Smile!!!

Been a slower week. I'm in the process right now of making crockpot apple sauce. Our fruit this year has been awful so like the peaches, I'm having to cut around the bad spots and salvage what I can. Our granny Smith apples have been dropping and they aren't near ripe enough but good enough for apple sauce. We didn't have apples last year so haven't had any homemade apple sauce in several months now.

I did manage to make it around the place to take some photos. Our clematis have bloomed all summer. These white ones are the last of the blooms.

I know I'm probably supposed to deadhead them as they finish blooming but I just can't. They leave behind the cutest whirls so I leave them for just the fun designs they make.

I think I may need to remove the back of my pink commode planter.  Water got into it last winter and it cracked it. 

It's the middle one and you can't really see the back but it is completely broken out. The green in front is an old wheelbarrow. The green stuff is a type of succulent moss and the last commode has creeping Jenny which is now covering the ground everywhere around them.

Our cantaloupe vines have 5 baby cantaloupes and are taking over the place.

Even up my metal garden pointing hand. 

Our yard dogs are really getting old now....think maybe about 13 years old. They were rescue dogs. Lulu is in front and Freddy behind.

And of course our house dog .....think there must be something backwards about our yard and house dogs. Shouldn't the big dog stay outside????

Kinzey has gotten about as big as she is going to get but at 80lbs she is almost too big for us to handle. She does well at following some commands but is so hyper that she forgets the main one of jumping up on us. She has knocked me down a couple of times. She doesn't realize her strength and just bulldozes you down. But she can do "come", "sit", "lay down" and does well on her halter leash. 

My "Naked Lady" lilies have been blooming though not as spectacular as usual. 

The week I made peach jam, Sonny processed some pork and venison into sausage.

It is so much healthier with very little grease. And he doesn't over spice it. 

I also have made a great no bake peanut butter pie. I took to pot luck at church and there wasn't a crumb left.

It is fairly easy to make and since I don't use recipe amounts it is hard to explain how it is made. But basically it is a box of instant vanilla pudding, 4oz. of cream cheese (half a bar) or more and 1 cup milk beaten together and then beat in about 3/4c. peanut butter. We like chunky style. Once that is all beaten, I had about a half small container of cool whip topping. I pour all that into a graham cracker pie shell and then squirt Hersheys chocolate syrup over the top and then top with other half of cool whip topping. Put in refrigerator to set up. Sonny is crazy about them and no heating the house up with the oven. 

Well that's all folks...and as always....

Been busy as usual

It has been fruit season here and still will continue. I spent several days making jam. Peach, plum and even fig. 

I've also organized and cleaned our laundry room. Our largest chest freezer would not shut and found out the seal in the lid had come loose and ice had built up in the insulation. Got that that fixed and freezer cleaned so it has been a good few weeks. Sonny finished pressure washing around the house and storage buildings and has cleaned up the yard. 

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In sewing, I took a couple of  old jeans and made some book bags.

I used the remaining parts of the jeans and a piece of fleece I had left over from a baby quilt and made a small bath rug.

I am steadily working on redwork embroidery.

My next project is a request made by oldest granddaughter. 

I'll have to buy some denim and then hopefully find some old jean pockets somewhere.

Speaking of oldest granddaughter....she and her boyfriend finally made a decision on the wedding venue. 

Here is the link....

The Barn at Lost Creek

It is a gorgeous place and is between where we live and Hot Springs so less than 50 miles. I have printed her a wedding planner I found online. Her mom is getting a ring binder and will decorate the cover.

We are all excited but still a year and 2 months off. 

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Our youngest granddaughter got a new puppy ...her name is Bella and she is a Cockapoo.

And as always....

Busy busy busy 2 weeks

It has been a very busy 2 weeks. I had cataract surgery in the other eye a week ago and then the rest of the week was crazy busy. Put up tomatoes and made peach jam.

I was so blessed with the Daughter-in-Love Jackie bringing me not one box but 2 big boxes of tomatoes from the tomato farm down south. These are Arkansas pink tomatoes. They are not near as acidic as most. 

I managed to put up 43 pints of salsa and even saved a few to eat. 

This has been an awful year for gardening of any kind...just too wet and cool. Our tomatoes have not done well at all. We will get a few to eat along the way but not much to put up.

