Merry Christmas 2009

Christmas is always a wonderful time of year for us. The kids and grand kids were here and we had a very special time together. The grand kids are now 12, 13 and 15. An interesting age for sure. The oldest was receiving and sending texts every five minutes with the girlfriend!! Helloooo...I wasn't ready for that! He is looking forward to getting his drivers license in a few months. The two younger boys were improving their driving skills on the riding mower. I found donut tracks out in the barn driveway so I guess the plan was...drive slow and easy as we go past the house then go crazy up at the barn!

Ron did some photo darkroom work with the oldest grandson. His interest in cameras and developing film is a delight to Ron who was so interested in photography at his age. They used an old view camera. Of course, the new digital equipment is much faster and no worries about how much film is used but the old way has an appeal too. How things have changed in our lifetime!

The kids also used the wood shop to make a snack table and bench. They were very careful and used lots of Great Grandpa's hand tools. If any power tool was needed they came to get an adult. It made me happy to see them having so much fun in the shop.

We did a lot of cooking. Waffles were a favorite for breakfast and we made them several times. Christmas dinner was roast beef and mashed potatoes with all the trimmings. We cooked such a huge kettle of mashed potatoes and had very little left over. Made some more the next day! I love to see them eat. We played games and Wii. It was a special family time.

Everyone has gone home now and I am not going to cook for a while!   

Callie Bug In A Rug

Callie is such a funny cat. She loves to get under the rug. She thinks she is hiding. I need to break the news to her...we can see you!

Pismo Beach Monarchs

Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend we went down to see the monarch butterflies. It is only a couple of miles from our house. It was a cold day and the butterflies were all cuddled up on the branches of the eucalyptus trees. We only saw a very few flying around. Over the last few years the numbers have been going down. I noticed that the parks department have been doing some planting of butterfly attracting plants such as milkweed and yarrow. They are trying to lure more monarchs to this area and I hope it is successful.

Sunlight on Grass

I've recently discovered how beautiful grasses can be. The light catches them in special ways and the slightest breeze moves them to and fro. I almost let this one die and that is hard to do with grass. The drip line to the pot was not working and I didn't notice for a long time and it was brown and brittle. I have revived the poor thing and will be more diligent in the future...I promise.

Our Special Day

On November 17 we took a  trip up into the mountains. This was our special day to celebrate all the years we have spent together...46 to be exact! It is amazing how quickly the time has passed. Can it possibly be getting close to 50 years. That is a milestone for OLD people and I don't feel old. I still have things to do and places to go but I think we better get going on the bucket list. Thanks Ron for sticking with me all these years. It's been a blast...mostly. lol. To those who have asked how we stayed married all these years, I say...have patience to wait out the bad times. Because there WILL be bad times. It's patience or stubbornness. I don't know which! All I can say is that I'm happy to be where I am today with the man I love.

Gathering the Winter Squash

We brought all the winter squash up from the garden. Johnny was very interested in what we had but in the end he prefers alfalfa hay. The butternuts were small and we didn't get many banana squash but there are lots of acorns. I have a place in the breeze way of the barn to store them for the winter. Guess what we will be having for dinner!

The Monarchs are Here

We live a few miles from the Pismo Beach Monarch Grove wintering site. The butterflies arrive for the winter about this time of year. Quite a few choose our yard to hang out. They love the Lantana and will feed there for hours. This part of their life cycle is peaceful and relaxed but what about all those miles they fly? They seem so small and fragile for that daunting task. Welcome butterflies...you can rest here.

Sunken Pumpkin

Well, how sad is this! When we returned from our trip, this is what the giant pumpkin looked like. I really am not surprised. It was not looking good before we left. I think a gopher came up from the bottom and ate a hole and then it rotted. It was fun watching it grow. We may try to save some seeds in case we want to try again next year. Anyone want some? 

No Money = No Gas = Go Home

Patsy dog was a good traveler...most of the time. But after having to stay behind while the humans got to go eat lunch, I think she had her own plan.  BAD dog!

On the Road Again...

We have been away from home for a few weeks. We had to deliver some paintings to Oregon and we took our time coming and going. Mount Shasta was already covered with snow. We visited several places that have been on our list for a long time.

The fall colors were spectacular and we had wonderful rain. Those rain drops sounded so nice. To us California people, rain is an event! We had a delightful relaxing trip and we are now happy to be home again.

"My Church is the Woods."

We are taking some much needed vacation time in the woods. It's been a while since we have taken time to do nothing, read, think. We should do this more often. It feels good.

Pumpkin Weigh-In

It has been two weeks since I measured the pumpkin so time to see how much weight it has gained. It is getting harder to measure because I can't reach around it any more. The numbers are 62" x 61" x 105" = 228 inches. So the chart says it is at 256 pounds. The vines are really starting to get brown so I don't think it will get much bigger. We will see!!

Sunny Sunflower

This makes me smile. Could it be any more yellow!! I think the birds are just waiting for the seeds.

