Finally felt like spring today. Spent hours mentally plotting and planning this years garden while soaking up the sun. The ground will be broken tomorrow...shovel is sharpened, gloves are oiled and sun-tea jar is in waiting...Tuesday, April 1, 2008
IT WAS SUNNY TODAY:
Finally felt like spring today. Spent hours mentally plotting and planning this years garden while soaking up the sun. The ground will be broken tomorrow...shovel is sharpened, gloves are oiled and sun-tea jar is in waiting...
Sunday, March 30, 2008
DO YOU KNOW ME?:
"My master told me to get out of the car and stay. I stayed for two months, licking dew off the weeds and eating grasshoppers so I could stay where he told me to. He never came back for me and I don't know why because I'm a good dog. I'm old and have bad hips but I have loved my family my whole life and don't understand why I would be left in the middle of nowhere to be eaten alive by coyotes. I am worried about my human children, where will they be dumped when their joints hurt and they can't run fast anymore? Grammie Hoffman found me and takes good care of me but I still miss my family."If you overhear someone saying they're going to let "Spot" or "Jake" live out his life in the wild of nature, to be FREE, be it wheat fields or mountains, please have him read this!
Friday, March 28, 2008
OLD FARMHOUSE "BEFORE" PIC:
This pic was taken spring
'07. Major clean-up and beautification project was scheduled for last summer. Well, here it is spring '08, and it looks exactly the same...
'07. Major clean-up and beautification project was scheduled for last summer. Well, here it is spring '08, and it looks exactly the same...
Friday, March 21, 2008
GIFTED AND TALENTED:
Not so nifty as it sounds. Always knew I was different...not stupid, just different. I understood complex problems and was always coming up with an invention of some sort. Maybe a little slow, seemed like it took me twice as long to complete a task than anyone else. I hated cleaning my room; it would take me all day. Two hours to do the dishes and we had a dishwasher. Just wasn't interested in anything unless it intrigued my brain, like taking the dishwasher apart to see how it worked!
As long as we learned the Catechism, the same fifty kids were pushed through Parochial School, year after year. I could not do some of the required general math. Just wouldn't stay in my brain, just floated away! Yep, I know math is a science, once I got to the point were I could use a calculator, no problem! I was also uncoordinated, was never picked for a sport team. Was always the last one standing there red faced.
On the other hand, I couldn't get enough of science. I lived and dreamed science. Mammal, insect, reptile and plant collections of all sorts, took up every available space in my bedroom. Never could figure out why no one else was interested in my microscope and chemistry set except for a couple relatives. I was almost expelled from school one day because I presented Sister Frederica a bouquet of roses from my mother's garden. A honeybee had died while feasting right in the middle of the bunch. It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen...SF did not think so.
I had some cousins on my mom's side of the family, who lived a couple hours away. They spent a couple weeks at our home every summer and sometimes holidays during the year. Their visits would make my whole year. Five kids, the oldest girl, Sally, was a year and a half older than me, the next girl, Linda, was two weeks older. Then there was a boy two years younger and two more girls but it was Sally and Linda who shared my freakazoidness. We did the neatest things together and what great times we had!
Sally was the boldest of us three. I'll never forget the looks on two poor old ladies' faces as they screeched to a halt, eyes popped out, mouths wide open in soundless screams. They were driving up the street and spotted a ten year old kid, weaving around with a coat hanger skewered through her torso. Half a bottle of ketchup gave the gag a gruesome appearance as well as Sally's horrid expression and the hand with more ketchup flailing around. She was so good! By the way, she is now a teacher for "gifted and talented" children!
Years later after we were all grown up, I happen to read a soft cover book written by Sally's oldest daughter, Karen Isaacson, about rearing "gifted and talented" kids, "Raisin' Brains". It won an award and is worth reading. This was the first time I had ever heard the term "gifted and talented" used. I cried for an hour...I finally knew why I was different and it had a name! (CONT.)
As long as we learned the Catechism, the same fifty kids were pushed through Parochial School, year after year. I could not do some of the required general math. Just wouldn't stay in my brain, just floated away! Yep, I know math is a science, once I got to the point were I could use a calculator, no problem! I was also uncoordinated, was never picked for a sport team. Was always the last one standing there red faced.
On the other hand, I couldn't get enough of science. I lived and dreamed science. Mammal, insect, reptile and plant collections of all sorts, took up every available space in my bedroom. Never could figure out why no one else was interested in my microscope and chemistry set except for a couple relatives. I was almost expelled from school one day because I presented Sister Frederica a bouquet of roses from my mother's garden. A honeybee had died while feasting right in the middle of the bunch. It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen...SF did not think so.
