Additional Changes, Garden, Donations

Along side our small orchard, and the fenced in garden area behind the house was 3 cedar trees which needed to be cut down, and a pile of old trees and branches.  All of which needed to turned into pulp and shredded.  Here's a before and after picture.

Before clearing area and chopping trees

Different view of clearing area and chopping trees

Before

After

We replaced the screen door on the back porch due to wood rot, the door falling apart; and  also because it had a dog door in it allowing access by any wildlife critters.  Mainly raccoons!!!

We added a piece of solid colored corrugated plastic to the bottom of the screen door with

screws to prevent the raccoon (or other critters) from pushing in the screen to get access

to the back porch.  The corrugated plastic also blocks the dog's view from the door, so he can't

see what's just outside the door; to where he barks his _ $$ off, thinking he's got a play companion

waiting for him outside.  Now many of you are going to ask what about the rest of the screened

in porch, won't the dog see the critter.  Actually, he won't, because we put blinds down during the

winter to help with blocking the cold air.  Our dog's  main concern is always 

lunging at that screen door, never the screen on the rest of the porch.  I really think it had a lot

to do with the doggy door.

Speaking of Beans, here are a few cute pictures of my large Chihuahua………..

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Have you placed your seed order yet?  I've placed an order with Baker Creek.  This year's

order is a small.  I'm only starting a small garden due to all the work required back down

south with my sister's estate.  I started my celery slips several weeks ago inside the house,

on my kitchen window sill.  There are 4 celery slips growing roots, and small stalks.  I'll keep these

slips in water until it's time to plant them in soil.  I've never had any luck growing celery from seed,

so when I purchase organic celery from the store, I chop the bottoms off the stalks and

place them in water to start slips.  This process has been very successful for me.  When I need celery for a recipe or meal, I just go out to the garden and cut what I need, leaving the root ball in the ground to continue growing and producing.

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Some of you are probably going to say, oh what a cute little ladybug!!!  NOT...…….

this is a Chinese Beetle, Harmonia Axyridis.  This beetle has been a royal

pain in the butt in areas of Oklahoma.  When temperatures warm up in the winter,

these beetles swarm.  They love to get into your home through cracks, or any type of 

hole or opening.  They'll land on you while outside, and inevitably they come inside your

home with you.  These beetles will bite you, which is not as bad as an ant bite.  

When you kill them, they stink, and leave an orange liquid which stains furniture, 

curtains, and clothes.

This year, the Chinese Beetle has been a real hinderance.  Many say they're good 

for killing off bugs in your garden.  I don't have a garden yet because it's still

winter.  My thought about the Chinese Beetles, they need to go away......stop harassing humans 

until winter is over!!!

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Last weekend, Bulldog Man and I drove back to Texas to pull my sister's truck out of the

garage, wash it inside and out, and drive it to CarMax in order to sell it.  The truck

was a gorgeous Chevrolet High Country, with all the bells and whistles.  We didn't need another

truck, and it was just too fancy for us.  This truck was not the type of truck you wanted to

haul manure in, or use on the farm out in a pasture, if you know what I mean.  CarMax did my sister's

estate well.    

And this weekend............

We drove down once again; this time we donated my sister's furniture, dishes, etc.... to 2 families

in need.  My sister loved helping people out, and I think she would be proud of the decision I made on donating her household goods to help 2 families.

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I didn't forget about the give - aways.  Tomorrow, I will be introducing two items in a give - away 

I'm sponsoring.  Keep your eyes peeled!!!

Before & After, Birthday, & Give - Away

I promised you updates on the homestead.  Below are two videos, both showing the woods around the driveway which encompass approximately 5 acres of wooded area, broken trees, and tons of underbrush.  Our goal was to clear the old unwanted alive, and dead trees, along with the underbrush.
Bulldog Man and I started the work and realized it would take us a year, or longer, to get all the work done.  So, I hired a company, Bushwackers Land Clearing (from the Oklahoma/Texas areas) to come out with one piece of equipment for 3 days to do the work.  They did an excellent job of shredding the underbrush, dead, and old trees.  It is now so much easier for us to eventually level out the area, and create some garden beds, RV storage, and areas for future building.

BEFORE

AFTER

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We've been busy down in Texas this week as well.  We finally had our probate court hearing for my sister's estate.  It took over 7 months to finally get administrator rights, and heirship.  The delay was mostly due to an election, where the original judge was voted out of office.  We had to wait until a new judge was put in office, and trained.    Having the legal paperwork finally allowed me the opportunity to get the ball moving with bills, banking, my sister's house, and her vehicle.

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Catalog picture from Baker Creek (Rareseeds.com)

Did any of you get "The Whole Seed Catalog for 2019" from Baker Creek yet?
I'm already marking pages in the catalog for new seed purchases.  You really need to get this catalog, it's got all kinds of unique seeds, and makes for a great book for your coffee table in the living room.


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Today's Tanks birthday, 26 years of age....time sure flies.  Instead of making lunch this afternoon, Tank suggested we go to a Mexican restaurant in the next town.  We honored his wishes, and I'm making a cake right now.  Actually, it's in the oven, as I piddle with the computer to get a post out to y' all.

In the near future, I will be sponsoring another one of my awesome give - away's to show my appreciation to my blogger friends for sticking it out with me while I deal with the loss of my sister.
Keep an eye out for my give-away!!!

This and That

Today was beautiful out, temperatures peaked at 65 degrees.  The lawnmower was calling my name…… Sandy…….

