June 30, 2008

Catastrophe! (1 Comment)

Filed under: Yard and Garden — The Spider Herself @ 12:19 pm

The discussion came up here recently about trees- see the comments on this post. Since these things all tend to run together in my mind- wait, what mind? It got me thinking about the trees we do have on the place- lovingly planted by The Col. and cared for by all of us.

Then I got to thinking about the troubles we’ve had getting them to actually, you know, grow. I hear that is what they are supposed to do.

He planted some poplars around the property line a while back, weeds were growing up around them some but we were watering them and they were growing. Until one was mowed down by the neighbor cutting weeds. Others were chewed off by gophers.  Only one of that bunch survived due to various reasons.

The Col. put wire fencing around the baby trees when he planted more last year because of the deer issue. We watered all last summer and things looked pretty good.

Then the wind storm hit last.. when was it? winter, I think. The fencing came loose around some of the trees and banged the poor things all up. Some blew away which left the trees unprotected. This is what happened.

Peach Tree

The deer (or something) ate the miniature peach tree down to almost nothing.

This one is a pine (I can’t remember which kind but The Col. knows.) It doesn’t look so good. You can see the wire fencing around it. It’s only about 15″ tall.

Pine

We do have quite a few trees that so far seem to be making it. Quite a few poplars because they grow fast and seem to do well here. The taller trees around the house are willows and were planted by the previous owner. We are thankful for their shade! Plus a red leafed maple, three crabapples, three cherry trees, a Mountain Ash, a locust, a weeping willow, several pines and I’m sure I’m missing some.

Catastrophe struck again this last week.

Swathed tree

The swather got it- cage and all. Poor baby!

June 29, 2008

Carry your Own (2 Comments)

Filed under: Photos,TG — The Spider Herself @ 11:13 am

Sunshine decided on this day that she wasn’t going to ride the Dirt King Trike, her faithful friend that rides the ditches with her. She was going to walk. I guess she decided that it was really going to be a trek because she just had to carry her chair with her.

The chair is a real cute one that was given to her by her Grandmother. It has straps so she can carry it on her back and a pocket to carry things.

She carried it the whole way, which wasn’t really that far, and we didn’t even stop to use it. Tsk, tsk.

June 28, 2008

Complete (3 Comments)

Filed under: Photos,Yard and Garden — The Spider Herself @ 11:41 am

The baler came Friday. Such excitement!

We rushed right out to take some photos as the bales are picked up right away.

Nine bales total. We’ve had better, we’ve had worse.

We’ll have to wait for the puny second cutting to get our fix again. Until then, The Boy has his toy farm equipment out and is swathing, raking and baling all the rugs. Sure is hard work! Whew! But this year his Baby Sister is helping which helps ease the burden.

Clothes Choices (1 Comment)

Filed under: In the Kitchen,KJ,Photos,Uncategorized — The Spider Herself @ 10:40 am

Let’s all sing here-“One of these things doesn’t belong here, one of these things just doesn’t belong.” One of these children is not dressed appropriately; she made her own choices on what to wear.

Hint: it was 80 degrees.

This winter when there was snow on the ground Little Miss Pixie decided to wear skirts… everyday. When she went outside she would bundle up in her jacket, scarf, hat and gloves and then fight me tooth and nail to put on thin leggings or tights.

Now, when it’s warm, she is wearing jeans and long sleeve shirts. She has other choices in her closet. I bought some cute skort (skirt with shorts sewn in) outfits when she was along with me. She helped me pick them out- now they are not pink but she said she’d wear them. There was not any tan to be seen. One set has not adorned her body and the other was worn once. We picked out some cute sandals for her, she tried them on, she said they were fine and now it’s a fight to get her to wear them. She would rather wear too small, dirty old ones. The sandals are even white and PINK for goodness sakes!

Do you sense a bit of frustration in my typing? Ah well, I’ve told her I am not buying anything more for her because she tells me she will wear it and then doesn’t. That will last until this winter when she’ll need jeans that aren’t expecting a flood.

And to think- she’s only 5. What will the teenage years be like?

Lord help us.

