Oklahoma Dreams

Friday, August 30, 2013

Join - Welcome - Thank You!!!

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome a new follower to my blog.

Welcome Jacked Up Glock Mom at Tales From The Clothesline blog. Thank you for joining my blog, please sit back and enjoy the ride.

Pic Source: background-pictures.feedio.net

On May 20^th, the city of Moore, Oklahoma, experienced one of the worst F5 tornadoes, with winds over 200+ mph winds. During this storm/tornado, I found myself (an older over weight woman) in my small linen closet with a bicycle helmet, crouched down holding on to my two Chihuahuas, thinking to myself, “I wasn’t going to survive this tornado”. As this tornado headed east bound, roaring through the city of Moore, throwing houses, cars, trucks, tractors, trees, cows, horses, and people like they were paper dolls, I remained in my closet in fear, listening to the roar, feeling the winds (because my bathroom window was open at the time to prevent my house from exploding), and feeling the pressure all around me. I slowly crawled out of the closet shaking, not knowing what type of damage actually occurred to our home. We were fortunate, our damage was nothing compared to those who were directly in the path of this monster. After finding out my family was okay (both son and husband were at work), I worked at getting our supplies together to hit the road to help those in trouble. Emergency personnel requested everyone stay off the roads and out of the area for 24 hours. My family honored the request of the emergency personnel. After the 24 hours of waiting, our family went into action to help those in need.

On a post I made back in May about the incident, I took several pictures of a home and a development my family worked to help victims recover belongs and provided emotional support. Remember some of these pictures?

Well here are a couple of these pictures right after the tornado. I also have several pictures taken last night while traveling through the same area. Notice the debris is all gone, the grass has grown, several trees produced green leaves, and there are signs of people rebuilding.

Over the next several months, when I travel back in the hit hard area, I will take pictures to show the improvement and life returning to the area.

Going back last night into areas hit was very emotional for me. I thought about the pain and suffering each person experienced, and wonder if they would return to rebuild, or move to a safe place, far away from tornado alley.

Same Location Totally Cleared Out

HUMP DAY........ & Things

Happy Hump Day!!!!

After yesterday’s post, I went through all of my seeds and decided not only was I going to have beans and peas in my fall garden, I’m going to plant Bush Champion cucumbers, vegetable spaghetti squash, Waltham broccoli, and carrots. That’s it; I don’t have it in me to plant anything else.

This morning, I went ahead and planted those additional seeds.

While planting seeds, I checked on the vegetables left from my spring garden. The eggplant continues to grow, still not big enough to harvest. The parsnips should be pulled out of the ground next week, and the asparagus, will stay in the ground until next spring.

My tomatoes are still growing and green. The surprise melon vines growing in and between the tomato plants are producing melons like crazy. I just harvested another full size cantaloupe. I think I will have cantaloupe every week until we get our first frost. The timing couldn’t be any better, this way we don’t get sick of melon. To my friend John Grey, I didn’t harvest two……so we don’t have BOOBIES on display………..only one BOOB displayed, Bahahahahahaha………

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Today was also a day of cleaning out the refrigerator of those meals not totally finished, and expired/old condiments.

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I’ve also been surfing the internet for ideas on what to do with the large pile of jeans my son gave me. He recently decided to clean his room and go through all of his clothes to figure out which still fit, and pull out those that are too big or small. This is how I became the holder of the pile of jeans he no longer wants. Bulldog Man was gifted with approximately 15 t-shirts; these are great for making into rags.

Jeans No Longer Fit

Old T-Shirts For Rags

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On a final note, I would like to thank Lotta Joy. She took time to make me a card by hand for sending her green Chiles to try.

Winter Garden?

Several Blogger friends asked if I was going to plant a winter garden. I’ve planted beans (Bush) and peas (Tall Telephone), still looking at other possibilities.

Here are some of the beans popping out of the ground. These were planted Friday evening and started popping out of the ground on Monday morning.

The peas started popping but they’re not big enough for a picture.

Every time I talk about planting beans, our dog “BEANS” sits pretty, thinking we’re talking about him.

