We Have a Give-A-Way!

I know it's not exactly the right time of year to be thinking about spending time with your sewing machine and stash of fabrics, but I have a great quilting book that wants to go to a new home.

The title is Go Wild with Quilts - Again!, written by Margaret Rolfe and put out by That Patchwork Place.

We have birds.

We have wildlife.

We have water creatures.

And much more.  

Ugh, please excuse the poor quality of these pictures.  I had to ask hubby to hold the book open for me (so I had only one shot to get each picture) and we're both flyin' kinda low this morning.  This looks like it will be our THIRD day in a row with sunshine so the daily list is full of outside projects involving a paint brush, pruners and possibly tiller!  Wa-HOO!

If you're interested in receiving this nifty 8-1/2" x 11" soft bound book, leave a comment saying so.  Just for fun, also tell us what was the last thing you sewed on your sewing machine.

I'll draw a name as the winner tomorrow night (Thursday) 'round about 9 p.m. and post the winner Friday morning.  Good luck!

First Day in the Garden!

We were involved otherwise this morning so I didn't get my laundry started until after lunch.  Since we had had sunshine ALL MORNING, I got a little crazy and hung the clothes out on the line for the first time this year.

Gotta say it was dang cold on my hands handling the wet things (our high temp didn't even reach 45° today), but it did feel good to be hanging the wash outside again.  (Never did dry, but that's beside the point.)

I told Papa Pea I wanted to get the strawberry bed uncovered today and he said he'd help me.  Whadda guy.  He dropped what he was doing in the garage and came to help.  'Twas much appreciated!

Because we were short on straw, I had covered the berries this past fall with evergreen boughs from a couple of downed trees.  I don't like using boughs as much as a nice straw mulch but have done it a couple of times before and it works well to keep the plants protected over winter.

I did a preliminary cleaning of the strawberry patch once the boughs were all carted away.  Now I'll let the rows dry out for a couple of days (hope rain holds off) and then get in there and take out any sprouting weeds and get wood shavings spread as a summer time mulch.

I uncovered and cleaned up the rhubarb plant.  Last year, I took my first cutting of rhubarb on May 11th.  It's gonna be a lot later this year!

I spaded up the raised bed in which I want to put my started seedlings of lettuce, chard, spinach and arugula.  (I did need to take off that heavy jacket in short order!)

Then with hubby's help I put a cold frame top on the bed.  I'll leave it that way with the cover closed for a couple of days to warm up the soil before I set out the transplants.  (Doesn't it look kinda like a real bed?  With a mattress on top?  No?  Huh.  Must just be me.)

Above is a picture of one of the worst garden mistakes I've ever made.  Pictured are the last three sunflower stalk stumps of all the ones I removed today.  My garden glove in the foreground was to try to show the size of the stump.  The other glove at the top of the picture is by one I'd already dug out.

Last year I planted two rows of Mammoth Sunflowers because they were touted as producing the best seeds to feed to your wild birds.  Well, they grew to mammoth size, no doubt about that.  But the heads never matured (our short growing season, you know), so no seeds did we get.  We had to cut down the thick stalks with a hatchet (we should have used a chainsaw) but could not get the stumps that were left at about ground level out of the ground.  We tried digging but the soil was too compacted last fall and that just didn't work.  Papa Pea used the hatchet to try hacking the stumps to pieces.  That proved futile, too.  We considered dynamite but vetoed that idea.  He thought if we left them until this spring, they just might decompose a little.  Today I noticed no decomposition but I could get a shovel into the damp soil and managed to dig all the remaining stumps out.  Uff!  A real job, but I'm so glad to have those things out of the garden!

I can't tell you how good it felt to be out actually doing some productive work in the garden today.  I can hardly wait for another day to play out there again tomorrow.  If it doesn't rain.  Shhhhh . . . 

Monday Morning Mope?

I have to confess that I'm suffering a smidge bit of depression looking at all your lovely pictures of green grass, spring flowers and gardens taking shape.

No early spring here for us in northern Minnesota this year, that's for sure.

It's still very cool, only getting into the 40s during the day, and our lack of sunshine for almost the whole past week isn't helping warm up the soil.  Or dry up our many standing puddles.  (We will just avoid mentioning piles of snow still in evidence.)

I have seedlings of cold weather crops that could go out under cold frames, but first I'll have to put the cold frames over the raised beds to warm up the soil enough so my little green sprouts don't suffer hypothermia and die when set out.

I've never started lettuce, spinach, chard, arugula and such inside before, but this year something told me to do so.  (It could definitely have been the increased cost of seeds [and many less seeds in each packet!] and realizing I couldn't sprinkle them as liberally as I usually do directly into the garden beds and then thin, thin, thin.)

Our forecast for this coming week does hold promise of warmer temperatures (60s even!) . . . but also more rain.

I know one of these days, it will turn warm and stay that way and then . . . let the gardening begin!

Waiting for Sunshine and Warm Weather

The good news is that it's stopped snowing.  (Oops, did I say that too loudly?)  The flip side is that it's been raining, drizzling, misting or otherwise making everything very wet for several days.  No sun which equals no warmth.  Our high temps are averaging in the 40s.  But we're so late into the season now that once we do get some sunshine and warmer temps, stand back because everything outside is going to ess-plode!

Early this past week a neighbor down the road a piece stopped by to chat.  Papa Pea was outside so they stood in the yard talking.  Then Chicken Mama coming after work to pick up Tucker joined them.  I was inside cooking dinner (or maybe I was just lying on the couch eating my pre-dinner bon-bons) so was keeping half an eye on the scene through the kitchen window.  Our neighbor left driving down the driveway and out of sight.  Only a couple of minutes later, he returned and handed Papa Pea and Chicken Mama this.