June 27, 2008

Computer Confusion (0 Comments)

Filed under: Blog Stuff — The Spider Herself @ 2:34 pm

I had been noticing that a few of my computer programs were crashing rather frequently and then some programs wouldn’t come up at all. So I shut the machine down and on start up got a blue screen with white writing on it. That’s not a good thing. It said, though, that if this was the first time I was seeing this screen to shut down and start up again. So I did. It wanted to send a report to the Great Computer Company that Creates Programs that Hog Resources. Since it seemed serious enough, I said go ahead. It came back that I had something called “malware” on my computer. Oh dear. Well, this was beyond me so I phoned my handsome and clever Tech Support Guy.

He asked me to hold while he transfered me to India.

Har. Har.

I was instructed by Mr. Funny Tech Support Guy to shut my computer down and he’d work on it when he got home.

Geez! I had posts to post, websites to visit- truly important things to do! Luckily, I was distracted with VBS all evening.

So far Col. Panic, who didn’t panic, hasn’t found anything suspicious on here. Just lots of tracking cookies for a certain person who “browses” a lot. Who could he mean?

So now we are back to our regular scheduled blogging.

June 25, 2008

Considerate Climate (0 Comments)

Filed under: Life,Photos — The Spider Herself @ 1:00 pm

No matter when we plan on having our Church’s annual Block Party and Vacation Bible School, whether it’s August (duh!), July or June it will be the hottest week of the year. Or at least seem like it. It never fails to be 110 degrees on the Block Party evening and at least that every day of the VBS. (We have our VBS in the evenings so we have enough workers.)

This year is different. We had our Block Party last Friday- it got up to 90 during the day but was pleasant during the evening.

Here is Pixie in the bounce house. This was a popular attraction for the younger set. The older ones liked the dunk tank. We gave out tickets as kids played the carnival type games and then they could pick prizes. The snow cones were also a hit but my favorite part?

We are now in full swing of our Vacation Bible School and the weather is still cooperating by being nicely warm. We have a tropical island/ Hawaiian theme this year so there are lots of people wearing loud shirts and leis. Boy howdy!And you should see our Palm Trees. I need to get a photo of them. I am helping in the “little people” class- ages 3 to just finished kindergarten. We have the largest class of about 20 kids- aren’t we lucky? Oh, excuse my sarcasm. I should be more excited about it and really, I do pray that these kids learn about Jesus and his love for us. Friday night will be family night when we talk about our week and then get to go eat ice cream. It’s not popcorn but it’s still something to anticipate.

June 24, 2008

Cut! (7 Comments)

Filed under: Photos,Yard and Garden — The Spider Herself @ 3:38 pm

We have 5 acres. When we first bought it people asked us if we were going to get horses, which is what people around here do with their property. We said “No.” Cows then? We shake our heads and ignore the looks we get. I mean, what else would a person DO with property? Just enjoying the space isn’t good enough. Well, in some ways it isn’t. For one reason the weeds take over and they are just awful to live with- so pushy and not at all friendly. The previous owners had put in pasture grass for hay. We found a local farmer who would care for our measly four acres of grass and now we sit back and watch the show. What’s more exciting than watching grass grow? Watching the swather, tractor, rake and baler go around the field for one.

Here is a blast from the past (2004) when we ate lunch outside so we could better watch the baler. Notice The Boy’s shirt- it’s the same one that his sister wears all the time.

Last year our hay was cut for the first time on May 14th, which was early. Usually it’s cut towards the end of May or early June. This year?

It was cut yesterday. And yes, those are gray clouds up in the sky. But it hasn’t rained… so far. Today is clear and sunny with a slight breeze. Good haying weather.

Watch out! Don’t get run over!

June 23, 2008

Conspicuous Consumption (3 Comments)

Filed under: Life — The Spider Herself @ 4:46 pm

Water. We need it to live. The “experts” tell us we need to drink 8 cups a day. Some people think that this is a made up number put out there by the bottled water industry. I see that number floating around on all the weight loss web sites. I think one of the main reasons for this is to get people to drink no calorie water as opposed to high calorie soda. But be that as it may- it’s out there being shoved down our throats whether we want to swallow it or not.

When I worked it was easy to drink water. I had a large cup on my desk that always seemed to be empty. I’d fill it up and then it would be empty again. Amazing. It was very handy, right there within reach. When I came home, it wasn’t as easy. For some reason the large cup didn’t get filled and set out where I would see it. I would often feel embarrassed because one of my friends would always have water with her for herself and for her kids. My poor babies would be dying of thirst because I didn’t think about hauling our own water with us (Bad Mother!).

