T Stands for Tuesday & at the Lake House

I am posting early for T day, as our hostess will be gone for Tuesday-so she's posted early, and I will be working at the lake house.
    We are driving up most every day now trying to get things finished and smaller items moved since it is still raining off and on here with more rain coming in-we have really had enough rain this month.

You are most welcome to join us at T Stands for Tuesday, just share a photo of your beverage and stop by our hostess Bleubeard and Elizabeth-find link in my right hand column.

I have a few more photos at the lake. (photos will all enlarge-just click on them)
    Friday we drove up to work with our two helpers and our friends came up too and we all stayed later than we normally do. The guys were all fishing in the afternoon, and my friend and I just chatted at the outside table and watched all the boats go by. 
  I have no experience or any clue as to what it's like to live on the lake.
    Friday was definately opening day for boating at Lake in the Ozarks. I never knew there were so many different types of boats. Cruisers, speed boats, those fast boats that the younger generation uses-pretty wild and crazy haha. We all had fun watching everybody on the lake.
   Saturday was busy too as was Sunday, but today (Monday) we had morning thunder showers so the boats came off the lake and many packed up and left. This area of the lake seems to serve many driving from the Kansas City Mo area.

This friend, one of our work helpers, was always showing with his hands that he had a huge fish lol

Catfish caught

The guys ended up getting a big stringer of fish-catfish, bass, and more. Our friend took them all home and we had fried fish dinner with homemade fries and sides on Sunday for all of us.

Today we mostly brought up some of my grilling items, rod iron table and chairs to restore for the deck, an electric smoker, a few garden tools,a huge copper pot that Hub's uncle years and years ago had drilled lots of holes into for drainage for flowers-since this gorgeous pot is destroyed now I will do the same.
    I also brought my three potted plants of lavender, oregano, and strawberry plant.  I watched the sun and realized why the previous owner had hostas on that ledge-very little sun-so my lavender especially will need to be moved as it needs full sun. I am thinking I will plant some of my mints up there as they don't need sun all day long. A friend gave me that dragonfly waterer for a gift. I have never hooked a hose to it but I love it.

These next few photos are right outside the door between the steps going down to the house. I took these photos while it was raining. I brought down these two large leaves that I had picked up at a garage sale years ago-perfect for holding water for the birds and butterflies. I placed a brick to keep the leaves from blowing away-but I need to find something not so high for the butterflies.
   Does anyone recognize what this plant is-does it have flowers? it came up on both sides

I love our new brick walkway

I also brought down this hummingbird on a pole with hook. I usually place a hummingbird feeder here but for now I hung my windchime-with a hummingbird lol I pounded this piece into the ground-ran into rock a couple times finally found a good spot.
     We discovered these pretty lilies in the iris flower bed.

For my drink reference I am sharing a photo of Hub's hard root beer. I found this at the Aldi store and wish I could try it as everyone says it is soooo good, but it has gluten in it as it is beer based but tastes like root beer.

Happy T Day!!

Memorial Day Honoring the Fallen

Saturday Afternoon at the Movies

Happy Weekend everyone,

   Since we have had so many tornadoes here in Missouri along with all the flooding this month, it reminded me of an old movie I rewatch if I see it on the tv

Twister




This was a so so movie, a little "dorky" in spots but I loved some of the actors, and found it interesting how they were learning how to track the tornadoes they were spotting For the times allot of special effects.

The trailer:

This is a 1996 film, find information here  and more about the film here too
     Below copied from one of the links:

Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt and Carey Elwes may be billed as the stars of Twister, but the film's real attractions are the cyclones themselves. Best experienced in a theater, the nail-biting, blow-the-audience-out-of-their-seats computer generated graphics, cutting edge sound and other special effects are designed to take viewers straight into the roaring funnel of a gigantic tornado. In order to focus on special effects and action, the story is simple and the characters are drawn in broad strokes with little depth. Jo Harding (Hunt) became a storm chaser (a meteorologist who photographs and scientifically studies 


  Happy Saturday and weekend-stop by CJ for her movie pick and also Elizabeth some times posts a movie too.

