Uncategorized – Asbery's Echoes

Dandelions

Drew and I harvested dandelions earlier this spring when they first started popping up. Most people I know think of dandelions as weeds but after sketching them in our Nature Journals and doing some research we decided to make some useful items out of them. We have so so many dandelions in our yard and I love them. They remind me of little drops of sunshine all over the ground! And the bees and the chickens enjoy them too.

I decided to make some dandelion lotion bars out of the fresh blooms. And Drew wanted to try frying some blossoms. The lotion bars turned out so sweet and they work wonderfully. Drew wasn’t a huge fan of the fried blossoms. I kind of winged it and they could have used a little more flavor in the breading but it was still fun to try. We harvested quite a few extra blooms to dry for later use. I want to slowly start adding to my stash of dried naturals to have on hand.

Making use of dandelions was fun and a great way to get outside even though it was still an early chilly spring day. And now Drew will pick me little dandelion bouquets now and then when he’s outside playing!

A Good Mail Day

I worked at the school yesterday afternoon. It’s always good to be there. For some reason this year I feel more like I belong there. This is the third year I’ve been a substitute associate so maybe it’s because after three years I feel I know the ropes. Or maybe it’s just that after three years I recognize the kids and they recognize me. I was talking to one young man yesterday, he’s in 6th grade, and we talked about how I feel like I’ve watched him grow up. He’s a sweet kid and I’m going to miss him next year as he’ll be moving onto the junior high building. I love when I can develop a bond with the kids. It doesn’t happen a lot since I’m not there on a day to day basis but when it does, it’s usually a kid who needs some extra attention and love from an adult in their life who is simply there to be with them. I also enjoy how the teachers make an effort to show that they appreciate my being there. And it’s nice to be there with Drew. Just seeing how things run, knowing the teachers, knowing all the kids. I like having that insight into his school life.

Yesterday was also a good mail day! It’s always a pleasant surprise when I open the mailbox and there is the new Mary Jane’s Farm. Full of wonderful information, ideas, crafts, recipes – all things home related. It’s a wonderful magazine. And the only magazine I subscripe to anymore. I also love Mary Jane’s books and have purchased a few of them. You can get them off Amazon and Ebay used for a great price!

And then of course, seed catalogs. Who doesn’t like a good seed catalog? My goal is to start a garden this spring. We have lofty goals – peas, green beans, sweet corn, carrots, tomatoes, green peppers, jalepeno peppers, cucumbers, the list goes on. We might have to cut a few things out and start smaller but it doesn’t hurt to have big dreams! Last year Mom had an abundance of green beans and cucumbers so I froze the green beans she generously shared and made freezer pickles with the cucumbers. I find it so satisfying to throw those homegrown beans into my pot of veggie soup or to open a container of pickles and set it on the supper table this winter. It’s like having a bit of summer on our plate and even though I didn’t grow them, I put in the effort to preserve them and now we’re enjoying that effort. It makes me happy! And Drew helped Grandma pick those beans and cucumbers and he helped me snap those beans and freeze them. It’s good for him to see where our food comes from and to know that with a little bit of effort on our part we can feed ourselves without going to the store.

Winter

I’m going to try this whole blogging thing again. Only different. Here goes.

We had record breaking cold weather last night. It was absolutely frigid. I had never heard the house groan and creak and pop like it did all night long. I’d read about that happening but had never experienced it myself. It was strange. Like the house was talking back to Mother Nature. But this 100+ year old house kept us safe and warm. The furnace kept up (thank goodness we had a full gas barrel), and the electric heater along with an old heavy quilt kept the back bedroom comfortable, the water pipes didn’t freeze. I’m so very thankful!

Joe was gone. He’s been in Pella this week. So it was up to me to hold the fort down. I stressed and worried about the poor chickens. I went out at dusk and gave them more bedding, stuffed some old sheets up and around them, then more bedding, told them good night and closed their door. And this morning – they were up and clucking and seemed to glad to see me. They got warm oatmeal and fresh water for breakfast and I opened their door in case they wanted to venture out. I was so happy to see them up and moving around!

It is so cold that everything in town is pretty much closed down or opened late and will close early. The postal service has shut down for the day. That has never happened before that I can remember but I was so glad to hear their decision yesterday. And Monday they announced that school would be canceled for yesterday and today. School was canceled four days last week due to snow, blowing wind and cold. Looks like we will be going to school longer this spring but that’s okay – better that than putting anybody’s life in danger trying to get to school. I have always loved winter. I find a good snowstorm to be exhilarating! There’s nothing prettier than a snow covered landscape! But these temps – I must say I’m not a fan. It’s been a winter to remember that’s for sure!

