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Wednesday, June 29, 2016

A New Generation At The Old Swimming Hole

As a teen, I'd often go to Washington State Park and swim in Big River.  Sometimes it would be with a bunch of friends, sometimes with my little sister, and sometime I'd go by myself.  Good times!


This last trip home Himself and I took Sis's kids swimming.  


It's a good swimming hole.  Moving water teeming with healthy aquatic life.  

Who needs a pricey Turkish fish pedicure when you have Missouri minnows?  Just kidding!  They don't bite.


Heading out for 'deep' water.


Ready... set... 


BLAST OFF!!!!!!


Three... two... one...


...and SPLASH!


Next!

What a fun time we had.  We'll definitely being heading back for another swim on our next visit.




Thursday, June 23, 2016

Six Wonderful Years



Who knew that best buddies could come in such small packages?

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Pieces of a Life

A couple weeks ago I went to the estate sale of a lady who used to be in a church group I belonged to.  I guess you would call it an estate sale, since the family was dispersing her household but Ms Dorothy is still alive and kicking at 102!  However she hasn't lived in her home for many years and it was just time...

Ms Dorothy is one of those ladies who would just make you smile.  Tiny in stature, she was as tough as nails, no nonsense yet with a gentle heart.  You could find her easily in a crowd as she always was stylishly dressed with a hat.  When she could no longer drive, her son would pick her up for church.  She rode along in the back seat, sitting up straight and looking ahead.  We'd tease that her son was "driving Miss Dorothy".  (Seriously tho.. there was a LOT of resemblance between Ms Dorothy and Miss Daisy!)

She worked as a hospital volunteer well into her 80s.  Her place was the nursery; first doing nursing procedures then as she aged, her job was to love the babies.  

From that came her own special ministry.  She told of how sometimes families didn't have any sort of layette for their new child.  So she made sure every child that needed had a 'onsie' or a sleeper, socks, a cap, a blanket appropriate to the weather, and a tiny New Testament.  Our mission group made sure she stayed supplied.  She would never announce that she needed anything to the group but would stop by me (I was President of the group) and 'mention' she was 'getting short on XXX'.  I would then during the meeting ask her 'how it was going'... THEN she would tell the group what she needed.  She didn't mind very gently used items but would admonish the group, "Don't give me anything you wouldn't have put on your own children!"

We had visited Dorothy many times in her home, so it was very surreal to be walking around poking through her things.  Soon tho we were smiling as memories came.


This is what I brought home.


Little odds and ends.  The round pin next to the dragonfly is a Sunday School pin.


She values education and was very well read.


That is an old book...

She has so many Bibles, commentaries, and Christian books.


Himself went through every Bible there.  He ended up finding some fairly important family items  which he handed over to her daughter-in-law.

And he came home with this Bible of hers.  The illustrations are really interesting.




It feels kind of nice to have a few of her things.  I hope I wear her hats with the same sass she did!




Sunday, June 19, 2016

Happy Father's Day!

Rockin' the baby sittin'!!





Sunday, June 12, 2016

Cool Mornings...Busy Days

The first 10 days of June has had some incredibly cool mornings and low humidity evenings.  We've been taking advantage of that every chance we could (whenever something else was not planned).  We've gotten a lot done outside.  This work was to set up a framework that we can build upon with multiple small projects.

Here's a bit of it (we've also been working in the shed, but I'm not ready to show that yet).


Our garage entry area.  It was a mess... let's leave it at that, OK?  We cleared and cleaned and did a few projects.  We've also dealt with the weedy driveway issue since this photo was taken.


One of those projects was this screening of the AC unit.  Those things are just ugly and ours could win the ugly contest.  Seriously... why don't the makers of those things put a bit of style to them?

I got the fence pickets at ReStore for about .50c each.  The big 4x4s came back from my Dad's stash and the 2x4 are from my stash.  The pots of blueberry bushes are sitting on a huge, heavy piece of slab wood...that is sitting on huge 'L' braces attached to the 4x4s.  Between the weight of the wood and the pots, it's not going anywhere.

Still have to pretty it up with a rock border.

The other project was to make a walkway from the back door to the patio.


Himself leveled in the stepping blocks and then went back to add in the roof tarp (BEST weed block ever!).  Then he had to fine tune the block leveling.


Several bags of egg rock and it was ready to go.


Our under-the-deck patio and wee garden.