As for the peaches and plums. I did put down 3 gallons of pulp of plums to later make into jam. Three of our peach trees were stripped by the squirrels so we declared war on them. We managed to get enough off another tree to make about 19 pints of peach jam. The other 2 trees are late ripening and now they seem to be rotting on the tree. Hopefully I can get enough to make 36 more pints. This was to be my Christmas presents this year. 

We have been picking blueberries about every other day and put up about 10 quarts in the freezer. 

We will hopefully have apples and pears. One of the pears has been dying off some as well so not sure what is going on. It was supposed to be an Asian pear which is blight resistant  but it looks more like a Bradley which is bad to get blight. Our Arkansas black apple tree is strange as well. It has very few leaves but it does have fruit..we will see. 

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Another 2 baby quilt linework tops.

These 2 are blue puppies.

I have 2 more finished sets in the embroidery but haven't put them together into tops. I'm also still working on the wedding ring quilt top and the sunflower quilt top. These 2 will go to the long-arm quilt shop to be quilted. 

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I have been gathering things for my Daugher-in-Love's yard sale and came across a bin filled with old hand dyed chenille bedspreads. I plan to use them for the baby quilt backings. 

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I have a few old photos I have wanted to share. This first one is a picture of Sonny's grandparents old home place in the delta area. They were rice farmers. 

The house is long gone but the trees still stand. 

This next picture is of what is called the "Hog Trail". The University of Arkansas's mascot is a Razorback. It was also my high school mascot and so there is a road in north west Arkansas that is named this.

It is not a real easy drive but fun if you take your time. 

And then there is a place in north Arkansas called Hawks bill crag. My sister is wanting her ashes dropped here when she dies. I told her she would have to get someone else to do it as I don't plan to attempt it myself. In fact a woman did fall off here last year to her death. 

And last this is the Little Missouri falls. The Little Missouri River heads up near where I live and these are some low water falls near us. It is fun to play in them but they really aren't big at all. Just a fun place to visit.

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And as always....

Wild daylilies

Many years ago I dug up some day lilies that were growing wild and planted them in my yard. They spread like wildfire and finally dug many up and put in some raised beds. We had a turnaround area in our yard for our vehicles and there were many planted in that area. I hurriedly dug them up and threw them in the ditch beside our road. Every year Sonny uses the weedeater and mows them down against my objections but this year there were so many that he finally conceded and left them and just cut around them. I am so happy as they look so good this year. 

We also got around to pressure washing our house and porch. We try to do this every 2 years but it had been 4 years instead. It was so needed. Here is a section that is before and after.

After cleaning the porch, I finally got my pillows out. (No picture of pillows.)

This is looking out from the porch. We trimmed up the vine that forms a canopy.

Another shot of the porch

You know my love of fungus and mushrooms. We have a stump at the back of the house and it has many of the shelf fungus.

These look like a fairy land.

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Lately I've been picking blueberries and peaches. I am freezing the blueberries and I make peach jam. 

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Here are a couple of the baby quilt tops I finished. 

Top one is Mammy's little helper and bottom is Curious George. I made 2 of the Curious George ones. 

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And as always............

Green green green everywhere

One good thing about all the rain we have been having is that everything is so green. Here are some green shots around our place. 

Our muscadine grapes were pruned back severely and they are already lush again. When they get too thick they won't produce much fruit.

We have another vine that is like a tunnel. It rarely fruits as it is too thick and also too shady. Here is the front going into our porch and the back coming out of our porch.

I promised I would put up photos of my wheel barrow and also my comodes.

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I can't believe how much Kinzey has settled down. She is about over her ear infection and loves sleeping in my closet at night now. She has gotten where she doesn't get up and follow us to the bathroom at night anymore. At 19 months old she is doing great. She comes to the command of "Come" now and will sit and lay down. We are still struggling with her harness. But that is because she is so big. At right at 80lbs, she is a big one. She is almost twice the size of her litter mate sister our older granddaughter has. O and she has become quite protective.

We will keep her crate in the house as we have to have somewhere to put her when it rains and we have to leave the house. 

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Another photo I found on the internet..think this is in England.

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And as always.....