Have you started your winter garden?

Winner Announced

A big CONGRATULATIONS goes out to MDR (Modern Day Redneck)!!!!!!!!

MDR was selected the winner of the Complete Wilderness Training Manual

and the surprise (which will be placed in the package).

The winner has been notified and has until Thursday,

August 29th; to respond to me with a mailing address.

If the winner does not respond by

August 29th; I will have no choice but to select another winner.

Modern Day Redneck please e-mail me with your mailing address.

My E-mail is: SandyLivesay@gmail.com

Reminder - Jam - Egg Plant - Truck

Don’t forget to register for the give – away I’m sponsoring. Register here in the comment section of this post. One thing I failed to let those registering for the give – away know. Not only will I be shipping the winner this awesome book, but there will be a handy gift added to the package. Now doesn’t this peak your interest??? Don’t delay because Friday will be your last day to register.

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This morning, I decided to can strawberries from my garden bed. I made strawberry jam, I was able to make 4 ½ pints of jam. The ½ pint went into the refrigerator because the family couldn’t wait to try the jam.

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I went out to work in the garden. I pull out the last of the old lettuce, luffa sponges (they ended up dying on me), the rest of the beets, leeks and cauliflower (never amounted to anything but a stem 2 inches in height) to prepare the area for planting fall beans and peas.

While working in one of the long raised beds, I noticed I have eggplant forming on one of the plants. This was a nice surprise, good thing I looked at the plants before yanking them out of the ground.

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We harvested our first cantaloupe; remember the surprise vine? Well here’s a picture of the cantaloupe harvested at the same time I pulled some carrots to add to our soup.

And here it is cut in ½, looks good and tastes real sweet. I can’t wait for the remaining 50 (slightly exaggerated) to finish growing.

The surprise vine identified

Cantaloupe (surprise melon ready for harvest)

Inside the cantaloupe, real sweet tasting

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And finally, here is a picture of Tank’s new (used) truck. He wanted a second truck to romp around town in, so he went out and purchased himself (with his own money) a used 1970 Chevrolet C10 classic truck. The truck needs some work under the hood, inside the cab, and the body. Tank’s happy; he’s got a truck with no electronics. Something he can tinker with, and eventually use maybe as a bug out vehicle.

GIVE - AWAY

Give – Away

Complete Wilderness Training Manual

Be Prepared

By Hugh McManners

The official Boy Scouts of America guide to mastering outdoor skills and staying alive in challenging environments, complete wilderness, a training manual enables everyone expert to novice alike to answer the call of the wild with confidence.

Provides step by step instructions with clear photographs and artwork to explain the key principles of survival.

Understand how to find food and water, construct an emergency shelter, and safely navigate all kinds of hostile terrain.

Learn to expect the unexpected and be prepared for any situation.

Rules

To enter, just type a comment below in the comment field. Once you’ve typed your comment and transmitted your comment, you will be enter in the give – away.

All Entries must be received by Friday, August 23, 2013 by 11:59 PM CDT. The drawing will be held Saturday afternoon, August 24, 2013. All names will be placed in a bowl, and a name will be pulled from the bowl Saturday afternoon, August 24th. 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. Only one entry per person. Good Luck Everyone!!!!

Join, Welcome, Thank You - Tomatoes, Peppers, & Juan Canary Melons - Water, Give - Away

Pic Source: ndnaturepictures.com

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

Blogger to my blog. Welcome Mrs. Mac at The Experimental Homemaker blog. Thank you for joining my blog, please sit back and enjoy the ride.

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On Saturday, Bulldog Man and I drove over to SciFiChick’s (from Bacon and Eggs blog) place. We stopped in to share some green Chiles and Mesquite before heading to visit family in Tulsa. I love driving out and visiting with Sci, and Mars, her husband. We always have wonderful conversation and before you know it the time flies. Before leaving, Sci and Mars gave us all kinds of beautiful tomatoes from their garden, some peppers (various types) and these awesome Juan Canary Melons.

