Indian Summer & Halloween

 Good Evening Monday,

    I think Indian Summer is when autumn is warm-and we are very warm here in the Ozarks area of Missouri. I don't want to pay for air conditioning any more so I have the thermostat set pretty high-around 83 F, but it did come on today still.

  Early this morning, I finished making up Halloween cards for my slow mail friends. Some years I send out Thanksgiving cards but this year I thought I would do Halloween instead. I will mail them in a couple of weeks. That got me thinking to bring up from the basement my two ceramic Halloween "sacks" and a small cast iron piece. I have had these for years and years. I added the little battery tea lights that I use in my luminaries for Christmas.

  That got me to thinking-wonder if they make Halloween Luminary paper sacks-like the ones I have for Christmas-and they do! So I ordered some of those and I also needed more of those little flat batteries for the tea lights too-I go through a lot of them at Christmas time. We have the perfect wooden ledge a long the bottom of those big windows that overlook the lake.

  The living room here has a woodstove but sadly the last owner had a major chimney fire so not safe to use til a new liner is put in.  I placed these pieces in that area. This area is decorated with some vintage pieces, homemade pottery, rocks collected here in Missouri, and cast iron pieces-like my steamers that we always had on top of the woodstove to add humidity. I miss not cooking up some chili or stew on top of the woodstove. The steamer on the right has a bear on top of it. A gift from my Mom years and years ago. If you click on it and enlarge the photo you can see the bear. One of my favorite cast iron pieces.

and I still had these rusty little pumpkins that I placed next to the pumpkin outdoors

  Do you have tick or treaters that knock on your door for Halloween.?  All the years we have been married-we have always lived rural so never had them stop by- One year I asked our friends that had kids when we still lived in Illinois, to stop by-I made them really large Halloween cookies from molds I had and also shared a bunch of candy. I think that was the only time we ever had trick or treaters.

As a kid I never enjoyed trick or treating-weird I know-I was the oldest so I was in "charge" of my younger siblings-that lovedddd all the candy and running around fast to the next house. Ha Ha  

Not sure if it is even safe these days for tick or treating house to house I think most cities and towns have parties for the kids instead. My birthday is towards the end of October so I usually got a Halloween themed birthday growing up.  

  As I type this post on my blog my mind is thinking back to my younger days-smiles

Enjoy October!

Good Morning Monday

  Happy Monday,

    This was a fun football weekend for me as my three teams that I follow all won their games. The Green Bay Packers V Cowboys was the most exciting-it ended up in a tie 40-40

    This week promises loads of  sunshine and summer like temperatures.

   My new monitor is awesome-my blog here is still a mess-have no way of knowing how to fix it-so it is what it is.  

    At least I can work in my blog, but still when I comment back on my own post-I am not signed in and have to approve my own comments-pretty strange. I have no knowledge of computers so nothing I can do about this-haven't found a way to even contact google for help-so hopefully one day it will be fixed. I figure it could be worse.

   With our temps being back to hot and humid a good week to give the house a really good cleaning-including windows. I need to clean up the garden area-so may start doing that early in the morning while still cool.

  Don't have much to share, but wanted to pop in and say Hello 

   I picked up this pretty pumpkin and will get out a few Halloween items that I have had for years.  and Wow October is almost here-September flew by way too fast

  Have an awesome new week!

can't sign in to google

  this is pretty strange-not able to sign in, but I can type this up. if I comment comes up as annymous  Not sure yet if I can visit other blogs or not--just so you know.  I did write up a post before this happened this morning.

Update: thankfully I was able to get back into my google email, I can get around on my blog-which is wierd as google shows I am not signed in strange for sure   I looked around for google help but found nothing to help me  hopefully this will fix itself eventually.  I even tried to start up a new blog-but can't do that either  oh well.

Good Morning Wednesday & Online Updates-This & That

 Good morning Friends,

    We have gotten lots of rain here-so thankful for that, a bit cooler for now too-out of those 90's F We do have the humidity still.

  Thought I would share some updates.  I buy a lot online theses days-easier, faster usually less expensive as well never had too much negative experiences.  

   Ebay is a place where you can not call them, have to email them for help. I just heard from them yesterday obviously they did not read everything that happened and are refusing to give me my money back-saying that I received it. So they didn't follow through very well as I had shipped the needle back unopened and the tracking clearly shows that. I did write a negative review for this seller-so nothing else I can do sadly.  I think I will be buying less on Ebay going forward-but there one can support small business's and just regular people too.

   I try not to but I do order a lot on Amazon-I don't pay for prime though I just meet the dollar amount for free shipping.  Last time I went to sign in to my account they added more things to do in order to get to  my account. In addition to getting a code etc now they want my social security number, my address and more-not happening. So I deleted my amazon credit card. Actually I have another card that I have had for many years that gives me more money awards back then the Amazon card ever did.  Would you type in your social security number in order to sign in to a credit card account online?? 

  A couple days age my monitor started acting up so it needs replaced. Larry just ordered one for me. When we bought this lake home I knew eventually that all the appliances needed to be replaced. My very old freezer around 20 year old or more now needs to be replaced soon as well.  These life things happen in cycles-I think it is just all hitting now.

