did it. When I married Lynn, his mom had raspberries and they were always weedy and unruly just like mine are. I wish my mom were here so I could ask her.
I was only able to can one five gallon bucket of tomatoes this year and bushels of them froze just when they were really beginning to come on. Lynn said that he would just till the whole garden up and I can start over next year. Sounds like a plan to me!
I decided that everyday this week I would try to dig up 5 square feet of my asparagus bed. It has become completely over run with quack grass. Have you ever seen quack grass roots--they become a thick mass of roots that spread for several feet and about every 6 inches they sprout blades of grass. Between the quack grass and the dog digging it up, I don't have too much asparagus left. I'm tempted to just spray the whole mess with Round-up and start over! It's just that it takes so long for asparagus to really start producing and have enough to really eat. Now I know why my mom didn't have much of it in her garden. My dad made a 2x4 frame and nailed wire to it and we would sift all the dirt in the garden if there was any quack grass in it. We kids thought it was all fun and games to put that dirt through the sifter, but I'm sure now it must have been to get those darn roots out. Of course, my mom would never have let the weeds go like I did this year unless she absolutely couldn't work in the garden. I think of the raspberries she grew and I know there were never weeds in them. She somehow managed to keep them in orderly rows too. I'm not sure how she did it. When I married Lynn, his mom had raspberries and they were always weedy and unruly just like mine are. I wish my mom were here so I could ask her.
I was only able to can one five gallon bucket of tomatoes this year and bushels of them froze just when they were really beginning to come on. Lynn said that he would just till the whole garden up and I can start over next year. Sounds like a plan to me!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Memorable Weekend
I have to be the world's dumbest blogger! I haven't a clue as to how to do all the fun things people do on their blogs. Since I have such a small readership, I guess that doesn't matter much. I can barely find the site to post my blog on, let alone put fun things on it.
We made a flying trip to Annalise's on Saturday night. I have a terrible cold, but went anyway, just hoping none of the Utah family gets the cold too. Of course, they had all been thoroughly exposed by Nikoli on Friday and Saturday. On our way down, I decided to floss some apple peel from between my front teeth and suddenly pulled out the filling in one of my teeth. So I went all weekend with a gaping, SHARP hole in my tooth. Needless to say I have a sore tongue today. When I went to have it repaired today, the dentist numbed my mouth and now I have chewed a small hole in my lower right lip. He said the deadening would wear off in about 45 minutes and it is now 4 hours later and it is just barely wearing off. You don't realize what a crucial role your lips and cheeks play in chewing your food!
Sunday was a little hectic. Went to church at 9 a.m. It was the annual Primary Program. Annalise was the accompanist and Liam accompanied one song, "Follow the Prophet". All Annalise's children had short speaking parts. Little Aidan did his very well, as did all the others. Liam was sustained to become a Deacon and we all went to his ordination at noon. There were so many of us present for the ordination that we met in the Relief Society room and made the next ward start their Gospel Doctrine class late. Annalise has a really nice Bishop though. We were impressed by his spirituality. We returned to Annalise's and had lasagne and garlic bread. Jo made a carrot cake for Jenni's birthday and we waited patiently for it to bake. What we thought would take 35 minutes took 55. So a cake that would take 35 minutes in a 9 inch round takes almost an hour if baked in a 9 x 11 inch pan. I think that's because of it being a carrot cake, they are much denser than a regular cake. Live and learn. We ate our cake and sent Jenni off in the rain to drive back to Payette around 3:30. Lynn and I left about 4:30 and drove through the rain as well. It is fun to have the XMRadio and listen to fun music all the way home wherever we are. When we hit the I-84, I-86 interchange the rain was just pouring down. We had to really slow down. The rain eased up a little the further west we went. The wind was still blowing when we got home and it was raining still, but nothing like it had been. Brian and Kattie were an hour or so behind us and they hit the downpour at the Utah, Idaho border.
I took a lot of Sudafed and made it through the weekend without too much problem. Today I don't have much of a voice, but don't feel too badly. Jenni, I really hope you don't get sick before your training next week. Keep taking that calcium and zinc, get lots of sleep and drink plenty of fluids.