Smiles at the Lake

We worked most of the day yesterday-got allot accomplished which is good. A few more days of work and the projects that we want done should be completed.

You probably saw it on the news Missouri was hit hard with tornadoes and way too much rain. More rain on the way. Most all of the state's camp grounds and parks are flooded. The farmer's corn crop is gone
    Last night on the news they said we passed a record total of rainfall that held since the late 1800's  (One of the reasons I don't believe in climate change as the earth goes through cycles over the years).

I have been urging Hubs to take a break and go fishing-so he has been doing that. The fishing is good right now with all the rain we have been having. The water level on the lake is almost full now. 

While the guys were fishing I grabbed my spinning-loving that spot on the lower deck.

This family had me smiling

This is one of the young men that has been helping us Hubs was on the other side of the dock-we had fun watching these little ones

Happy Friday

Surprise in the Garden-Deer-More Finds to Keep

  Finally a day with no rain-however that returns again tomorrow-sigh -we are saturated here in Missouri as are other surrounding states.Flooding everywhere.

   I dug up those fire bricks that I used for my dutch oven cooking-baking, and gathered up outdoor grill stuff that I want to take along. I decided to walk around the garden to see if there is anything I wanted. I decided on the one iron bed headboard and will decide for sure if there is a spot for it-perhaps amongst the iris flowers or next to a tree. That Weber fire pit works out well for starting charcoal when I am needing lots of it for dutch oven baking, and the big heavy pot is perfect for ashes. Not sure on the little plastic seat but that does come in handy.

Of course this heavy grill is coming with-the guys are supposed to be designing a way for me to raise this up and down on wheels-that would be really nice as this is too heavy to move

   Here is the surprise though-do you remember these plants? Couldn't believe my eyes as these are not suppose to reseed here, so I walked to the back of the garden where I had the biggest patch-and wow some there too. I may try to dig these up and see if they will transplant for me.

These are indigo plants-so excited that they came back especially after a very cold winter.

Last night a bit before dark some deer stopped by. One was jumping up to bring the mimosa branches down so they could eat them.

I found more cast iron to keep-Hubs had picked these up real cheap at a flea market. I wasn't crazy about them as they are from China so the cast iron is not really nice-but he liked them for fajitas. So I worked on seasoning them this morning. Don't look at my dirty stove-living between two houses I have not kept up the cleaning here-figured I do a really good job when we are done moving.

There are two that say tobasco on them and three plain ones

And I decided not to put these heavy copper pans out for sale either. They need retinned which I don't know how one would do that-but they can just sit and look pretty on top of the cast iron rack shelving.

I am off to make up a big salad for us  happy Mid week.

T Stands for Tuesday

  Happy T day everyone!! Tuesdays is when we gather together and share a post and photo of our drink. You are most welcome to join us just visit our hostess Bleubeard and Elizabeth-link on my side bar.

   I am having a lazy day today (Monday) as this up and down weather we are having has really got to me this year. Once it all stabilizes we will probably end up very hot and dry, so trying not to complain too much.

  This month of May is just really flying by way too fast for us-we have had soooo much rain and storms here April and May that it has really set us back on the move. We were hoping to be mostly moved in by Memorial Day:  I don't think that will happen. Hubs is concerned about the lake traffic that will happen after the holiday. It is what it is.
    He is not very healthy with his heart disease progressing, so things are just going slow. He has a follow up with his heart doctor end of May which is really upon us already.

  A couple weeks ago I decided I better pot up my lavender and oregano herb plants, and my one strawberry plant that made it through the winter from seed.  The strawberry plant had a bit of a setback but all the rain we have had has been good for it. It has loads of runners already. My lavender plant is 3 or 4 years old now and this year is just loaded with blooms. I got it potted just in time so it wouldn't lose the blooms. Now I won't worry about when it gets moved.
   I also need to decide where I want to plant my madder plants-the roots are for dye.

Miss Calico enjoying the sunshine

Of course I snipped a few lavender stems and flowers to dry-works great amongst all of my wool fibers  I filled this large tray-as the lavender dries I will add more This variety doesn't have the longer flowers as my past plants did. There are so many varieties of Lavender to choose from.