  After waiting for new rotary cutter blades in order to cut the poly/ cotton broadcloth for the toothbrush rug I decided cutting that will be a disaster getting it all on grain. So I went back through my remaining quilt cottons and found about 4 yards of fabric that I want to use instead. The rug will be all cotton this way too and easier to wash and dry.  I have that all torn and am now finishing up ironing it.  So will be ready to start the rug soon. I just need to get  my head clear smiles.

  I think this is the 5th day now that when I was out blowing away all of the fall leaves off the pathway in front of the house-I got bit twice from a wasp-I didn't see it so assuming that is what it was. I got bit in the neck first-and then I went out again to finish up and got bit again in my right hand.  I did the vinegar first and then the baking soda and water paste. after three days it still burned-found a tube of benadryl cream the next day the swelling was finally gone. My hand had gotten really large.  Today it still burns on both bites-so I guess I am a bit allergic. I always get very ill from poison ivy too. Always something haha

  Well thank you for "listening"   My blog is where I can express myself and to interact with people-as we rarely see anyone here except for the mail carrier and those that deliver my packages. When Larry has physical therapy-we do get people interaction that way too-but Medicare has cut that off again for a few  months.

  My monitor is flickering like crazy again so will give it a rest  

Happy Mid Week

This is strange I can no sign into my blog-any idea?

Welcoming In First Day of Autumn

 

(images found online)

Freezing Veggies from Store Bought & This & That & Vacuum Sealer

   Good morning Wednesday, We have been watching  President Trump and First Lady arriving in England this morning. I recorded it as it was early this morning.  Kinda like watching a movie with the elegant coaches and awesome horses, then the military bands etc.

  Yesterday I needed a big wal mart trip. Got  my plates renewed first-this city is still under construction at their main 4 way section to go anywhere in the city.  They have been working on this since the spring months. This time only one lane all four directions so very very long wait times. Coming home my car did not like this, it was shaking a bit, and the a/c quit (we are 90's and humid)  and the engine light came on all the way home.  ugh 

   Made it home safely but now another concern. I may have to figure out how to drive Larry's big suburban after all that is a bit scary for me  always challenges in life-right?

  We did get some rain finally-but need more as the next day the soil grabbed all that rain and now very dry still.I just noticed that the fall colors are here already-thinking do to no rain.

     I wanted to grow some spinach etc but the weather is not cooperating, soooo I looked to see what wal mart had in fresh veggies. My smaller wal mart has very little in frozen veggies-instead all the frozen dinner type stuff-ugh.  I brought home fresh spinach and fresh kale that looked really fresh and am in the process of steam blanching it all to freeze. I also picked up a very fresh looking cauliflower so will steam blanch that too for the freezer. 

 The spinach of course really really shrinks down, If I would have had room in the frig I would have gotten two containers of it. I usually mix a little bit of the spinach with the kale or with peas when I serve it. So for around $3.00 for the container it will make several meals

  In Larry's younger years, He spent several years in Japan and loved it there. When we first got married and we had a huge veggie garden he used his wok to make us delicious meals. He also had a large steamer like this one. When we used to go to lots of garage sales-I found this smaller version. It is nice for small batches.   My camera does not take indoor photos well-this was the best one. (I soooo do Not care for electric stoves-especially since I loved my 10 burner Wolf commercial gas stove)   The plan was to upgrade all of the appliances after the woods property sold hopefully next year that will happen. I prefer  a gas stove and oven. and the oven is going out on this stove-jumps to over 400 degrees F if I need to set it over 350 degrees F

  

 After the vegies come out of the steamer I place them in very cold water first--ice water is better but we don't have a ice maker. then drain them in strainers and freeze.

   I am excited that my next meat box is to arrive tomorrow. they offered usa farm raised turkeys so I added one to the box. The organic option was too expensive,  but the other option was still ranch raised with no antibiotics etc added to their food. These are 10-12 pounds. Last year's butterball was terrible  so hoping this one will be better. I have tried the store brand turkeys  here at the store near me and it was not edible- I ended up just getting some soup stock from it.

  Happy Mid-week everyone-I am off to get these veggies packed and in the freezer.

Update Afternoon:  I wanted to give an update-Remember the post I shared about using a vacuum sealer with canning jars and lids?  I did several wide mouth pint jars of fresh blueberries, grapes, and those little sweet tomatoes .I sealed those on August 26-today is September 17 so am guessing around three weeks. This produce is still fresh just like when I bought it. These are in the refrigerator. I have a vintage tool we found years ago that pops open the canning lid without bending it.  The tomato jar has now been opened and resealed three times now.  So am very happy with this process, and I am not going through lids when I open and seal it again.

   I had also done quite a few pint wide mouths of raisins and cranberries-they always dry out on me-they look perfect as well-since those are dried they can be in the cupboard. I also sealed open bags of rice.  So I am very happy with this vacuum sealer.

Good Afternoon Sunday

   We are still in the 90's F here and the humidity has arrived Lots of boaters out on the lake this weekend-don't blame them-a perfect weekend.  I do see rain in the forecast end of next week-finally-but will see if we actually get some.

 Since my last post about the Amish toothbrush rug-today I finished steam ironing all the strips. I had purchased the poly-cotton broadcloth for the strips to tie the knots on to-yesterday I got the new blades for my rotary cutter-so this week I will work on getting those cut-hoping this doesn't end up being a mistake-as much easier and more on grain to tear the fabrics. I did not have any fabric in my stash for the base strips.