So after braving the temps this morning to take care of the girls I sat down with a couple of warm cranberry muffins, a cup of coffee and my new MaryJane’s farm magazine and enjoyed a few minutes of perusing. I ordered this magazine sight unseen when they sent me a flier and I am so glad I did. It is filled with fun, informative articles on everything farmgirl related. I can see I’m going to really enjoy it. I’m trying to get back to simple. Less electronics more hands on. Less time spent on blogs and Pinterest and Facebook, more time spent reading a book or magazine and just slowing down and enjoying my family and my home. As much as I enjoy having the internet at my fingertips, I enjoy a hot cup of coffee, a homemade treat and a good magazine so much more. It’s the little things for me!

I Need Routine

A picture from our weekend camping trip to Lake Darling taken by my cousin Brandi. I didn’t get a chance to go out on the boat with Uncle Terry but Brandi took Drew for me. It’s such a beautiful lake.

I really need routine. I just don’t function well without it and these past few weeks have proven that. Joe and I both feel like we’re falling apart at the seams right now. For Joe, it’s work related on top of our constant running and there’s not much I can do to help that except figure out how to make things slow down here at home and give him a calm inviting place to come home to. I’m hoping to make that start today. For the first time in days I have nothing I have to be doing and nowhere I have to be going. We have no plans for this weekend and it looks like next week we can get back into a routine. And I’m excited – I need that routine! I think I’ll start with a big pot of veggie soup for supper. The weather has turned – we had record breaking highs in the 90s and humidity yesterday, it was miserable. Today we’re supposed to see a high of 66. Now that’s a change in temperature. A perfect time to for yummy veggie soup!

28 Years

It’s hard to believe Joe and I were married 28 years ago on the 18th. We couldn’t fit in our annual just the two of us camping trip so Dad and Mom kept Drew for the day and overnight and we went to Centerville for the day. Joe has an account there and they told him about a place called Bradley Hall. It was the neatest place. Joe was disappointed because he thought it was full of antiques. Instead it was full of all kinds of things to buy but very few antiques. It’s actually a mansion that was built in 1902 by a banker for his wife and two children. It cost him $100,000.00 to build.

Aren’t the designs made with these hosta pretty?

I would have loved it if all the “stuff” was gone and it was set up just like it would have been when it was built. It is a beautiful house and the craftmanship was unbelievable. They certainly don’t build things today like they did back then. I didn’t take many pictures because there was just too much stuff in the way but we really enjoyed wandering through the house. Upstairs and downstairs. It was fun trying to visualize how it would have looked in it’s glory!

This is a bathroom floor – the bathtub and sink were blue to match!

Then we drove around Lake Rathbun. Lake Rathbun is huge and very much a recreational lake. We’ve camped there a couple of times and there are some beautiful campgrounds around the lake but most people who visit the lake are there to boat. They spend their days out on the water and only come back to the campground to sleep! We ended up eating supper at the marina and it was really good. Joe had the ribs and I had a Cuban sandwich. I like to try new things and I’d never had anything Cuban. It was yummy! It was a pretty low key day but it was nice to get away – just the two of us. We don’t get to do that very often!

Fair Time

Friday afternoon – let’s run into the Expo and walk through the barn. It won’t take long and then we can come home and have supper and piddle around here. Well, that turned into walking through the barn, checking out the tractors, walking through the barn again with Jeremy and Abby and the grandkids, then watching the Mutton Bustin (the boys refused to do it this year!), taking the kids to the bouncy houses, then staying for part of the concert. It was after 10:00 when we got home. It acutally got chold but we had a great time and Drew LOVED the concert. Only in a small town can you let a seven year old stand front row at a concert. And he was so excited – they gave him a guitar pick!

Back To Normal

I love our small town parade. So much patriotism, lots of kids, old cars, horses and fun! See the green and gray building in the background? This old car belongs to an old schoolmate of mine and his passenger is an old friend who worked with my mom at the bank. Her husband was my government and econ teacher in high school. My dad had his barbershop in the right half of that building for years. And there was a laundromat on the left side. Once in awhile my sister and I got to go over to the laundromat and visit August and get a bottle of pop! Now I get my taxes done there and I get my hair cut in the back. At one time the upstairs of this building was a hospital – that was long before I was born!

Wow – we had a busy last few days! We sold shave ice on the 3rd and the 4th, the weather was unbearably hot and humid (which is good for selling shave ice but hard on these old bodies!), our freezer decided to misbehave during this time so we dealt with that, the 4th of July parade, getting the camper ready for camping on the 5th, the freezer apparently had some stale water in a drippan underneath that provided us with one horrible horrible smell that had to be taken care of, finally made it to the campground, had beautiful camping weather, managed to get in lots of stitching and relaxing, babysitting Bayah at the campground Friday night, a wedding reception in Bettendorf on Saturday night for my cousin, home with the camper yesterday, over to Dad and Mom’s last night to retrieve all our meat to put back in the freezer that is now up and running again. We had lots of fun but today I’m thankful to get back to normal!

