Join - Welcome - Thank You, Place of Relaxation, Garden Updates, Give - Away

I would like to start my post today by welcoming a new

 Blogger to my blog.

Welcome Carolina Nana at STORIES FROM THE N.C. MOUNTAINS  blog. Thank you for joining my blog, please sit back and enjoy the ride.

 

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I’ve setup a little area to relax out back on the patio, around several freshly planted flower pots loaded with Bravado Coneflowers, Summer Nights Delphinium, Sonora Black-Eyed Susan, Nanho Blue Butterfly Bush, and the Pow Wow Wild Berry Coneflower.  Bulldog Man and I would like to clean up our grill and place a sail (homemade or bought depending on cost) over the top of the patio to help cut back the glaring sun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pictures of some of my sweet potatoes poking through, I’ve noticed some sort of bug eating at the leaves.  I made sure to spray the potato leaves really good with a dawn soap, alcohol, and water concoction to deter bugs, it actually works well.

 

 

Here’s a picture of some of my Luffa (thank you Gail and Marcy) taking over. 

 

My cherry tomatoes are starting to produce flowers, I’m so excited.  I can’t wait to harvest tomatoes for salads and pasta dishes J

 

And the surprise vine keeps growing with all kinds of flowers; I guess soon I will see what type of vegetable/fruit it will produce.

 

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Don’t forget to enter my give-away here.

Give - Away Stainless Steel Spoons and Cookbook

Give - Away

It’s my pleasure to sponsor a wonderful give – away of measuring spoons I picked up at the International Pantry to help any cook or baker, and a cookbook, taken from my personal library of cookbooks. 

Endurance Spice Measuring Spoons (Brand New from the International Pantry Store)

This spoon set measures 1 tablespoon, 1 teaspoon, ¾, ½, ¼ and 1/8th teaspoon.  These spoons are designed to fit easily into spice jars or cans.  They’re heavy gauge stainless steel and dishwasher safe.

 

 

 

Farm to Table Cookbook by: Love Food

 A 127-paged cookbook with recipes for the different seasons; spring, summer, fall, and winter.

 

Rules

To enter you must tell me what your favorite thing is to cook or bake in the comment field below.   

All Entries must be received by Friday, July 5, 2013 by 11:59 PM CDT. The drawing will be held Saturday afternoon, July 6, 2013. All names will be placed in a bowl, and a name will be pulled from the bowl Saturday afternoon, July 6th. If your name is picked as a winner, I will post your first name on my blog site along with my e-mail address. You will have 4 business days to respond to me by e-mail. If there is no response, your entry will be null (void), and I will be required to pick another winner.

How to Enter

All entries must be made on the comment form of this post.  One entry per person. Good Luck Everyone!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SyrVet Flex Boot Made For Walking :-)

Since Bug has an injured paw and it needs to be wrapped up until the stitches are removed, she’s been wearing a colored boot to keep the gauze in place.  The boot is made with SyrVet Flex cohesive bandage.  These bandages run approximately $6.96 dollars a roll.  Since money doesn’t grow on trees, I went to the local ranch store called Atwood’s to find a deal.

Atwood’s Ranch and Home store has a massive selection of items for animals and their health. Bulldog Man figured shopping there for the Syreflex cohesive bandage would be more reasonable than shopping at an actual pharmacy, like CVS, or a pet store like Petco.  When I walked into the store and directly to the pet medical section, I noticed they had a sale going on for SyrVet Flex cohesive bandages by the roll.  The rolls were 99 cents apiece; I picked up 7 rolls, each roll is in a sterile sealed bag which saved me some money.  The rolls come in a multitude of colors; pink, purple, red, white, yellow, orange, green, black and blue.  I grabbed a handful of rolls; these will be used for Bug’s paw and the extra will be placed in my first aid bag.   These flex cohesive bandages are great for keeping gauze on a wound and covering an area when needed.

Bug with baby pink and white boot.

Bug with hot pink, matches Buttons Cadillac Pink Boots.

Salad - Bug Boot Made For Chewing- Upcoming Give - Away

Today was vegetable day for dinner.   I baked several hefty potatoes for everyone with the fixings for the top (butter, sour cream, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, bacon, and chives), and a large green salad with lettuce from my garden.

Here are the greens I clipped from the garden to add to the salad.

Arugula

 

Red Romaine

 

Big Boston

 

Winter Destiny

 

Rocky Top

 

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The birds have targeted my kale and beets this year, I have just the stalks sitting in the garden.  The leaves are all gone, little stinkers!!!  I didn’t have an opportunity to cover certain garden boxes with bird netting before they ate my vegetables.