  The plants at the lake house were iris's on the side-and on top they should be day lilies and those others were hostas. Neither of us like hostas so they are going.  I also discovered peonies blooming now and a couple lilac bushes which I am thrilled over.

These peonies are on the left side of our property looking at the lake-that's the neighbors dock in the front-and right next to them their neighbors dock in the back.
   Our property goes right to the very edge where they have their dock placed. These neighbors have a huge three story home with no land-just a little wedge for their dock. I did not want that.

  We did get an outdoor table and chair set up at the lake house. This set is really really old. Some friends in Chicago didn't want it anymore so it landed here in the woods about 15 years ago. It worked out perfect down by Hubs shop. It is powder coated I think-no rust. We put it on the lower level of the deck where it will have lots of shade. Also shade up on top by that tree you can see-we have iron tables to go through and see if we want to take one with or not-I remember they all needed tops-originally were glass.

I am cleaning some cast iron pieces today, a few that were really rusty. I also decided on two more pieces to keep both usa made by John Wright company. one is a gingerbread house-you bake on each side for the pieces and one that is all animals called animal puzzle. I bought both of these pieces in the '80s.

I have been hunting for a few hours online for heavy duty shelving for my cast iron pieces (note see my previous post for my collection that I am keeping). I finally found one at Sam's club that is on sale right now and was about $50.00 cheaper than everyone else plus free shipping.




I will use this without the casters for better stability and more weight. Without the casters I can have 500 pounds per shelf. I was looking for 800 pounds so I wouldn't have to worry about it but couldn't find one for the size I needed and price I wanted to pay. It is  32"x18"x72"  It will just fit next to my Grandma's hoosier cabinet.  I think I will really enjoy this-easy access and I can admire my cast iron-I know I am a bit different in what makes me happy lol

I am still mostly drinking my chicory decaf herbal beverage during the day with cream-in my favorite cup of course-smiles.
     I switched over to cream since it is real food unlike some of the non dairy creamers full of salt especially. I do also love the milked almond milk I shared awhile back. I just bought another case of 6 of it. Makes great chia puddings too.

I am a little bummed as I haven't lost more weight but I have kept off what I did lose which is a good thing for me. I have not had any grains or starchy veggies for over a month now and I have to say I do fill better-not as bloated feeling anymore. The gluten free baking was really getting to my stomach with the super high carbs-once moved I will do more experimenting with some of the keto recipes I have found on pinterest.

That's it for me-I will be working at the lake house on Tuesday, so if I don't visit your post tonight I will catch up when I get back.

Happy T everyone

Cast Iron Collection

  Of course we have a very large cast iron collection. 😃

   We had picked up pieces in the early years of our marriage, mostly at farm sales and garage sales, a few flea markets. We only buy vintage, with the exception of a few Lodge USA pieces.
  I have never had a good place for my collection. Allot of it has been stored in an outdoor shed or garage over the years. So some of it needs to be scrubbed down with fine steel wool to get the rusty spots off and re season.
  We had a big discussion that I could not keep all of it-sigh-I understand really I do but I compromised suggesting that I was looking for a  heavy duty wire shelving that will hold at least 800 pounds per shelf-and would take only what I can store there with a few pieces I use every day in the kitchen oven. Hubs agreed to that.
  This home in the woods has really never gotten finished to our liking, mostly do to Hub's poor health and going back to work when the economy crashed back in '08. That really hurt our retirement-but then it hurt all of us in one way or the other. So since we have always in the past enjoyed flea markets and sales and with Hubs keen eye on vintage-well we ended up with too much clutter. So I understand he wants to do away with most of the clutter but still have a home that is homey and easier to clean. I am sure the Property Brothers would go nuts with our collectibles lol.

  I just took a few photos-please excuse all the dust. So far this is what I want to fit on those shelves. In the kitchen I do still have around 6 or 8 more pieces I use every day.