Drew got to watch the parade with two of his buddies he hadn’t seen school let out in the spring!

Braxton won the greased pig contest in his age group – he was so proud!

There’s nothing better than breakfast prepared by the hubby over an open fire!

Drew put a few miles on his scooter over the weekend!

Little Miss Bayah spent the evening with us while Daddy, Mommy and big brother went bowling to celebrate a birthday. Drew was thrilled to get to spend some time with her!

Since it was just Joe, Drew and I camping this weekend we had a lot of free time – I chose to stitch – of course!

Making Progress

We’re making progress on the deck. Yeah!!! The last two nights when Joe has gotten home from work the weather has been beatufiul and we’ve been able to go out and work away. It’s coming along a lot faster than I thought it would, especially considering we aren’t as young as we once were and we don’t move quite like we used to! All that’s left is to screw the floor in place. Hopefully someday we can put a railing around it but that will have to wait a year or two (or more). I’m just happy to have the deck itself! And I’m looking foward to being able to just spend time enjoying it rather than working on it!

Taking a break to show Drew how to use the drill. This child is so curious – he wants to know how to do everything!

Rocks and Camping

I don’t know why he takes the dolls hair off but he seems to like them better this way!

Yesterday Drew and I were missing Eric and I could tell Drew needed a little extra attention. So, even though my house is a disaster and I had planned on doing some major picking up and cleaning – I instead spent the majority of the day with Drew. We played with his Playmobil camping toys – he has the truck, camper and tent and he has so much fun with them! Then we painted rocks! I had seen that our community had started a Sigourney Rocks project where you paint small rocks and “hide” them around town for others to find. If you find a rock you can either keep it and paint another one to hide or you can re-hide the one you found. You also share a picture of the rock you found on Facebook under the Sigourney Rocks group. What a fun project – something both adults and kids can enjoy together!

Then last weekend while at our family get together in Burlington my cousin showed me some rocks she had painted with her granddaughter that they were taking to Lake Geode (which is just down the road from Uncle Terry’s place) to drop off with the same principle behind it. Only she was a member of Art Abandonment on Facebook. The way she explained it they do the same thing only you can do more than just paint rocks. You can make anything you want and leave for others to find. I see it to be a way of spreading joy to others without expecting anything in return. Something I want Drew to understand and want to do. We are going to take our rocks to the campgrounds when we camp and leave them for others to find. And we’re going to be on the lookout to see if others have left rocks of their own for us to find!

Today picking up the house is on my agenda and then working in the camper and if time allows, maybe painting some more rocks. It’s kind of addicting! Tomorrow is Joe’s and my anniversary and we are camping, just the two of us, for the weekend in Pella. This is a yearly tradition for us. We don’t buy each other presents and we rarely, if ever, get away just the two of us except for the weekend of our anniversary. We tend to stay either in Pella or at a favorite campground outside of Des Moines. This year we will be heading to Roberts Creek in Pella. We always look forward to this weekend and this year is no exception. Drew will spend the weekend with Grandpa and Grandma, Eric doesn’t plan on coming home this weekend, so we’ll be off to spend a nice relaxing weekend on our own!

This and That on Thursday

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I think I’m the only person I know who didn’t take pictures. Not even one. We were too busy. We sold shave ice Monday afternoon/evening/night and again on Tuesday. I don’t know if it was the weather or what but we were busy busy busy. Busier than usual. This old body isn’t used to standing and constantly moving for hours on end and staying up until the wee hours. I was exhausted by Tuesday evening. We managed to stay awake to run in for the fireworks and then we crashed.

Yesterday Joe had the day off so we slept in and ran to Ottumwa and basically did nothing. They opened a Hobby Lobby there which is exciting news for me. A Hobby Lobby 25 minutes from home – that may or may not be a good thing! Then we checked out campers at the camper dealership and Rangers and Mules at the dealership next door. No, we are not looking to buy a new camper – but it’s fun to look. I always go home happy with the one I’ve got. Joe would like to trade in the 4 wheeler at some point for a Mule so we checked a few out for fun. Then home and an early night to bed.

Today we are taking it easy. Getting laundry caught up and puttering around. It’s hot out and we need rain. I’ll be watering flowers and the garden and making sure the pets have fresh water and are staying cool. That’s about it. My computer is down so trying to post this on my Kindle. Not sure when we will be getting the computer up and running so may or may not get to post much. It’s always something isn’t it??!!