   The flower print in upper left had corner was a lot of yardage that was given to me over 20 years ago. It never fit into quilts I was making at the time but will be perfect for this rug-lots of it too,

  Here is a photo. I lined a box with an old pillowcase This just shows some of the fabrics and this is a deep box.  I did get much nicer needles for this project, and I am still not clear on some of the instructions for making these rugs, so I bought a vintage pattern when these were very popular in the 1980"s  but was disappointed in that.  Will go back to you tube videos when I am ready to start.

   Am still having trouble getting my money back for the needle from the bad seller on Ebay. He has had the package back over a week ago now. So this morning I went back to Ebay for help-they do support the buyer.

    Click photo to enlarge for better viewing

   I had written about my football teams and just deleted it haha many don't watch sports or you have your own teams you care about.

  I did get another skein spun up with the bison fibers so am still working on that craft project--thinking this yarn may weave into a warm scarf

  This time of year we have such lovely moon views in the evenings, and still gorgeous sunrises-so special for sure. Sorry didn't get newer photos of those.

 Happy new week everyone

Thoughts on The Events of This Week

   This week seemed to fly by.

      I did get my car back yesterday morning-thankful for that as I have a couple errands and food shopping to do. Through most of next week  the Lake of the Ozarks hosts a huge bike fest-so there will be lots of bikes on the road. Should not see a lot of them in my area but I did see several yesterday when I picked up my car.

    I won't get political but this recent assassination was horrific. I am old enough to have lived through several of these beginning with both of the Kennedy's  I cried for days over President Kennedy I just could not wrap my head around that.  I cried over this one as well-such a shock to me, and the hateful comments by many were so shameful and also so un-American. I am glad a few of them got fired. (in the media)

  Our country was formed with God at the helm-this has mostly been lost in recent years.

  Our country needs to come together-debate over issues, work together for the good of our country. The mainstream media has added to the decline of Love of Country with their untruths.  

  Where is our American Spirit??   My family before me would be appalled by what is going on. 

  This is not the same country I was born into at all.

   My opinion also is cell phones should be limited for children until they graduate from high school.  Have you seen the recent education scores? our school children do not know how to read or write!  unacceptable. 

  Just my thoughts that I needed to write down. 

Pumpkin Recipes

   It's beginning to get closer to pumpkin season and their recipes. (although we are headed to the 90's again this week)

  Do you have favorite pumpkin recipes?  

   This time of year reminds me of a dear blog friend that was a self taught chef and she loved all things pumpkin. She passed from cancer many years ago now but most years I like to share a post with pumpkin recipes in her remembrance.

  In my inbox this morning I got a post from the Big Man's World with several healthier pumpkin recipes I wanted to share a few of them-they looked really delicious.  His recipes are always really good with healthier ingredients.

Healthy pumpkin bread    "My healthy pumpkin bread uses oat flour as the base and is sweetened with coconut sugar. It’s easy to make, super moist and fluffy, and has just 150 calories per slice. Gluten-free and dairy-free."

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins    "My healthy pumpkin muffins are lightened up with less fat and sugar, but are every bit as moist and fluffy as you’d expect. They are quick and easy to make and perfect for a wholesome snack or afternoon treat."

Pumpkin Blondies   "My pumpkin blondies yields soft, chewy bars with pumpkin spice flavor and half-melted chocolate chips studded throughout. The best part? They’re completely grain-free!"

Tea or coffee?

Enjoy September as fall weather begins for some of us  

    Sorry for the small print on the quotes-I keep playing with things-fonts and backgrounds and the text is not enlarging for some reason.

Moon Over the Lake

   Tonight's moon looking out the windows towards the lake Is very large and very bright-not red-orange here though  It is beautiful  My camera doesn't take great photos-but not too bad

Happy Friday & This & That

   Even though I am retired and mostly don't venture out much any more these days-this week went by fast for me and it's Friday already. For the most part this was a quieter Labor Day weekend than past years. No fireworks from neighbors, one neighbor did not come in to spend the holiday and the other neighbor worked on outdoor projects and left on Sunday. A couple busy days with lots of boats-but not bad really. Biggest thing-cooler and more pleasant weather-finally

  I got bad news from my safety inspection for my 1999 Mountaineer They have to re do something in my front tires-no longer safe. Larry called it a front end.  This car has been perfect for me-we bought it used with very little mileage from a friend. It has gone on several long road trips over this time that I have driven it. The issue now is finding a neighbor that can help me get back home after I drop it off. I would just stay there and read my kindle-but the shop is soooo busy and they might not get me in at the 8 am appt and it is a 4-6 hour job.  I need to call the one neighbor that helped me with my shattered back window. I just dislike asking for help as I can't usually return the favor-now especially.

  Still no significant rain here, we got a few sprinkles the other day but not a soaking rain like we really need. Predicted to rain this afternoon so we'll see if we get it.

 Since I brought up the case with Ebay about the poor instructions and very high shipping-I got my money back on that this morning. The seller was supposed to send me a label to return it which he never did. I did yesterday put it into a smaller envelope and mail it back to him. I also refused the package with the needle and was able to do that by writing "refused mail to sender" I checked with the post office and you can still do this as long as you don't open the package. I did this on my own without contacting Ebay for help  so am hoping he does the right thing and refunds my money on this.  Ebay refunded the money on the instructions since he was not being cooperative.  Too much drama haha   I very rarely have any problems shopping online though.