I finally threw out the basket of plants from Grandma Carlquist's funeral. They had finally reached the absolute end of their lives. Now I have to figure out what to put in their place. If I leave the window bare, people put newspapers and pile magazines and stuff in the window and that really looks bad! As bad as the plants were looking, they still looked better than piles of stuff!
Too many things to do outside at this time of year. I hate pulling out the petunias, they have looked really pretty this year. I still have about 100 bulbs to plant and I have already planted a couple of hundred bulbs. Leaves are piling up and need raked, grass needs mowed one last time. All the fallen apples need picked up and the garden needs cleared up. Lynn has about 14 acres of beets left to dig. Maybe tomorrow if it doesn't rain tonight. Right now the sun is shining. Lots of fall work on the farm too. Already the Christmas rush begins. Tonight is the first meeting of the Valley Community Helpers and it's time to plan for our Christmas Open House. Yikes! I guess I had better get busy.
We made a flying trip to Annalise's on Saturday night. I have a terrible cold, but went anyway, just hoping none of the Utah family gets the cold too. Of course, they had all been thoroughly exposed by Nikoli on Friday and Saturday. On our way down, I decided to floss some apple peel from between my front teeth and suddenly pulled out the filling in one of my teeth. So I went all weekend with a gaping, SHARP hole in my tooth. Needless to say I have a sore tongue today. When I went to have it repaired today, the dentist numbed my mouth and now I have chewed a small hole in my lower right lip. He said the deadening would wear off in about 45 minutes and it is now 4 hours later and it is just barely wearing off. You don't realize what a crucial role your lips and cheeks play in chewing your food!
Sunday was a little hectic. Went to church at 9 a.m. It was the annual Primary Program. Annalise was the accompanist and Liam accompanied one song, "Follow the Prophet". All Annalise's children had short speaking parts. Little Aidan did his very well, as did all the others. Liam was sustained to become a Deacon and we all went to his ordination at noon. There were so many of us present for the ordination that we met in the Relief Society room and made the next ward start their Gospel Doctrine class late. Annalise has a really nice Bishop though. We were impressed by his spirituality. We returned to Annalise's and had lasagne and garlic bread. Jo made a carrot cake for Jenni's birthday and we waited patiently for it to bake. What we thought would take 35 minutes took 55. So a cake that would take 35 minutes in a 9 inch round takes almost an hour if baked in a 9 x 11 inch pan. I think that's because of it being a carrot cake, they are much denser than a regular cake. Live and learn. We ate our cake and sent Jenni off in the rain to drive back to Payette around 3:30. Lynn and I left about 4:30 and drove through the rain as well. It is fun to have the XMRadio and listen to fun music all the way home wherever we are. When we hit the I-84, I-86 interchange the rain was just pouring down. We had to really slow down. The rain eased up a little the further west we went. The wind was still blowing when we got home and it was raining still, but nothing like it had been. Brian and Kattie were an hour or so behind us and they hit the downpour at the Utah, Idaho border.
I took a lot of Sudafed and made it through the weekend without too much problem. Today I don't have much of a voice, but don't feel too badly. Jenni, I really hope you don't get sick before your training next week. Keep taking that calcium and zinc, get lots of sleep and drink plenty of fluids.
I finally threw out the basket of plants from Grandma Carlquist's funeral. They had finally reached the absolute end of their lives. Now I have to figure out what to put in their place. If I leave the window bare, people put newspapers and pile magazines and stuff in the window and that really looks bad! As bad as the plants were looking, they still looked better than piles of stuff!
Too many things to do outside at this time of year. I hate pulling out the petunias, they have looked really pretty this year. I still have about 100 bulbs to plant and I have already planted a couple of hundred bulbs. Leaves are piling up and need raked, grass needs mowed one last time. All the fallen apples need picked up and the garden needs cleared up. Lynn has about 14 acres of beets left to dig. Maybe tomorrow if it doesn't rain tonight. Right now the sun is shining. Lots of fall work on the farm too. Already the Christmas rush begins. Tonight is the first meeting of the Valley Community Helpers and it's time to plan for our Christmas Open House. Yikes! I guess I had better get busy.