I had some cousins on my mom's side of the family, who lived a couple hours away. They spent a couple weeks at our home every summer and sometimes holidays during the year. Their visits would make my whole year. Five kids, the oldest girl, Sally, was a year and a half older than me, the next girl, Linda, was two weeks older. Then there was a boy two years younger and two more girls but it was Sally and Linda who shared my freakazoidness. We did the neatest things together and what great times we had!
Sally was the boldest of us three. I'll never forget the looks on two poor old ladies' faces as they screeched to a halt, eyes popped out, mouths wide open in soundless screams. They were driving up the street and spotted a ten year old kid, weaving around with a coat hanger skewered through her torso. Half a bottle of ketchup gave the gag a gruesome appearance as well as Sally's horrid expression and the hand with more ketchup flailing around. She was so good! By the way, she is now a teacher for "gifted and talented" children!
Years later after we were all grown up, I happen to read a soft cover book written by Sally's oldest daughter, Karen Isaacson, about rearing "gifted and talented" kids, "Raisin' Brains". It won an award and is worth reading. This was the first time I had ever heard the term "gifted and talented" used. I cried for an hour...I finally knew why I was different and it had a name! (CONT.)
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
ORIGINAL MAYONNAISE:
Long, long ago, before there was Best Food's, Hellman's or Miracle Whip, there was an "emulsion" made by farm wives. Only a little was made at a time due to the lack of refrigeration back then. While going thru junk in the farmhouse attic, I came across a box of old recipes. This is one of many interesting ones.
1 tsp. mustard
3 finger pinch pepper
3 finger pinch paprika
1 tsp. salt
1 finger pinch cayenne
1 1/2 cups salad oil (of choice) (I use way less oil)
1 egg yolk
4 tbs. vinegar (of choice)
Mix dry ingredients, add egg yolk and mix well. Add oil, a very little at a time at first then when an emulsion is made, add the oil and vinegar alternately.
I use canola oil and any type vinegar, depending on how the dressing is going to used.
On a farm, you know your eggs. Actually, you know your eggs parents and their parents...I have never come across salmonella or botulism, use raw eggs with caution tho!
1 tsp. mustard
3 finger pinch pepper
3 finger pinch paprika
1 tsp. salt
1 finger pinch cayenne
1 1/2 cups salad oil (of choice) (I use way less oil)
1 egg yolk
4 tbs. vinegar (of choice)
Mix dry ingredients, add egg yolk and mix well. Add oil, a very little at a time at first then when an emulsion is made, add the oil and vinegar alternately.
I use canola oil and any type vinegar, depending on how the dressing is going to used.
On a farm, you know your eggs. Actually, you know your eggs parents and their parents...I have never come across salmonella or botulism, use raw eggs with caution tho!
HOLD TIGHT AND ENJOY LIFE:
You never know when a tragedy may strike your family or friends. I've been pretty lucky so far. My Dad passed away a couple weeks before his 80th birthday and I've lost all my grandparents and uncles, each death was painful but since we don't live forever, it was expected.
My cousin died of AIDS in the early '90s. We weren't real close, saw him every year or so. He and his sister were my dad's only sibling's offspring. Jerry started feeling sick and was gone 6 months later because of a tainted blood transfusion. I was able to say good-bye.
Then there's losing someone you love, one day they're there, the next GONE. The shock, the pain, the anger, the question WHY? The guilt kicks in. I could have been nicer to him, could have made more of an effort to keep in touch. Lots and lots of guilt.
Hold on to the ones you love. Let them know you care. Give big hugs even over the phone. When it happens, because it happens to all of us eventually, the pain will be eased because you know they KNEW!
My cousin died of AIDS in the early '90s. We weren't real close, saw him every year or so. He and his sister were my dad's only sibling's offspring. Jerry started feeling sick and was gone 6 months later because of a tainted blood transfusion. I was able to say good-bye.
Then there's losing someone you love, one day they're there, the next GONE. The shock, the pain, the anger, the question WHY? The guilt kicks in. I could have been nicer to him, could have made more of an effort to keep in touch. Lots and lots of guilt.
Hold on to the ones you love. Let them know you care. Give big hugs even over the phone. When it happens, because it happens to all of us eventually, the pain will be eased because you know they KNEW!
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