  Have been doing a lot of reading online and watching videos about the process for this Amish toothbrush rug and some things are not clear in my head still.  I looked online and found a vintage pattern for this rug-many are too high priced but I found a seller that was reasonable. One needs to know how to increase the stitches as the rug gets larger so I think this pattern should make this more clear.   This was a popular craft brand back in the 1980"s 

    I did find a group on Facebook that is based on making crafts from recycled materials instead of buying all new.  I found several making these rugs so I was able to ask some questions.

   I have gotten a lot of cotton strips torn and steam pressed this week. Most do not press their strips, but I think it will be easier to work with and a nicer finish as well.   

   One needs a base strip that you tie the knots on to-and I didn't have a fabric for that in my stash. So reading online-many use poly-cotton broadcloth for stability. Not big on poly anything for fabric but I think this will be a good choice.  I did find a seller that also sells supplies and she was selling 100% cotton broadcloth for rug making-cut on the bias and one very long roll in one piece. This was too expensive to me.  Many buy sheets at the resale shops and make rugs with those-and they can be all cotton or not.

  My grandparents farm in Indiana was located right in the middle of Amish country. My parents bought the property when they passed. I was quite surprised at the time that most of the clothing that the Amish wear is not cotton-it is all synthetic or broadcloth and wool for winter. My Mom and I used to shop at an Amish fabric store, so I had asked why and she said because the clothes dry faster on the line than  cotton clothes. So if using older clothes or sheets for these rugs they would have had a lot of synthetic fibers in them, and the rugs would last longer too. Just my thinking.

 Those of you that watch-are you ready for football?  The KC Chiefs first seasonal game is tonight and in a different country. We can watch it for free online on You Tube.

  I have been catching up on laundry here the last couple of days, cleaning a bit too. Oh and I wanted to share a new series I found on Magnolia Network-I like this channel so am happy it is included in our package.  A Mom and daughter already own a Frank Lloyd Wright home but if I am understanding this right in one of the buildings on their property where he worked-- his last design was found after he passed. These two are going to build it.   The whole reference to the home was a small tulip tree-now that tree is very large and not in good shape and is surrounded by other trees after all of these years---so they have decisions to make already.   The first episode was last night. Here is a link about this show

   Happy Friday and weekend

Hello September

   Good morning, Happy Labor Day, and Welcome in September

I am so ready for September and cooler weather.  The lake of course, has been crazy busy-expected and we missed the rain-again-that was predicted. Yesterday was warm but looks like we are back to 70"s F today Love it.

Over the weekend I have been tearing strips of quilt fabrics-that I won't be using any more. Some of the pieces came from my Mom's sewing stash-she never kept a lot of fabric around-unlike many quilters who "collect" fabrics.  A few of them I remember picking up when a quilt shop was closing, and one piece with lots of yardage was a gift from a blog friend  20 years ago when I first retired-that one will be perfect for the rug. 

I decided to iron all the strips and remove all the loose strings-some of the quilt fabrics really bunched up after tearing-so I think these will be much nicer to use being ironed. 

    I have gotten no where with the bad seller on Ebay-he is in denial-tells me the needle is in the mail but the tracking shows not shipped-could be an error with the post office-but I don't want his needle. I found a much nicer one on Etsy. I can't contact Ebay about the needle til Sept 4th along with reporting that he hasn't settled returning my money or sending me a label for his instructions.

 Did you watch any college football over the weekend?  I watched the Notre Dame game they lost as the time ran out-but this year they have a rookie quarterback that will get better over the season. 

  Tomorrow early I need to get my car inspected so I can renew the plates. Since I have an old car (1999) I need to get it inspected every 2 years.

  Off to turn the page on my calendar to September

Have You Been Scammed Online?

   Wow in a week I have had 3 issues with purchases online.

One was a scam on Facebook-I reported this one to two countries, Facebook, my bank, and credit card company. I doubt if Facebook will do anything-but my credit card company will refund the money as they investigate.

I bought a book at Abe Books-decided within the hour not to buy it after reading a better review of the book-cancelled it very early in the morning within that hour. My credit card was already charged-wrote twice to the seller for the refund back to my card as of yet no answer so wrote him again. After Labor day weekend I will need to contact Abe Books for help.

and lastly my order on Ebay for the Amish toothbrush rug and directions-this one very disappointing  Yesterday in a large envelope that he charged 2.00 postage and used one regular stamp on-had one sheet of paper of typed instructions-that had been copied.  No needle-he made another label for that-so it shows it is in the mail-but he has of yet to mail it. I wrote him a nice message that I wasn't happy-want a refund for both items-and don't send the needle as I will send it back.   contacted Ebay-they don't mess around-he has to send me a label within  four days to send the "instructions" back   Of course he has not responded to my messages to him

   So I guess the bad stuff that could happen shopping online just happened in less than a week. Stuff happens-hoping it all gets resolved by next week. I never have had any issues like this before.

 Last night I searched more for written instructions online on how to make the toothbrush rug-and found really good ones-there are several really good You Tube videos as well-but something new to me-I also prefer written to read and follow along easier for me at first.

On a fun note-I am exited to watch the first of this season's college football game tonight with Notre Dame. I grew up near the college (South Bend Indiana) so I have been a fan since.