Monday, October 4, 2010
My Yahoo!
October 4th, 2010
Spent the day cleaning bathrooms and doing laundry. Washed all Lynn's hunting gear, including some large canvas bags he has to put the meat in to bring it off the mountain. He hosed them off thoroughly outside before I had to take them in and wash them, but they were still a little gross. He made the mistake of leaving the antlers in the garage overnight-----eww!! The garage didn't smell too good this morning. They had a really good time hunting and being together. It really has been several years since Lynn, Mark and Neil were able to go on a hunt together.
It has been rainy and overcast for most of the day, but it is a welcome change from the hot, dusty air that we have had for the past couple of weeks. I am enjoying the coolness. The leaves on the green ash trees are starting to turn yellow and fall off, now if only they will all fall off before it snows! We have had heavy wet snows for the past two years early in October. I still have the apples to pick from the Golden Delicious tree. They are surprisingly good and worm free even though they were not sprayed at all this year. The Early Blaze tree is all done dropping its apples, I picked a few and made several apple desserts and a few quarts of applesauce, but I wasn't feeling well enough to pick them before most of them dropped on the ground.
Spent the day cleaning bathrooms and doing laundry. Washed all Lynn's hunting gear, including some large canvas bags he has to put the meat in to bring it off the mountain. He hosed them off thoroughly outside before I had to take them in and wash them, but they were still a little gross. He made the mistake of leaving the antlers in the garage overnight-----eww!! The garage didn't smell too good this morning. They had a really good time hunting and being together. It really has been several years since Lynn, Mark and Neil were able to go on a hunt together.
It has been rainy and overcast for most of the day, but it is a welcome change from the hot, dusty air that we have had for the past couple of weeks. I am enjoying the coolness. The leaves on the green ash trees are starting to turn yellow and fall off, now if only they will all fall off before it snows! We have had heavy wet snows for the past two years early in October. I still have the apples to pick from the Golden Delicious tree. They are surprisingly good and worm free even though they were not sprayed at all this year. The Early Blaze tree is all done dropping its apples, I picked a few and made several apple desserts and a few quarts of applesauce, but I wasn't feeling well enough to pick them before most of them dropped on the ground.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Where has August gone??? School has started and Robby and I get to spend every morning together. So far I haven't done very well putting together Preschool ideas. I really need to get on the stick. He has painted a little and we have played a little ball tossing and jumping on the trampoline, but I am not a very good morning person! I've been trying to read to him, but he isn't really interested. He has become a TV GOON and would rather watch videos, or PBS shows. Help!
My "Giant Redroot Forest" has been growing exponentially. I have not gotten the weeds under control yet. I'm about ready to give up for this year and am thinking of some drastic things to do next year involving old newspapers, compost and bark chips.
On Monday and Tuesday last week, I decided that my kitchen and sewing room looked terrible, so I spent those days cleaning up a storm. Lynn came in and asked me if we had company coming, since I was cleaning so much. Little did I know that we soon would have company. Kathleen and her step mom and dad came over on Wednesday and then Pam and Steve Halford and her parents came on Friday. Thank goodness my house was clean! Now I just need to get all my cabinets cleaned out. When you run out of room to put things in a house this big, it just means that you have too much stuff! This weeks edition of the Mormon Times has a list of how to get things under control. I'm going to cut it out and post it where I will use it as my guide.
I am posting pictures I took of the yard a couple of weeks ago so you can see how out of control everything is. I can't seem to get them to upload right now, will try again later. Looks like the photos showed up finally. These are all from the South yard.
I am sad to see the end of the Day Lilies. I have about 3 plants that still have a few blooms on them and then it is all over. Summer is over!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Wheat ready for harvest
After the heat of the day, the wheat takes a while to cool off. When we open the windows at night you can smell the wheat. I didn't realize how much you could smell it until tonight.