Actually the lawnmower wasn’t calling my name; the grass was…..lol……

Yes, I pulled out the old push mower and cut the entire lot.  The property actually looks really nice since we had rain, making the grass a beautiful shade of green.  Generally speaking, if we didn’t have the rain our grass would have been dry as a popcorn fart in a whirlwind, lol….

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With the cooler climate here, I pulled out the dehydrator and dehydrated strawberries. 

I also found myself canning the last of my garden tomatoes that I had placed in the freezer.

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Our son’s headliner on his used (new to him) truck started coming down where it meets the windshield and he didn’t know exactly how to put it back up permanently.  Mom to the rescue, I pulled out my nifty little spray can of glue and fixed his headliner as if it was professionally fixed, and then I gave him my bill.  Tank wasn’t too pleased with Mom when I told him what my bill consisted of…….

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Did anyone watch the debate last night?   I did and was surprisingly entertained.  Romney was totally prepared, looked directly at the President and appeared extremely confident, whereas Obama was edgy, couldn’t answer the questions directly, and refused to look upward in most cases.  If you watched, care to share your feeling on the debate?

Source: Unknown

Work Inside and Out - Watermelon Jelly

I was up early, like every morning, and decided to weed whack the back of the property and around the garden boxes before the sun was out in full force this morning. I didn’t get as much as I wanted accomplished, the battery died, and I failed to charge the second one. After putting the weed whacker back in the garage, I decided I was going to pick up garbage around the property; anything that flew in, like trash or dead branches.  I pulled dead flowers (from the wretched heat) out of several flower pots, and racked up several patches of straw.  By this time, I was ready to go inside.  Temperatures were peaking beyond 100 degrees.

Since the weekend is around the corner, I tackled all of our laundry, cleaned the refrigerator, vacuumed the house, and then made some Watermelon Jelly.  I might as well, we have ½ a full-size watermelon left, and I truly didn’t want to see it go to waste (because we couldn’t eat it fast enough). 

Watermelon Jelly

6 cups of watermelon juice

2 cups of sugar

4 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 complete package of liquid pectin

Take the seeds out of the watermelon (I put all of my watermelon in a blender, including the seeds).  Press the liquid button.  Strain your watermelon juice from pulp and seeds by using cheese cloth inside a strainer. Place the strained watermelon juice in a pot (stainless steel). Add sugar and lemon juice, stir continuously.  Make sure the sugar dissolves into the liquid, keep stirring, and bring to a rolling boil.  Add liquid pectin, keep stirring, and make sure you bring the mixture back to a rolling boil for 1 complete minute.  Remove from burner and ladle out any foam.  Now you’re ready to spoon watermelon juice mixture into your sterilized jars.  Leave ¼ inch head space and process in water bath for 10 minutes.  This jelly will make 6 half pint jars.

Place Watermelon in Blender Turn into Liquid

Strain Juice From Pulp and Seeds

Place Watermelon Juice, Sugar,  and Lemon in Pot.  Bring to Boil!!! Than Add Pectin (Keep Stirring and Allow to Boil 1 Minute).  Spoon off the Foam.

Spoon Into  Hot Sterilized Jars



Remove Air Bubbles From Jars



Wipe Glass Rim With A Clean Wet Cloth



Place Sterile Lid On Jar



Attach Rim

Process in a Water Bath For 10 Minutes

Remove From Water Bath, Sit on Towel  and Cover From Draft for 24 hours.
Make Sure Your Lids Pop (Seal), Label and Store.

To my surprise, last night Bulldog Man (Hubby) came home from work with a bouquet of beautiful flowers.  I think he knew Mama wasn’t feeling well.

Compost - Property Work

Last night Bulldog Man put together an above ground compost container for me.  We wanted to go this route to prevent rodents and snakes from deciding to visit and stick around while the compost decays.  When the compost container was up and ready for vegetable scraps, I went into the house and brought out a sealed bucket of vegetable scraps I had been compiling for the last week.  I opened the bucket to dump the vegetable scraps and wanted to gag.  The smell of rotten vegetables death hit me and I thought I was going to throw up (the vegetable scraps had sat in the closed warm bucket for a week).  I hurried up and closed the compost lid and OMG……you could still smell it.  I decided to put a little straw in the compost to help soak up the vegetable juice and let it sit over night.  Today we added manure to the compost and moved the compost container into the garden away from the house (due to the smell).

Funny story, I remember as a kid, barefoot, running a bucket of vegetable scraps out to the compost in Crestview, Florida.  Now the compost was on the ground in the far back of the yard.  As I got to the compost pile and started dumping the vegetable scraps, I felt this movement under my bare feet.  Guess what I was standing on?  A very large rattle snake!!!!!  I screamed and ran back toward the house.  My Mom came out wanting to know what was wrong, I couldn’t speak, and I was white as a ghost.  She went over toward the compost pile and realized why I screamed and ran back toward the house.  Mom immediately grabbed a shovel from the side of the house and went after that darn rattle snake.  The snake made its way out to the side road.  As Mom was trying to chop its head off a car was driving by.  It slammed its breaks on and ran over the snake 5 times before the little bastard turned into road killJ.   I never went outside to the compost barefoot and without a shovel again.  So the moral of this story is no compost pile on the ground for me!!!!!

This morning, I worked on the yard cutting the grass (again!), weed whacking, weeding, and picking up trash that had blown in on the property.  Bulldog Man and Tank worked in the garage going through and getting rid of things we no longer need.  Putting up shelves, and organizing the garage. Bulldog Man plans on making a shelf to put up the gas containers off the garage floor.  We took a little time out today to grab a brief nap in the prime heat of the day.  This evening, I’m doing some laundry and I will be going out into the garden to see what needs watering and fixing because of the wind.  Heck, I may even plant some seeds.