I noticed that I was feeling thirsty in the afternoons and would realize that I was only drinking coffee. So I changed my habits. I measured how much my favorite glass would hold (2 cups exactly- convenient that!) and filled it up. I keep track of how many times I fill it up. When we go out to play at the park or just to town, I fill up water bottles. Now my poor children are hydrated. I feel sanctimonious.

When the homeschoolers meet for an afternoon of play and bible study- I am the one guzzling down the large bottle of water…. and drinking a few cups of tea. Others sit there with nothing and I wonder how they do it. Isn’t the condemnation of the converted awful? Of course, I miss half the conversation because the down side to consuming so much fluid is that it eventual will want out.

Now, please excuse me- I must go visit Henry.

June 19, 2008

Chinese Hot Sauce (4 Comments)

Filed under: In the Kitchen — The Spider Herself @ 4:15 pm

A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…. wait a minute. Maybe not the galaxy part but the rest is right, I wrote a post about The Col.’s love of something called “Tapatio”. It’s a hot sauce that he put on everything. Well, not pancakes or desert or something like that but on about everything else. He likes his food spicy. As I mentioned in that old post he knows to taste his food before he puts on the sauce because it upsets the Cook if he doesn’t. It’s not good to upset the Cook- you never know what she might put in your food next time around. (evil laugh!)

Anyway, a while back we went out for Chinese food. I love it- The Col. tolerates it and the kids eat grilled cheese sandwiches and french fries. Since The Col. was barely able to choke down that bland stuff, he asked the waitress if they had any Tabasco sauce. They didn’t but would he like to try some Garlic Chili Sauce? It was spicy!? So he decided to give it a try. And, hey Mikey!, he liked it!

I found it at the local “Out” house – which for once, was not out of it. Actually, what I found was without the garlic but he manages somehow. I have seen it since in other stores and will have to get that when this bottle is gone. Which won’t be too long the way it’s disappearing. At first he would put a few drops on but now he pours it all over the place- with a big grin!

So now the poor Tapatio bottle is sitting there neglected as the Chinese Hot Chili Sauce gets center stage. Don’t you feel sorry for it? If you come visit you’ll have to give it a special hug.

June 18, 2008

Church Squirrel (6 Comments)

Filed under: Uncategorized — The Spider Herself @ 4:04 pm

squirl squile squerl squarle squirel squiral squirrel! Yeah! Now that I know how to spell it we can continue on with this post.

You thought churches only had mice in them? Not ours.

Let me set the stage for you: I was at one end of the building embarrassing myself by introducing myself to some people who were not who I thought they were. You see, there were some people from my hometown visiting that day and I didn’t know them but wanted to introduce myself. I, unfortunately, targeted in on the wrong people! I marched up to them, shook their hands and said my name and where I grew up and who may father was etc. etc. I was confused as to the blank looks on their faces. Finally it clicked! They were the wrong people! They had no idea what I was talking about! About this time the Pastor told me that my husband was chasing a squirrel downstairs. Uh? And something about a song about it. What?

Now, The Col. and The Boy were in the parking lot talking to the right people because he actually was aquinted aquanted familiar with them. You see, The Col. knows more people from my hometown than I do. Yes, I lived there my whole life and he lived in the general area for 5 years but if we attend an event there- he will be the one that knows someone- not me. No, I am not bitter- not one bit, nope. Back to the story- as they chatted away a squirrel came right up behind The Col. and examined him. Then said squirrel turned and ran right into the open door to the church. The Col. and The Boy went into the basement and chased the squirrel out of the side rooms, closing doors as they went. They had him trapped in the big room when I arrived on the scene. Pixie and TG were placed on the second flight of stairs above the door so that the squirrel wouldn’t get upstairs and into the sanctuary while the rest of us went back down to herd squirrel. Round ’em up!

We found the fugitive behind a piano and he was coaxed out and shooed to the door. The Boy was pretty excited and kept leaping all over the place but we managed to keep him corralled behind the squirrel. Up the stairs the rascal (the squirrel, not The Boy) raced and he was gone!

The Col., who is full of fun and useful music facts, also said something about a song and when he got home he found it on You Tube. Since I’m not technically savvy and don’t know how to put the nice little screen on here- I’ll just put the link here for you to go to all on your lonesome.

And you thought Church was a boring place to be.