You can barely see it... there is black chicken wire around the garden.


Doesn't it blend in great from a distance?


The large pots on the left are my 'nursery'; trees and raspberry bushes to be planted later.


On the table are my bonsai in training.


North side of the patio in the lowest (#3) terrace.  As you can see, it was a hot weedy mess.  Himself has taken it personal and is clearing it out.


After: (View looking down from deck)  He's cleared out about a 10' wide area.  He moved the 2 surviving rhubarb plants into the bed with the spearmint.  It gets just a bit of direct sun and the plants seem to like that.

Now up to the front of the house.


Court yard.  Not much different than last year's set up.


Looking the other way (#1 terrace).  Cleaned up of leaves and sticks.  Also moved a bunch of roof tarps that will go into #2 terrace area.  Then this fall (or when it's too dry for mowing) our yard guy will fill #2 terrace with gravel.

The driveway has also been cleaned out.


Left view from the court yard.

We added that huge bird bath (given to us by a friend).  Most of the area from the bird bath down had no gravel.  Yard guy dumped in the gravel (here and several other areas).  Himself then had the chore of spreading it.  This is large gravel (2-4 inches) and doesn't move easy.


And the right view of the court yard.



Heading down the sidewalk to the front door.

We added that 4' wide strip of gravel to tie the herb bed walkway to the main sidewalk.
(Still working on the herb bed...95% done).


Front door.

Yes... another bird bath.  We have 4 of them.


Those hibiscus on either side of the door have a story.

On a WalMart trip, we walked past a couple of pallets of large plants marked 75% off.  Well that's worth a look!  They had been moved from the 50% off area.  There were several VERY thirsty hibiscus but they were still in pretty good shape.   

Original price: $20.98.  Alrighty then!

When I got up to pay for them, the cashier said she couldn't do the extra off.  I told her they were 75% and that was the price they'll be.

She had to call someone.

"Someone" came and told me she'd give me "a couple dollars off".  I smiled and said "No, they are now 75% off.  Got them off the last pallet."  Her reply... "Well, that's what 'Susie' has been giving."

With my smile now gone, I told her, "That is incorrect math.  75% off of $20.98 should come to the price of $5.25 for the plants."  She actually argued!  I was just getting ready to demand the store manager when she huffed and rang them out.

Sheesh.

I got them home and filled a big tub with water.  I plunged them in and let them sit overnight.

Next morning...HAPPY hibiscus!

Aren't those peach colored flowers beautiful?



Monday, June 6, 2016

Social Weeding

Himself and I recently attended a Team Red, White, and Blue non-athletic event (the group does a huge amount of athletic things that just doesn't float our 50-something year old boats... if you know what I mean).

Nope, this event was right up our alley.



We went out to a local organic farm/homestead and helped the gentleman with his weeding.

Yep, we weeded.  Even tho we have our own yard full of weeds.




Just look at these lettuces!!


Chard.


Onions.


Kale.


Radishes.

Hungry yet?




As we weeded, we talked.

Real conversation.  No smart phones needed.

The only tweeting was the barn swallows swooping overhead.

Before we knew it, and hour and a half had passed.  Time to head home.


Headed home with some wonderful produce!
(Chard, onions, beets)



Fire and Cloud Homestead
3371 Ridge Road
Cedar Hill, TN
615-613-6505



Saturday, June 4, 2016

Good Eats: Fly Chicken Fly at Ft. Campbell, KY

Sometimes you find really great food at little "hole-in-the-wall" places.


On a recent trip to Ft. Campbell we discovered just such a place.  Directly across the street from Gate 4 is a restaurant with a fun name... "FlyChickenFly".  How can that not get your curiosity up?  Combine the curiosity with the view I'd read in the paper a few month back had us turning around to give it a try.


It is a TINY establishment.  But as the saying goes, "Great things come in small packages".  There's only 2 tables that seat four each.  Most of the orders are take-away.

We studied the menu for quite a while before ordering.


I got the Glabi (ribs) box.  It came with rice... topped with a fried egg, noodles, mild kimchi, some greens, and 3 little fried dumplings.  


Himself ordered the Chicken Teriyaki box.


The meal also came with miso soup and we ordered Korean egg rolls.

Next trip... the Korean spiced chicken!


FlyChickenFly
16370 Ft Campbell Blvd
(across the street from Gate 4)
Oak Grove, KY 42262
270-439-6300