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Today, I took Bug to our normal Vet for a follow up from the visit to the Emergency Vet, Saturday night.  My regular Vet said Bug’s paw looks really good, he did a laser treatment on her paw.  This helps the skin to heal faster and healthier.  My Vet then wrapped Bug’s paw with a pink boot.  I wanted to get home and take a picture of Bug in her pink boot to share it with my friends, especially “B” over at Buttons Thoughts blog.  “B” in the winter or when it’s cold wears these really nice pink Cadillac boots and I thought she would get a hoot out of seeing the picture.  When I went to get the camera, Bug had already removed the boot.  So much for a picture of Bug with a pink boot L  Sorry “B”!!!!  Bulldog Man and I had to make a new boot to replace the once Bug removed and destroyed.

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In a day or two, I have another give-away to talk to you about.  Something we use in the kitchen to help with baking and cooking.  Keep an eye out for the give-away for a chance to enter and potentially win. 

 

 

 

What have you harvested from your garden recently to have for lunch or dinner?

Join - Welcome - Thank You & My Heart Dropped

Source Pic: FoodNavigator.com

I would like to start my post today by welcoming a new

 Blogger to my blog.

 

Welcome Mama Pea at A Home Grown Journal blog. Thank you for joining my blog, please sit back and enjoy the ride.

 

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Saturday morning, Bulldog Man was going to cut the grass when the lawnmower decided it didn’t want to cooperate; it kept stalling.  Bulldog Man went into town to purchase a new filter, spark plugs, and new gas, figuring the gas we stored was old and not the greatest; it was time for some new stuff.  I stayed outside to see if my husband needed another pair of hands to assist with holding the parts while working on the lawnmower.  It’s always good to have a second pair of hands around.  After a while, I went inside the house to get several drinks to cool down since it was extremely warm.  Instead of going through our front door, I decided to use the pass-through door between the garage and kitchen.  Now this door sticks occasionally, requiring a slight push to get it open; little did I know our dog, Bug, decided to lie up against the door (she never lays by any of the doors in the house).  Bug is an 8 pound little Chihuahua; she’s the cutest little thing.  Apparently she decided to lie up against the door because she knew we were working in the garage.  When the door flew open, it caught her paw under the door, she yelped so loud it caused my heart to drop.  Her paw was between the threshold and the actual door.  This caused the tendon in her paw to rip along with the webbing between two pads.   There was a large amount of blood dripping from her paw.  I immediately picked her up and held on to the paw with a little pressure to stop the bleeding, wrapped her in a towel, and Bulldog Man and I rushed her to the emergency veterinarian in town.  The Vet took Bug in immediately, sedated her, took x-rays noticed no broken bones, and he knew immediately she needed to be looked at further to see about the tendon.  The Vet sewed the tendon and repaired the webbing between her paw pads.  He also kept her over night, pumping pain meds and antibiotics into her.  The next morning, we went to pick her up.  The Vet gave us a handful of antibiotics and pain meds to take home with us.  The Vet felt she would heal properly on her own over time and won’t need the detailed surgery as they first thought.   

Talk about feeling so guilty, I love this little dog, and was so sick after this happened.  

When we brought her home, she was out of it a bit because she was sedated to fix her up.  Now she’s running around like nothing happened, and wants that damned boot off her foot!

 

 

****WARNING**** (Lot's of Pictures)

I’m back from Texas, arrived home last night.  After spending 4 days in Texas, I’m happy to be home to be able to sleep in my own bed.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved being in Texas to take care of my Dad (cancer patient) while my sister had to go out of town for work.  Yes, Mom was there to help Dad, but Mom doesn’t have the strength to lift and move my Dad around; that’s where my sister and I come in to help.  The visit was nice, and at times stressful. See Dad is eating well, drinking the doctor prescribed Boost (it has more protein in it than the one you buy at the store) but he hates drinking water.  Water is what is going to hydrate him and help with his blood pressure and heart rate.  It helps with the constant drowsiness, the brain fog, energy and overall health.  But to tell that to a man who hates water is like talking to a wall.  When Dad’s Physical Therapist came in and took his blood pressure (which was high) and his heart rate (which was low), it was obvious he was not drinking the required water.  The Physical Therapist did exactly what I did to get him to drink and what do you know……..Dad listened to the Therapist and drank his water.  Talk about being bull headed………now you know where I get my um………bullheadedness from…………..my Dad!!!!!!  I guess you could say like father, like daughter…………….LOL!!!!!!!!

When Dad took a nap, I stayed close by, but was able to take pictures of the sky for several of my blogger friends (Kymber, Jambaloney, and Helga).  I also took several pictures of the wild flowers and flowers around my parent’s home. 