Here are my agapanthus. I don't know why I get so excited when they bloom. Maybe it's because after having them for ten years, they have only bloomed 3 times.
Today I cut some branches off the pine trees to the south of the house. Now I have a big pile of branches to haul off. I will have to cut them into pieces before I can haul them away. Ten years ago I planted a wildflower mix that contained Yarrow, and some type of gaillardia. I have been trying now for three years to get rid of it and it seems to be impossible. I planted Iris and Day Lilies there and the wildflowers are crowding them out. It has really looked quite pretty with the wildflowers and the daylilies, but now they have all gone to seed (the wildflowers) and that means they will multiply. There is also a lot of quack grass. I am going to try digging it all out and then putting Preen on it. I use my Earthway weeder to go under everything. Then I pull it all out. I am getting a pretty big pile. Lynn gets cross with me because he has to haul it all away.
There is always so much to do, I can never get it all done. I am just glad that I am still able to get out and work in my yard. I worry that the day will come when I can't.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Summer Gardening
My daylilies have been really beautiful this year. I am always sad when they start to wind down. When I go out to deadhead and find only one or two more buds left, I know they are almost done and summer will be over soon. I have several that will need to be divided or moved this year because they are so big and aren't blooming as much as they could.
My agapanthus are blooming again this year. I have them in big pots on my back porch. It has taken several years for them to bloom. I have had them now for 10 years. They say not to divide them until they break the pots. This year one of the pots was broken when I went to put them out. I didn't actually divide them, but I did put them in a larger pot. I used to store them in the basement for the winter, but since we finished the basement that wouldn't work anymore. We put new insulated doors on our garage two years ago and so we stored them in the garage and it has worked out really well. The garage never drops below 40 degrees now and it is great for storing the agapanthus. I tried saving a geranium in it's pot and that has really worked out well. The geranium is putting on lots of new growth and will be blooming soon. (I forgot about it until two weeks ago and I cut it back and started watering it.)
Things on the farm are beginning to move quickly. Lynn told me this morning that there will be beans to can next week. They looked so tiny last week when I took lunch to the field as Lynn did some dammer -diking. (This is accomplished with a tool that looks like rows of paddle wheels attached to the tractor. It digs a little hole every so often in the row and makes a place where water can sit and not run off.)
The sugar beets are finally taking off and growing. We had to replant after a hard freeze on May 7th. Those farmers who had planted in March and had beets up that could withstand the frost now have beets that have bolted (gone to seed) and they will have to get rid of all the "bolters". We were late planting and so it just killed our beets. Who would think that would be a blessing, but it was.
I tried to some pictures, but so far no luck. My internet has been really spotty for the past few days. Something to do with the heat I think.
My agapanthus are blooming again this year. I have them in big pots on my back porch. It has taken several years for them to bloom. I have had them now for 10 years. They say not to divide them until they break the pots. This year one of the pots was broken when I went to put them out. I didn't actually divide them, but I did put them in a larger pot. I used to store them in the basement for the winter, but since we finished the basement that wouldn't work anymore. We put new insulated doors on our garage two years ago and so we stored them in the garage and it has worked out really well. The garage never drops below 40 degrees now and it is great for storing the agapanthus. I tried saving a geranium in it's pot and that has really worked out well. The geranium is putting on lots of new growth and will be blooming soon. (I forgot about it until two weeks ago and I cut it back and started watering it.)
Things on the farm are beginning to move quickly. Lynn told me this morning that there will be beans to can next week. They looked so tiny last week when I took lunch to the field as Lynn did some dammer -diking. (This is accomplished with a tool that looks like rows of paddle wheels attached to the tractor. It digs a little hole every so often in the row and makes a place where water can sit and not run off.)
The sugar beets are finally taking off and growing. We had to replant after a hard freeze on May 7th. Those farmers who had planted in March and had beets up that could withstand the frost now have beets that have bolted (gone to seed) and they will have to get rid of all the "bolters". We were late planting and so it just killed our beets. Who would think that would be a blessing, but it was.
I tried to some pictures, but so far no luck. My internet has been really spotty for the past few days. Something to do with the heat I think.
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