Happy Labor Day Weekend & Nailbinding Supplies

 Good morning Friday dear Friends,

   One of our neighbors here at the lake arrived last night, on the other side of us, I expect their family to arrive later today. Not many boats so far on the lake, but what a gorgeous weekend for those that will be out and about.

  I just finished dragging out the hose to water my perennials, which I really should have been doing at least once a week this month. Everything is sooooo dry, the black walnuts are already dropping-too early so wondering if there are nuts inside. I do have a stash already of the dried hulls-for making ink and paints. I did make a batch of ink a few years ago that I am still using. If interested I have a search tool way at the bottom of my blog page where you can search for black walnut ink. I love using this ink for my letter writing to my slow mail friends, and it works as a watercolor paint too  Love the color

  I did splurge yesterday and bought the book on nailbinding that is suppose to be one of the better ones. I also went on Etsy and bought a couple of handmade needles-I love buying things like this on Etsy to support craftsman.

  The price of this book is all over the place-Have seen it as high as $50-75.00 and up  I ended up buying it on amazon as they had the best price-just under $35.00  I even looked around the internet to see if any libraries would let you read it online-but didn't see one-this is a book better to have too.

I would also like to pick up this book as well,  which had good reviews-but the above book looks like is has everything plus patterns

Watching more videos on this subject I found one where he likes the needle to have two holes-you can run two colors of wool or he says if you put your yarn through both holes it is more secure while working.

So I bought one of each-the one hole needle was from the leg bone of a deer-traditional-and the other one with two holes I could choose from lots of different hard woods

   Sometimes I feel a little guilty buying new things like this at my age-but I think it is also good to keep learning new things.  So I am excited about this project and the Amish toothbrush rug project too-which finally got  mailed off. 

   

  In comments on last post about this craft, someone asked me if I could use the same wooden needle for both of these projects, I think not as the nailbinding  needs a slimmer needle and the opening is larger too for the rug making-to load the 2 1/2" wide cotton fabrics.  here is a photo from online

  Here is a photo of the  nailbinding needle I bought made from deer bone from here I got to thinking my husband probably has one of these needles in his possibles bag from the time he did mountain man reenactments

and the 2 hole needle from here  This shop also has natural dyes from his woods looks like-could be good for making inks and watercolor paints

 For some reason I decided I wanted to make a pot of bean soup today. I chose a mixed bag of dried beans along with half a bag of split peas-as that will help thicken the soup. Also found some ham in the freezer for soups.  Will probably make up a small cast iron pan of cornbread to go with it.

  Also I was not paying attention, but today I noticed that the sunrise was much later this morning than before-fall is coming Smiling.

  Any plans for Labor Day weekend (if in the USA) ?   I have been so waiting for cooler weather and fall to arrive-that now it will finally be arriving soon. I am so ready for it-hoping we have good weather for working outdoors-but first we need rain.

  Happy weekend

   

Nailbinding

   Good morning, I woke up too early again this morning so was browsing on the internet.  On Instagram I saw this on a fiber artist's post

  So of course this peaked my interest so I did a search for more information.  I found a good tutorial on You Tube (don't ya just love You Tube?)

Part 1

and here is a link to more videos that come after this first one.  I found this very intriguing. She suggests using wool and shows how to join more yarn-which would be easiest with wool. 

  Of course I searched for a book

Interesting to me that this craft uses a needle similar to the Amish toothbrush rug needle. I never grasped knitting at all-My Mom did some fabulous knitting but I never got the hang of it-I may need to try this out-I have lots of wool here smiles.

   I am so enjoying our cooler weather here in the Missouri Ozarks. So good to Not hear the a/c running. Very cool nights and pleasant days. I will break down and do a good watering today-as no rain here in over a month. The deer are looking for food-I am assuming they are the ones that ate my geranium plant way down, ate my green bean plants down to the soil, and more. I wanted to start some edible greens seeds for healthy veggies soon-will need to cover those for sure.

  On the plus side no cutting grass needed at the moment.  I really need a good soaking rain so I can get my ornamental grasses transplanted-that's a big job too-but I need rain. This is on my mind to get done before the frost hits-mid October.

  Larry is liking the Alaskan fish so far-I made us cod yesterday-so good.

Have a good rest of your week and in the States Happy Labor Day-looks like perfect weather for the boaters here.

update: after more browsing on You Tube-I ran into a video that reviews books on nailbinding. One I really liked is around $35.00 on most sites, and the book I shared here which is most common to find-is not good for teaching you the craft-more of a history book-so I cancelled my order of that book.

Cool Down

 Good morning Monday,

  We are in a cool down-feels sooo wonderful. Larry has just two physical therapy sessions left-so I swept the outdoors steps off from leaves and twigs, and wow the cool air felt sooo good.  It was too hot and humid here all summer so he didn't get outdoors much for his therapy. We will need to wait several months again before he can ask for more. Should have thought to cancel the summer sessions for fall weather instead.

  Larry had found the perfect lift on ebay-good price, newer, looks nicer etc. but our guys weren't able to go and get it for us-bummer. It is about a 5 hour drive both ways.(Larry pays them but they were tied up with other jobs)  I wish we could have gotten this one-and then put the one that is not working in the back of the house. oh well such is life.