Clouds over my parents development.

Clouds and sunset from parents backyard looking
out into the farmers field.

Clouds over a neighbors home by parents house.

Sunset from my parents back patio one night.  You
can see the moon shining (on left top of picture).

 

Sunset another night from my parents back
patio. Clouds reflecting in their pool.

Another sunset from my parents back patio.

Layered clouds.

Moon picture from patio.

 

Wildflowers growing across from my parents home.

More Wildflowers across from my parents home.

 

 

I love these wildflowers, not sure what they are.

More Wildflowers

Wildflowers across my parents driveway.

 

 

Beautiful sunflowers from yard.

Bougainvillea on back patio.

 

Another back patio potted flower.

 

These are planted in the far corner of the pool area.

So what type of bird do we have here???
Anyone know?

Corn looking good in field on the way home to
my place.

I crossed the Texas - Oklahoma state line, returning home......
All I can think about is sleeping in my own bed and getting
rid of this rental car!!!

 

Now back at home, I have so many things to do this weekend.  Back up my blog, laundry, cleaning, some home cooking, work on the property weeding, and planting more herbs and beans.    And most of all get some good quality sleep. 

What are your plans this weekend?

 

 

Guns Don't Kill People

Sticks & Stones

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. 

Last weekend while taking care of my Dad (as you know he’s fighting cancer) we discussed river rocks, and the process of painting them with words of encouragement.  Giving Dad something to hold on to and focus on while going through his chemo treatments.  I asked my Dad, what type of words would you like to see?  Here I’m thinking of all these wonderfully encouraging words, he responded with………………… 

See the picture below for his response.

All I could do was shake my head back and forth. Dad obviously still has his sense of humor.   Below are several of those painted rocks………………………………..LOL!!!!!

Duck Tape - Garden Update - Birthday - Accident - Temperatures

Duck Tape, what a great resource to use for repairing all kinds of things; like my husband’s reclining chair. Where your body touches the recliner, the material started peeling.  No, it’s not leather, it’s that stuff we call pleather.  The cushion constantly peels leaving a fine layer of pleather pieces on the floor in different parts of the house.  Instead of sewing a cushion cover, I decided to use brown Duck Tape.  This stopped the peeling and covered the worn spot.  The tape works for me…….that is until we purchase a new chair for Bulldog Man. 

Did you know Duck Tape comes in a multitude of colors and designs to include but not limited to; animal prints, college and NFL football team logos/colors? 

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Garden update on several areas:

Arugula, time to harvest and place in salads.

Collards, still growing, need to spray because bugs are eating at them.

Lettuce, Boston and Mesculin, ready for harvest.

Asparagus, bolting.

Tomatoes, Dad’s Sunset and Purple Russian both need cages and more time to grow.

I’m not sure what this is, it popped up in my Tomato above ground box.  This may be a melon of some sort or squash, your thoughts?

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Yesterday, June 13^th was my Birthday.  I told Bulldog Man and Tank I really didn’t want to celebrate, I just wanted some quiet time to relax and maybe catch a pizza in town.  Earlier in the day, I went to court with our son Tank to settle a case regarding his injuries from being jumped and injured at his previous job.  It took months to get to court.  When we went into the court room, the entire process took 10 minutes and the case was settled and closed.  I’m happy this case is over, and our son is in the process of healing.  He still doesn’t have 100 percent usage of his hand and shoulder.

Later that evening while enjoying my birthday pizza in town, I received a phone call from Tank; he informed me a young male driver in a Silverado decided to turn in front of him to get a parking space located off the side of the road.  Let me explain the situation.  In town there are several streets that are one way.  Main Street has 3 lanes, all of which head east.  Along side of the street on both sides are parking spaces.  Tank was driving his truck in the left lane east bound when another truck was driving east in the middle lane.  All of a sudden, the middle truck decides he wants to park on the left side of the street, cutting across my son’s lane with no regard to any traffic.  Instead of watching for vehicles in the left lane, this young man turned his truck toward the parking space on the left side of the street: driving right into our son’s massive 1 ton truck’s front quarter panel.  Damaged the front right side of our son’s truck, pushing in the big bumper he made for the truck. Squished the front quarter panel and the hood of the truck into the engine area.  So much for a quiet birthday L

I’m looking forward to the weekend; I have Saturday to do a few things around the house.  Then on Sunday, I return to Texas to help my Dad.

Temperatures have peaked into the high 90’s.  Any type of gardening or yard work this time of the year is done in the early morning hours or later in the evening when the sun starts to go down.