Concord Grapes are Ripe

Does anyone know how to make these concord grapes into wine? I think that would be a fun project but I  don't know where to start. I'm going to ask hubby to do some research and see if we could have wine by Thanksgiving. Wait...they let wine age in oak barrels for a looooong time. Got to come up with a different plan. Any ideas?

"There Are Only Two Things..."

"There are only two things money can't buy: true love and home grown tomatoes."      - John Denver

Hurray For the Volunteers

I have always heard that most trees that come up as volunteers will not produce fruit. Well, I beg to differ with that opinion and have two trees to prove the theory wrong.

Several years ago we had chickens and naturally they got the kitchen scraps. The chickens disappeared one by one. We never found any feathers or evidence as to what happened. We do see coyotes around and so must assume they had chicken dinner. We don't have any more outdoor cats either and I don't even want to think about that! Anyway, where the chicken pen used to be has produced two beautiful volunteer trees; one a nectarine and the other an avocado. The nectarine is just loaded this year. I'm worried that the branches will break. We have been eating them mostly fresh but I may try a tart this coming week. The avocado has a good crop too. We can't identify what variety it is but I know it isn't Hass.

These trees are not in the best spot...but they are where they want to be and they are doing their job. They get to stay right where they are. I am thankful!

Summer Bread Salad

One of our favorite dishes this summer has been this bread salad. We gather all this good stuff from the garden and cut it up. The zucchini and green beans need to be blanched. I make a dressing with olive oil, vinegar, mustard and lots of herbs and mix it with the veggies and let it set for about an hour. Then, I cut the loaf of Ciabatta bread into 1 inch cubes, drizzle with olive oil and toast in the oven. Mix this with the vegetables and you have a real treat. Our neighbors across the street gave us the recipe which she had found in the Sunset Magazine. It is a winner!

Jack Creek Farms Thrashing Bee

We drove up to Jack Creek Farms in Templeton today to attend a threshing bee. This was certainly a day to make you count your blessings and appreciate all the hard work people used to have to do. The weather was beautiful and the farm delightful.

This is a tractor in the field cutting the wheat and tying it into shocks. These were loaded onto a wagon and taken to the thrasher.

The thrasher was loaded by pitchfork and the grain was separated from the chaff which fell down under the machine and the grain went into sacks.

This gentlemen was sewing up the wheat sacks after they were filled. Someone told me he was 100 years old. It was clear he had lots of practice.

The straw was discarded into a big pile and was fed to the goats and made into straw bales for bedding.

Now, back from the field. This is the little hand grinder that ground the wheat into flour. They were giving samples of bread and let kids do the grinding. That's a lot of hard work for a bag of whole wheat flour. Sure makes me appreciate what people did years ago to have bread!

It was a good day!

Meanwhile...Back at the Pumpkin Patch

I went out today to measure the biggest pumpkin. My pumpkin growing book says to first measure the circumference. Second, measure over the top, side-to-side to the ground. Finally measure over the top, end-to-end to the ground. You add these three measurements together and then go to their handy dandy chart to give you an estimated weight. My three measurements were 94, 56 and 60 giving me a sum of 210 inches. So the chart says it weighs about 220 pounds. It seems big to me, but I know in the giant pumpkin growing world that it is really not very big. Winning pumpkins are in the 800-900 pound range. I hope ours will continue to get bigger. The gophers are pushing up dirt all around, so I wouldn't be surprised if the vine gets eaten or worse yet that they come up underneath and eat the pumpkin. The ones we grew last year were about 330 pounds, so we have some growing to do! It should still grow through September. Let's hope we can break our own personal record.

Saying Hello?

My Mom's favorite flowers in the garden were zinnias. These came up volunteer all over the garden this year, so I gathered them up and put them in a special place by the fence. Maybe Mom is saying hello! I miss her...lots.

Hydrangeas

The Hydrangeas have been beautiful this year. They are one of my most favorite flowers. I don't know if these are pink trying to turn blue or blue ones turning pink. They look confused but I love them anyway.

Veggies Everywhere I Look

Dolmas for Dinner

We have grape vines growing in the garden so we thought we would try to blanch some of the leaves and make dolmas. I usually buy a jar of grape leaves but why buy them when we have them. They were a bright green when we picked them but two minutes in the boiling water turned them this rather drab color. But that's what they look like in the store bought jar.

Ron drained the leaves and patted them dry. I made the filling with brown rice, onions, parsley, walnuts and lemon juice and let it cool. We put a spoon full of the filling on each leaf.

We folded the top down, the sides in and rolled them up tightly and placed them in a dish.

When we had rolled them all, I steamed them for about 30 minutes until they were nice and tender. I dressed them with olive oil and lemon juice. They were good, really good. Will we always make our own leaves, probably not but it was fun and easy.

Cruise

We took a family cruise a few weeks ago and had a lovely time with the kids and grand kids. Our ship is the big one in the background.

Birds and dolphins followed the ship. Seas were calm and the food was good.

The stewards left us friends each day. They were very cute. This one was made with two towels.

A good time was had by all and that makes me happy!