  I need a big grocery shopping trip so hope to do that tomorrow morning early. We have days in the 70's F this week too so am hoping to get the area ready to transplant the ornamental grasses down by the lake. This looks like a good week to do that-and then hopefully some rain.  We have not gotten any rain for the month of August.

 No photos to share-all my perennials are all dried up so no flowers to share, the grass has gone brown-fine with me haha hopefully no more cutting grass this year. After Labor Day weekend the lake will be back to peace and quiet-more waterfowl will return and usually no more noisy boats. I am hoping we will see the eagle pair again. I think they got spooked when the new owners of that property trimmed all the brush out and cut out dead limbs etc. Hoping they didn't move to another spot.

 I did get more spinning done while having the Shootout on the tv-live here at the lake. They moved it down further from us and in a much better location. So we didn't have as much speed boat traffic on the lake where we are-a good thing as they get the docks bouncing too much. They are very loud as well. The weather dropped from the high 90's to the mid 80's so good weather and safer too for the spectators.

The children here are already back to school-when I was a kid we did not go back to school til after Labor Day

  Happy new week!

  

 

  

A Cool Down & Amish Toothbrush Rugs

  Good morning Friday, 

     Finally a cool down has arrived-so hoping that we do not go back to those high temperatures with humidity again this year. Like  many of you, with no rain everything is burning up. Thankful my grass had gotten cut-now it is all brown-fine with me haha. 

  I appreciate the cool down but we really need a good rain.

    This weekend is the big speedboat races here on the lake-this is an annual event that raises lots and lots of money for local charities around the lake. The event has many volunteers that work the event that helps their charity. We started seeing the boats on the lake on Wednesday, yesterday there were lots of them. If one is in to crowds they will have a huge street party tonight that one can walk up and see the boats close up and talk to the drivers.  I am just fine avoiding all those people and watching the boats fly by my window haha

Those of you that like to craft have you made an Amish toothbrush rug?  I was browsing around you tube videos last night and ran into them. My Mom made a braided rug with wool strips-you need special metal things that fold the fabric-you braid them and sew them together  I remember attempting to make one of these-and it is a learning curve to have the rug lay flat.  These toothbrush rugs were another way to use up scrap fabrics in your stash to make a rug.

    I don't need another project right now-but I did find handmade needles made by a craftsman here in the Ozarks Missouri and was selling instructions reasonable as well. I love beautiful tools and supporting local. I chose the hard maple over the walnut which I really liked too  I still have a shelf of cotton fabrics from quilting, 

   Rugs like these last a long time too. I still have woven rag rugs that my Mom had designed the color order and paid a weaver to make Lots of them I still have about a dozen of those-some are wool. I love them.

  Here is the photo of the needle from the Ebay seller that I decided to get-the wood is lovely

    

  I liked this you tube video very clear instructions and she has a part 2 video to this

   Yes I do bounce around a lot with  my crafts haha Makes life interesting for me-especially since we are in the house most all of the time now.

     I will get my big Yellowstone inspired quilt finished first before going through my fabric stash. I do still have a jeans stash as well -I made several quilts from old jeans that I gifted out years ago. I also made a Huge jeans quilt with embroidery for us-very heavy but I love it. 

    Once we are into the winter months I will get back to my slow stitch bags as well-I would like to get those made and sent out this year or early next year My muse for those has left for a bit.

Happy Friday and weekend

 I looked for a photo of Snoopy boating and found this one

 

Do You Plant a Fall Garden? & This & That

   Those of you that don't get an early winter or freeze do you plant a fall veggie garden?

I don't normally but all my flower seeds were a bust this year do to the extreme heat, My perennials grew well in the beginning but the heat prevented some of them from even blooming-which I was surprised about.

We are still in temps close to the 100 F degree mark plus high humidity on top of that-so I am really feeling "trapped" in the house this summer.  The fresh produce at the stores has been very poor do to the extreme summer heat we are having. I know most of our country is dealing with the same

The last time we had such a hot summer we also had a very warm September. This morning though I thought I would take a chance and shop on Ebay for seeds to plant for fresh greens-- kale and swiss chard and spinach. These can make a good fall crop. Fresh eating and they freeze well too.

 The tomato plants were a bust-only got a handful of the little yellow pear tomatoes-so I will plant in those tubs. Will be easy to get water to them as well. Hopefully the little critters and the deer do not eat them. Smiles-though they are probably hungry for fresh greens too-sigh-I may have to place a netting over them.

  I had planted ornamental grass plants-very small-last year and this year in a big tub-these are all thriving in this heat--so whenever we get a major cool down-I will prepare them to get planted in a mound of dirt down by the lake towards the right of our property line. These are now out growing the tubs  and need to get moved to their permanent place before winter-the root balls are huge as well.

 I am still enjoying spinning while watching the world events on the tv. Almost have another spindle full to place on the niddy noddy.

  I got to thinking while spinning-that I still have my huge and thick Yellowstone inspired quilt I made a couple years ago.(before Larry's accident which will be 2 years this October)  It is too huge to put through my sewing machine-that would be a nightmare for sure. I tried hand quilting it-and the layers are too thick-I have quality thicker flannels for the top and the backing along with a wool batting in between. The only other thing I can do is hand tie it-which I had issues with too-as the quilt is too heavy for my old fashioned wooden quilt frame. I need to get this quilt out though and work on the floor to knot it. This will be a winter project.  I also hadn't thought about it when I made this how to wash it? ugh  I don't think there is a laundromat near me either-will figure that out later smiles-I love Yellowstone and really want to get this cozy quilt put together. It is a bit larger than a queen size-thick soft and cozy.