He said he found it in the middle of our drive and thought it might be injured as it wasn't able to walk very well.  The funny-looking little guy was checked over and seemed okay.  My two took him down to the pond where he immediately plopped into the water and began swimming around.

We think he was a Pied-billed Grebe.  They are like loons in that it's difficult for them to walk on land.  He was offered some grain but said he wasn't hungry.  (I think I read they are fish eaters like loons.)  No grebe was in evidence the next morning so we're hoping he took off and reunited with the rest of his kin.

I'll sign off with this picture.  You know you've had plenty of moisture when a seagull starts visiting your bird feeder.  (And, yes, that is still a good-sized drift of snow down at the end of the yard.)

Still Learning . . .

Yep, I'm still learning the ins and outs of this new computer, but also having a lot of frustration.  My computer guru daughter says I am learning and I am making progress in figuring things out, but this morning I am discouraged and grumpy.

I just tried to get some pictures from camera to computer for a blog post . . . but got nowhere.  Sigh.  I know Chicken Mama very patiently showed me how to do this and I even took notes, but they're not helping me right now.  I'll have to wait until she has time to walk me through the process again.  She's been giving up a lot of her free time lately in helping both me and her dad in our struggle on the learning curve, and we're both very grateful to her.  

This process of getting my pictures into the computer (like so many other processes with this new system) is more complicated and requires more steps than on my old computer.  Being a very simple minded gal, I prefer the old way. 

We've been told these upgraded computers would be so much faster in operation, but I'm not finding that true.  And I don't mean because of my fumbling in learning the system.  I'm talking of actual speed of the computer.  In all honesty, part of that problem could be with our older router that we may have to replace.

* * * * * * * *

We haven't received the large amounts of snow the middle and southern parts of our state has (can you believe 16" in May?!), but we've had a few days of scattered flurries with about an inch of accumulation.  Very gray, damp days but the ground (miraculously) continues to dry out little by little and more snow disappears each day.  Sure is a cold first part of the month so far though.

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I'm traveling down the road this afternoon to pick up the newly reupholstered cushions for the glider rocker.  I still haven't made up my mind on the fabric for the second chair.  The gal who is doing the work said my decision might come quicker once I have the first chair put back together with the new cushions.  It may be easier to see how it all will look with that one piece done.  Hope so.  I do want this reupholstering job (and expense) to be one we can live with (and like) forever!

* * * * * * * *

Lots on the fire in the way of things to do today so I'm off.  Or . . . no more than usual, as a good friend of ours says.

What's On Your List For Today?

I had a down and draggy day yesterday.  Don't know whether the heavy rain in the morning did it to me or what.  Do you ever wonder if some days, no matter what you do, your body rhythms are simply in a state so that your body (emotionally and physically) can't be all chirky and chipper and in a happy place?  Maybe those are the days when we should just put a bag over our head and schlump through the day without fighting it so much.  Along with the bag over the head, perhaps a sign hung around the neck that says, "Nobody's home.  Please don't attempt contact," would also be helpful.

At any rate, today I'm full of energy and made a list this morning (totally unreasonable that it may be) and am ready to whip my weight in wildcats.  (Jjust how much does one wildcat weigh?)

Here's my list:

All first-of-the-month things - This entails about an hour's worth of paperwork.

Start seedlings - Time for the Brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, zinnias and cosmos to be started.  Probably should repot the tomatoes, too, as long as I'm playing in the dirt.

Clean ashes out of both wood stoves - Boy, has the frequency of this job dropped drastically.  (For which I am sincerely thankful!)

Make list of computer tasks for daughter - Chicken Mama is giving me some time tonight to continue the setting up of my frustrating new computer, and I need to make a list of what I would like to have done first, second, third, etc.

Pick out fabric - I'm in the process of having two living room chairs reupholstered.  One is currently in the shop being worked on as we speak.  (I hope.)  The fabric for the second chair was on back-order for six weeks.  You can guess what the news was that I received this past Monday.  Yup.  It's not on back-order anymore.  Now it's officially no longer available.  So back to the drawing board, or rather sample books, to find another fabric.

Wash rugs - Futile task that this is this time of year here in The Land of Mud, I can't stand it anymore and have to launder a batch or two of throw rugs.

Bake rye bread - Doesn't take a lot to keep my husband happy, but homemade rye bread goes a long way toward that end.

Clean the refrigerator - What can I say?  It's a job that just must be done once in a while.  (At least every couple of years or so.)  What the heck goes on in there that makes all those gooey drips, splats and . . . and . . . dirt?  (Yes, some of it looks like gritty dirt.)

Make up bee sting kit - The season for our wonderful, delightful little honey makers to be buzzing around doing all kinds of good things in my garden is fast approaching.  But their stings have been increasingly causing more havoc in and on my body so I've done some research over the winter months and come up with some "new" natural remedies to have all set and ready to go should I need them.  Gathering everything in one place with specific directions for use seems like a wise idea.  I've also gotten an Epi-pen and both Papa Pea and I have practiced using it so that's ready should it be needed.

Change keyboard - This new keyboard that came with my frustrating new computer was obviously designed by a guy with stubby fingers and a bad nail biting habit.  Both daughter and I have noticed that the keys are in such a flat, level configuration with the board that if you have any length of fingernail at all it's nearly impossible not to hit the wrong key or slide off the correct key with every third stroke.  I am an extremely fast typist . . . but not on this keyboard.  The backspace key to delete mistakes is nearly worn out already, I'm sure.

Don't know how it happened but it's nearly 1 p.m. now . . . but I do have a couple things checked off the above list.  It's remarkable how easy it is to make a list first thing in the morning . . . and how hard it is to get it all done.  Life (and blogging!) seems to get in the way.