Leigh's Give Away & Clouds, Moon

Tonight’s the final night you can register for a giveaway sponsored by Leigh over at 5 Acres & a Dream Blog.  She’s created a wonderful book relating to a self-sufficient homestead. This book is the give-away and is called:     5 Acres & a Dream Book:  The Challenges of Establishing a Self-Sufficient Homestead.  

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Here are a few pictures of the clouds and moon over Oklahoma.

Welcome, Join, Thank You, Night Stands Done, and Other Stuff!!!!!

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

Welcome Mary Ann at Calamity Acres Hobby Farm   blog. Thank you for joining my blog, please sit back and enjoy the ride. 

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Several of you had asked me to show a picture when I finished painting the $20.00 pair of night stands I found on Craigslist.  The first picture is what they looked like before the transformation. 

I painted each night stand with 2 coats of a light cream/beige flat paint, then I painted each with a bronze glaze to give them more of a Tuscan look, and then I finished them off with a clear paint to protect them.

Instead of looking for new hardware (handles), I just washed them up. 

 

 

 

 

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We were all trying to figure out what the surprise vine was that was growing in and amongst my tomato plants, we decided it was possibly a watermelon (based on the last picture I posted of the vine)………….well surprise again, look at this picture.  It’s a cantaloupe!

 

 

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The other afternoon, it rained, and I canned several quart-sized jars of homemade beef broth.  I still have chicken broth to make and can, along with homemade tomato sauce.  Instead of waiting on a rainy day, I think I will tackle it within the next several days.

 

 

 

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Here’s the last of my Swiss chard. I harvested it, and wilted it in some bacon grease for 1 minute in a frying pan, then served it up with some bacon on top and complimented it with a loaded baked potato for dinner.  Yes, I know…..not real healthy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Next to harvest from my garden will be my carrots.  I pulled one out and believe I need to wait a week or two before harvesting this batch to make homemade honey glazed carrots.

 

 

 

 

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Finally, I wanted to leave you with a picture my husband Bulldog Man took of the moon.  It’s gorgeous!  Have a great evening ya’ll……..

 

Sunflower Pic Source: Kansas Travel.org 

Ever Changing Faces of the Moon

Last night’s moon, pictures are a little blurry, we had unbelievable winds last night.



Moon - Bird Seed Mess

Last night’s moon:

I found this project to make bird seed wreaths and thought; I would try making a wreath first hand.  I followed the recipe, mixed the bird seed mixture, greased my bundt cake pan with nonstick cooking spray, spooned the mixture into the bundt cake pan, pressed down each layer of spooned in mixture (to make sure it was firm),  and let it set over night to dry as instructed.  The next day, I was supposed to just turn the bundt pan upside down (carefully), and the wreath was to slide out.  Yeah, right!!!!!  The bird seed wreath came out in 50 million pieces (no picture taken).  What to do….. oh, all I could do was smile

Smile and swear under my breath

and pickup the towel I was using (to prevent a mess), walk to the back door and fling the 50 million pieces of bird seed all over the back yard.  The birds loved it!

My 2^nd attempt in making the bird seed wreaths (used tea cups to see if this concept would work and because I didn’t have enough gelatin to make a large wreath). I went back to the computer and found a different recipe.  The first recipe had just too much flour in the mixture and it dried the wreath out badly.    I found another recipe; this one worked…..YAY!!!!!  Now that I know it works, the next time I go to the grocery store, I can pick up more Knox Gelatin to make wreath with ribbon to hang in the tree for the birds.   

I found the simple recipe (that worked) here:

http://themagiconions.blogspot.com/2010/07/darling-little-birdseed-cakes.html

Pictures of my tea cup experiment:

  

Now I know this recipe works and ribbon holds,

 I can make a beautiful wreath and place ribbon on it.

We Are Blessed - Garden - Circular Movement - Moon

This morning, I decided to cut the grass and cleanup the property, we had no real damage from the storms other than our corn lying down, our garbage can blew over, and a few branches were down on the property.  We were definitely blessed when those storms passed.

My poor above ground garden boxes desperately need help. Initially I used bamboo poles in the garden boxes to hold up the bird netting.  When the storms went through all the bird netting was ripped off the garden boxes.  Bulldog Man seen the frustration on my face and cut several of the 1x2’s we had picked up earlier from Home Depot.  He screwed the 1x2’s in each corner of all my garden boxes as stable posts to hold up bird netting.  On the larger garden box, he ran a complete 1x2 length-wise on the top of two sides for additional support. 

While Bulldog Man was attaching the 1x2’s, I was pulling up the remnants of kale (it was not growing, bad seeds) and transplanted 5 tomato plants in place of the kale. 

Notice on the large garden box an additional support running length wise in the middle of back.  Bulldog Man placed this to support the corn that blew over and was lying flat when the storms came through.  I have to say, Bulldog Man is wonderful in the garden.  Shhhh, don’t tell him, it may go to his head, lol. 

Back side of corn & complete view of large above ground garden box

Front side of corn

Green Chile plant growing like an octopus

Here are several pictures of the clouds forming circular movement during the start of the storms just over our house. 

Here is a picture of the moon beaming over the top of us tonight.

Nice Surprise This Morning

I woke up to this beautiful moon at 5:00 AM this morning.

A Porch With A View

A view from my front porch of the Super Moon at 8:45PM, Central time. 




 

Enjoy and have a great night Blogger Family.

This And That

Today was one of those days where I ran around town and completed errands.  Hit Walmart and picked up several cases of jars for canning (all different sizes) and freezing, went to the post office (nothing interesting there, just bills).  Pulled out the good old crock pot and made chicken SOS, some people call it fricassee.  Either way it’s grub and goes down real good! 

Then I was off to the dentist to get a second opinion on some dental work.  I really have not had much luck with dentists the last 10 years of my life.  I have had dental work that ends up eventually breaking (i.e. crowns w/root canals) and now I am paying dearly.  I must admit, getting a second opinion has eased my mind.  Especially when the dentist completed a thorough examination, spent over 45 minutes just talking to me about what needs to be done to my mouth.  I am very pleased with this second opinion and now I have found a dentist that is willing to work with me and get me situated.  Someone I am extremely comfortable with. Hopefully by this time next month, my dental issues will be resolved. 

Have you looked out into the sky this evening?  There is nothing prettier than looking at a full moon.  Can you see the face inside the white circle?