  I looked for a past post on this quilt and found this photo-it was on the frame but too heavy to stay tight while working on it

Bummer the lift is still not working. Larry knows how to wire up the motor etc but the person doing it is not listening at all. Larry has a vast knowledge of many things and if he hadn't gotten hurt he could do it and have this working. We finally had to put him on other jobs as he is wasting our wage money by not listening. He can't see or understand past what he keeps doing. Many of the younger generation I have noticed do not have an open mind for listening and learning-sad (not all of course, but we have run into this more lately)

Stay cool and enjoy the rest of your week

 

First Skein Spun

   It has been a couple years-before Larry's accident that I have done any spinning.  I am just not going to get fine spun yarns but I am not concerned with that anymore. I am liking my bulky handspun yarns and will add to my Yellowstone inspired yarns that I have spun off and on since 2017 when I visited there.

  I am loving these two fibers carded together and spun-the bison and karakul fibers The bison fibers gave the yarn a nice softness.

  I found another bag of the karakul  and I have lots of bison fiber bits so I will be spinning more of this and adding to my Yellowstone weaving project

  I am getting help getting caught up with the grass cutting. Our workers that are still working on the lift brought their lawnmower-I used the weed eater up by the lake as I have a lot of those water iris plants there-that look just like grass. So I appreciate that-they are working it in with the projects.  They are also getting the metal railing they made ready to put on the paint primer.  Slow going as we have the extreme heat and humidity today and for at least the next 5 days again.

  Happy Thursday

New To Me For Preserving

    Good morning,

Of course another hot and humid day-that is the norm this summer, and probably into September as well.

 I think it may have been on Instagram or maybe Facebook when I saw an ad for vacuum packing.

  Curious I went on Amazon to check it out-watched lots of videos, and settled on one that lets you know when the seal is finished-seems like a new feature. Really one needs this to know it has done it's job.

  Some of the videos were showing vacuum sealing  items like pasta after opening the package, grains etc to keep foods fresher. I liked this idea and thought I would try it. Amazon had the one I chose on sale as well.

  I buy different things online from Sam's Club now as their stores are over an hour's drive away-simpler at my age to buy online, get it delivered, so much less stress.  I like to buy their bags of dried cranberries but I end up with a half a bag that gets all dried out-so then I can still use them if I soak them in water a bit. So I thought this product could be good to try first.

  I also watched videos with people making pickles and instead of canning them they are using this vacuum pack tool instead. I need to do more research on this for sure.

    I did find this chart on the shelf life for foods vacuum packed here  they are listing fresh fruits and veggies too. Anyone a scientist understand vacuum packing?  This could be a really fast way to process a veggie garden. This was an interesting link for the shelf life-freezer, frig, shelf life I would not put glass jars in my freezer-but thinking in the frig would prolong fresh fruits and veggies.

 My camera does a horrible job with indoor photos I have read everything and don't see a way to improve the light-so I apologize for the bad photos.

  I did 6 wide mouth pints of the dried cranberries and had just a little left over to use up

There two pieces like this-one for wide mouth lids and you attach another piece on the bottom of this for small mouth lids-takes just seconds for each jar

Here is the one I bought off of Amazon this is the name of it --there are many on the market 

M12 Auto Stop Electric Mason Jar Vacuum Sealer - 2025 Upgrade Smart Jar Vacuum Sealer for Mason Jars with Wide and Regular Mouth Canning Jar Lids Portable Mason Jar Sealer Machine Kit

I am amazed about the fresh foods preserved this way-sooo simple and fast

  I grew up preserving foods and I have always done it my whole life until we moved to the lake house. I won't can on an electric stove and this one is old and needs to go--this is sooo simple I will need to try doing this for fresh produce to give them a longer time to be fresh.  I will need to see what I still have in canning lids.  I brought most of my canning jars along as well.

  Please share if you have used this tool too

Update: after more reading fresh foods can be vacuum sealed-to last longer-but need to be stored in the frig-that makes more sense to me for sure. and more information at this link   so this does not replace canning or freezing but extends time in the frig before it goes bad

No Flour Cookies, No Rain & This & That

    Good morning Sunday,

       Were you able to see the awesome moon last night?

    Here from the big windows looking out at the lake-the moon was to the far right amongst the tree limbs-but I was able to view it-wonderful. They say we will be able to see it again tonight It was very red.

   I have not made us cookies in a long time-probably since last Christmas time.  On Pinterest I ran into an oatmeal-peanut butter-chocolate chip no flour recipe I mixed up the dough late Saturday and baked them before our 2 pm meal today. I liked the ingredients, natural peanut butter, maple syrup, rolled oats, chocolate chips, a couple eggs and baking powder, vanilla extract.

   In my pantry years ago-at least 15 years ago or so I was into making my own extracts-They turned out sooo good too. I still have two bottles that I haven't used much of since I made those. These are just excellent now from the years of aging. I will start using these up instead of buying vanilla extract. I also found a bottle of lemon extract I had made during that time as well

   I have made something similar to this recipe in the past but this was a much better recipe-flavor and texture. It made 2 and 1/2 dozen cookies-will freeze half of them.

