Crappie Fishing Fun in Iowa

Every summer friends of ours in North Carolina come home to Iowa to spend a week with their family. One of the highlights of the week is their annual fishing day at a local farm pond with my hubby. Every year they have stories to tell, but this year it was a  video story. What a fun time they have. Plus they always catch enough fish for fish fry. Fun weekend.

Enjoy,
Rose

Iowa Sunset on the Eve of the Fourth

This year we have a cornfield behind us. It blocks our view a bit, especially when it comes to sunsets. But I was pleasantly surprised how beautiful the sunset was last night. Love summertime in Iowa.

       Have a happy, fun and safe Independence Day.
                                       Rose

Straw Bale garden update

After a week of hot windy weather that dried everything out, God sent us a rainy cool Sunday. Just what we needed. The rain barrel is full again as we have had close to 2 inches of rain. Rain that came without wind or hail.

Usually after of week of hot, windy weather, we get storms. But this rain was great. The hay bale garden is doing pretty good in spite of the rabbits, early cool wet weather followed by hot windy weather. Oh, the fun of gardening in the Midwest. Always a challenge. I tried to buy more cucumber seeds or plants to replant what the rabbit ate but no place I looked had any. Oh well, I have three plants and if all goes well that should give us a good supply of cucumbers. 

Two of the four cucumber seeds sprouted.

The cucumber plant the rabbit had for dessert.

Same for the tomato plants. The only ones we could find were very tall and leggy. We figured they wouldn’t transplant good in our sunny, windy area. The one the rabbit ate is looking healthier than the one he didn’t get. But that one does have a tomato. Time will tell. 

The tomato plant that was rabbit food.

The tomato plant the rabbit missed.

Green beans are looking pretty good. Hopefully we will get enough beans for M to pick and eat. She is very excited for that to happen. Green beans are one of her favorite veggies.

Notice the fencing. Seems to be working, so far.

Happy Gardening,

Rose

As one chapter closes, another one opens.

Gosh, it has been a week since I blogged. I even had most of the week off. It sure went fast. I have been doing some clearing out. I am getting ready for a garage sale. You see after 40+ plus years of taking care of children, I am retiring. My last day of daycare will be July 31. Hopefully I will have more time for lots of things that got put on the back burner over the years. I love to read. Maybe now I will have time to read occasionally. I even bought two new books by a favorite author, Iowa native, Nicole Baart- Far From Here and Sleeping in Eden. Also, as some of you might know, I have an on-line store on Tpt.com. I love creating and selling products for children and after I retire I will be able to devout more time to my store. It will also be nice to just sit in the sunroom with hubby and watch the world go by without feeling like I should be getting something done. And maybe I will have time to blog more often. I will miss the daycare kids and their sweet smiles and hugs and unconditional love. But as one chapter closes, another one opens.

A blessed Sunday to all of you,

Rose

That darn Rabbit

We are having rabbit problems again. Because of all the rain, being gone a lot and a body that isn’t as young as it once was, my flower garden has become a “wild” flower garden. Not in variety, though I do have a lot of wildflowers planted, but because of out hand, over growth. That doesn’t bother me so much but it is now home to a darn rabbit. Can you say, Elmer Fudd. I now know how frustrated that old cartoon character felt. Every time I go out to check on things, the Rabbit runs into the near bye cornfield. We see him out and about every evening. I think he likes cucumber and green bean plants for a bedtime snack. Need to buy more fencing.

Have a good weekend,

Rose

Our black cat, Spooker

A blogger I follow “Our Neck of the Woods” triggered a memory of our last cat. Spooker was a black, female cat. Not a speck of white on her. Daughter No.3 found her as a kitten at a home where the owner had a lot of cats. She was the “runt” of the litter so she felt sorry for it. Daughter no.3 felt the kitten wasn’t getting her share of food because of its size. In the beginning, the little black kitten was scared of everything. A leaf blowing in the wind, a loud noise, anything. Hence the name Spooker. Spooker loved to go outside with me when I worked in the gardens. She would follow me around like a little puppy, startling me when she would suddenly appear through the plants.  Watching for her when hoeing in the vegetable garden, made that job more time consuming then necessary. But Spooker would bring a smile to my face when she would find something to “attack”.  And that cat knew what getting out the suitcases meant. She would follow me around the whole time it took to pack, meowing as loud as she could. She seemed to be saying, “Don’t go. Please don’t go”. It was so sad and yet would bring a smile to my face. In the early years or in the winter, we would leave her inside when we left with plenty of “supplies” and had a friend check on her. As she got older and hated to be inside all the time, we would leave her outside when we left. A friend would check on her and make sure she had water. She was a great hunter so we were never concerned about food, knowing she would take care of that herself. I swear she knew the sound of our car. When we would pull in the drive, she would come running from the back field and meet us at the garage, meowing her head off. Giving us the devil for being gone so long, I am sure. Spooker was a fun cat and gave us years of loyalty. She lived with us for 14 years and it has been 13 years this July since her passing. We haven’t had another pet since her. Maybe one day but not right now. We travel so much that I don’t know if I could stand all that meowing when packing.

Take care,

Rose

Beautiful wedding. Rain held off.

WOW. What a busy week we had last week. Our Granddaughter Tonia and Jay’s wedding was this past weekend. She made a beautiful bride and him a handsome groom.

It was an outdoor ceremony held at the Rotary Reserve in C.F. There was a strong threat of rain  all day but it held off till the end of the reception.

Needless to say, my flower gardens have suffered this past month. We were gone so much and when we were home it was rainy. The drought has been declared over and that is a good thing. The weeds have definitely loved it. But the wet cool nights haven’t been that great for the veggie garden. It is growing but very slowly.  The stub of the tomato plant the rabbit ate off is growing new leaves. Do you think it will amount to anything? Time will tell. 

The rest of the garden is doing fairly good. But needs some sun.

Green beans

re-planted cucumbers

The cucumber the rabbit missed.

M harvested the rest of her radish today. The radish did great. They love the cool nights and wet weather. But the worm has turned. Today it is on the warm side, 88, and very humid, 68%. Pretty normal for us to go from furnace to air conditioning.

Thanks for stopping by.

Rose