I was so excited, I couldn’t wait to get home and can the tomatoes, use the peppers with meals this week, and cut into the melon.

I canned the tomatoes, snatched a good amount of tomato seeds from 8 tomatoes, and dried the skins I peeled off each tomato. I followed the instructions Sci provided on her blog for powdered tomato skin. Now I have a jar started for powdered tomato skin, and plan on adding more powdered skin to the jar for future use.

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Added to our refrigerator is a pitcher of water with sliced fresh cucumber, fresh ginger, and mint from my garden. I always try to have a pitcher of water laced with something exciting so everyone in the house drinks the appropriate amount of water daily to remain hydrated.

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Monday, I will introduce my new give - away. Here’s a hint of what it relates to: Training – Preparedness……………..

Any ideas what I’m going to post for the give – away?

Chiles???

Did you say Hatch Green Chiles?

No……oh, I did!!!

Bulldog Man and I came home from New Mexico with 2 large burlap bags full of mild green chiles. When we arrived home, I opened each burlap bag, got rid of the over ripe, and broken chiles. I pulled out approximately 4 bags of 80 chiles to give to friends who love green chiles, and I kept the rest for us.

I thoroughly washed each pepper, cut of the top of each pepper, pulled out the seeds, and placed the peppers in a food saver bag sealed for freezing. Doing this gives us the opportunity to take out a package, or multiple packages, of peppers and roast them at our convenience, instead of having to roast all of them at once.

I didn’t throw away the seeds; I set them on a cookie sheet, and allowed them to dry. Once dried, I will pack them away for planting in the future.

You can have your chiles roasted at the store when you purchase them.

While there roasting the entire area smells wonderful.

Do you like Hatch Green Chiles?

New Mexico - Cervantes - Sacramento Mountain Weavers - WARNING LOADED W/PICTURES

We’re back home, and Tank did a mighty fine job taking care of the house and animals.

The first part of our trip, we drove cross-country to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to attend a formal retirement ceremony of one of Bulldog Man’s military friends. Bulldog Man’s friend retired as a Colonel from the USAF, with 32 years dedicated to our country. He’s a damn good doctor and pilot. Now a civilian, he will enjoy life to its fullest, and travel the country with his lovely wife. This was the first time I actually meet Bulldog Man’s friend and family.

After the retirement ceremony, Bulldog Man and I went back to our hotel to change, get in comfortable clothing, and head to downtown Albuquerque to play tourists. We stopped at this wonderful Mexican restaurant called Cervantes, on the corner of Gibson and San Pedro. If you ever get to Albuquerque and want authentic Mexican food, I recommend you try this place. The food is out of this world, the service is totally awesome………..guaranteed you’ll need a forklift to help you out the door after eating this wonderful food.

Once done eating, we asked a waitress where she recommended going if you’re looking for gift type items, and she suggested Old Town. Bulldog Man and I drove to Old Town and walked the entire area. This is a place to visit if you’re looking for gift type items. We came across this store called Sacramento Mountain Weavers. Throughout the store there were handmade rugs, shawls, hats, scarfs (made with the triangle and standard looms), jewelry, art, and many other items on display. We met this wonderful woman, Pam Schrode; she runs Sacramento Mountain Weavers and makes Chainmaille jewelry. Everything in this store was made on the property. Bulldog Man and I purchased this beautiful picture of an owl, and earrings made with turquoise. I would recommend you visit Old Town if ever in Albuquerque and stop in Sacramento Mountain Weavers.

Pam Schrode Working Hard On The Triangle Loom

Pam Working With The Standard Loom

Grape Vines In The Courtyard

Old Catholic Church Inside Old Town

On Friday, we drove 200 miles south to Tularosa, to check on Bulldog Man’s parents. They had no idea we were coming, it was a really nice surprise. Both Bulldog Man and I were very happy to hear his father has recuperated from cancer and radiation treatments and is doing very well. As for his mom, she was just diagnosed with skin cancer on her ear. Both were very pleased we came for a visit.

Below are more pictures of the countryside and sky passed while traveling.