These were quite a find and the three lamb molds are three different sizes and we bought them from someone selling them at a garage sale that were their Grandparent's pieces.  So no I don't want to part with these yet. A few months ago I finally found a recipe for these cast iron lamb molds.  I have tried several times with pound cake recipes and just never worked-so hoping to do that one of these days.
  On the top left is a vintage chocolate candy mold-I may do some research on value and sell that one-maybe lol

Close up of rabbit candy mold

This is pretty much all of it except for the two large Lodge dutch ovens, and the ones in the kitchen

I remember when we bought these pans which I thought looked like soap molds-perfect size for soap. We bought them at a house estate sale and was told they were all primitives USA pieces.  The heart pan was unusual and has a different marking on the back, the top piece is upside down and has tall legs-perfect for over the fire

These small pieces are salesman's samples and the upside down one has the legs too. Under that is a corn bread pan and under that is another more rare piece for corn sticks or bread sticks I also saved one fish shapes cornbread pan from Lodge.

Waffle iron I did sell one large cast iron waffle pan on Ebay-that one was designed to cook over a wood cookstove-or outdoors over a fire-it had a deep base that it sat on  That blue enameled cupcake pan is a newer piece but I always loved it.

Numerous dutch oven type pans with lids, I love that taller sauce pan with lid in the back-perfect for beans over the fire. The larger piece in the middle is hand hammered copper  and I use that square pan for brownies

My newest pieces the two lodge dutch ovens with legs-for cooking-baking outdoors over fire. The two water steamers need a good cleaning, one for each of our woodstoves here in the woods-my favorite is the one with the bear on top-My Mom bought me that one for Christmas one year. In the back right is a vintage piece.  We have a large woodstove up at the lake house too.

  I have about this much cast iron left over to put in the auction, so I have really cut back-thinking on what I would use as well.  This move has really been difficult for me-but I am getting there.  Deep down I am just not ready to leave things behind where as Hubs is ready for it now. 
    Once moved I know it will all be ok in the end.

Saturday Afternoon at the Movies

    Happy weekend everyone!!

I watched a movie the other night on tv that is just fun and told myself to remember to share it

I know many of you are not into love stories like I mostly am, but this one is a comedy as well and just fun. I always rewatch it when I see it listed on the tv.

Sweet Home Alabama 2002 with Reese Witherspoon  and works with an excellent cast.  This movie seemed to be around 4 stars or 88% loving the movie.






From online:  
    New York fashion designer Melanie (Reese Witherspoon) suddenly finds herself engaged to the city's most eligible bachelor. But Melanie's past holds many secrets, including Jake (Josh Lucas), the redneck husband she married in high school, who refuses to divorce her. Bound and determined to end their relationship once and for all, Melanie sneaks back home to Alabama to confront her past, only to discover that you can take the girl out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the girl.


More  Information here



Trailer:

Happy Saturday afternoon at the movies-Check out CJ and Elizabeth for movies as well

Have Any of You Made Black Walnut Ink??

  This has been on my to do list for awhile. When we first moved here to the woods we had two black walnut trees close to the house.  I had gathered lots of nuts, but at the time did not save the husks for the dye or ink.  They quit producing soon after.
  Last year I bought a book on making your own artists brushes, inks, paints. It is packed away at the moment but in there was the black walnut ink.

  I noticed last time I was up at the lake-now that the trees are leafing out-I think most of the trees on our lake property are either black walnuts or hickory -hoping for black walnuts.

  I looked online and there are many diy's on how to make it.

Here is one  and here too   and another one that shows it also as a dye on fabric.     This is for sure a messy project and I would do this outdoors over a fire pit like the first link shows. Also be sure to wear good gloves as black walnut will stain your hands for a very long time.
     I found a huge feather-perfect for using with ink-that Hubs thinks is from a vulture.  Sounds like a fun project for sure

Here are a few photos I found on the web
   Some use the whole nut with the husk dried on to it-which is what my dye instructor last year July did, others take the husk off and dry it and then boil down.  I thought it was a good idea to add alcohol to the ink when finished to help preserve it.
 



The black walnut gives a lovely brown dye





I also found this photo tutorial here  and some additional information here