 Here is a link to the recipe

   I think the peanut butter makes them a little shiny. Good texture and I love the maple syrup in these too. Once a year now I buy a gallon of maple syrup from a farm on the east coast-sooo delicious and worth every penny. It is getting pretty pricy now though. Larry likes homemade pancakes with maple syrup for Sunday mornings.

   The weather people said cooler today with rain this morning. We heard lots of very loud thunder and lightening for about 15 minutes around 7 am and then just a couple seconds of sprinkling rain-and then it all just left-sigh so we missed the rain again.

  It is at that point now not worth the water to water my plants any more-but I do water them just enough since they are mostly perennials

On another "this & that"  I am getting too many kindle books this month-I started getting newsletters from Book Bub and also Amazon for Kindle-with too good a deals-or free to pass up-so I need to start deleting those emails before looking at them haha. I have lots of different reading material now to choose from, many new to me authors as well..

  One last "this & that"  How often do you change out your wooden cutting board?  We retired and moved down to Missouri around 25 years ago-and that is when I bought a new wooden cutting board. I had been thinking about changing this one out for a couple of weeks now. I saw an article probably on Instagram about needing to change out wooden boards every couple of years. That article said even though you wash and sanitize with bleach you can't get all the bacteria out of wooden boards.  I am thinking Wow yes I do need to change this out.  

   So I went with bamboo cutting boards-I bought a three pack that was on sale on Amazon so went with that. Didn't make sure about the sizes so the biggest one is smaller than I would have liked the best-but it is working. I read they should be oiled with food grade mineral oil so will need to check into that, and to replace when the bamboo has deep cuts in the board. Sounded easier and  sanitizes better than regular wood--any of you have bamboo kitchen cutting boards??

This is the one I chose  I like them but they are smaller than I thought they would be --largest one is 15 x 10 inches  My other board was twice that size. These will work out ok

Sharing a photo I found online. This is Bagnell Dam on Lake in the Ozarks-that makes the electricity for our area more info here

   Happy new week!

Fish Tacos & Missing Petunia Flowers

   Yesterday I got my second Wild Alaskan seafood box.  I was excited about this one as I chose a box where I could choose what I wanted.  I chose different fish new to me this time along with the halibut, cod and pollock. So this has been a fish adventure for me-smiles

  This is the photo of the label inside the box of what I chose. I had plenty of salmon in the freezer still. The new to me fish are the lincod, sablefish, and rock fish.  The quick cuts are chunks which I really liked for making chowders or tacos.I chose a variety of different fish cuts

 and surprise when the company sent me an email that my fish box had arrived, they also sent me a link to recipes for the fish I just purchased-That was very thoughtful of them. This company is very hands on.

  Yesterday I asked Larry what he felt like eating-I said too bad you don't care for fish and he says I like fish tacos.  Wow ok haha.   and he told me he likes cod-so am happy about that. I told him so far none of these ocean fish are oily at all just firm white meat.

  So I looked for ideas for a recipe-and just made it really simple-forgot to take a photo-but I found this one online. Recipe here from Epicurious for Wild Alaska Pollock-perfect

  I did cut the chunks smaller-so half this size shown above, sprinkled adobo spice on them. Sauted onion and sweet pepper strips til tender-set aside-cooked the fish in a bit of olive oil til done-added the sauted veggies, and a little bit of diced tomatoes and green chilis (since I am not supposed to have much in acid foods)

  I also always make refried beans from scratch and use different canned beans each time-added a bit of the diced tomatoes and green chilis to that as well.  Larry didn't want shredded cabbage so I chopped up leaf lettuce.

 These were delicious and will make them again-have not had a fish taco before.

Larry doesn't want to eat anything pork any more-he reads different things online since he can't get outdoors (too hot as well) and finding there are lots of worms and eggs in most pork. So he has informed me no pork-- So I am down to beef or chicken as meat choices and now a little fish too-

  I think I discovered why our air is a bit polluted here-the fires at the Grand Canyon in Arizona I thought we were a bit far away from Canada-so I think this is the source. We are back to hot and humid again.  The last time we had a summer like this-September was also very hot and humid.

  Oh and I could not believe this-the other day I looked over at my beautiful petunias in the big copper pot-what?? no flowers-not one. I am blaming it on the deer-we do have wildlife here as we are surrounded by woods-and we have seen the deer forage here-I think they come in the night or very early mornings. My neighbor loses her hostas every year to the deer. 

   Oh well they probably enjoyed them haha

  Stay cool in this heat

Today's Sunrise

  I am enjoying some awesome sunrises this week Here is today's-Wow My camera is not the greatest for capturing these-the sun was totally red this morning

  I did get to the grocery store yesterday morning early-the produce was horrible guessing do to the very hot weather this summer. I did buy a few things including some nice fresh strawberries-I will be baking us up my Grandma's recipe for Yellow angel food cakes-which whips up both the whites and  yolks seperately. Haven't made that in a long time.  They were also very limited in their frozen veggies too.

  For curiosity I looked online to see if there were fresh veggie or fruit boxes that ship-Yes there were lots of them including Melissa's organics but very expensive for the amount of food.  

  We are back to the high heat with humidity again for the next two weeks-nice thing so far this week cool in the mornings-So hoping this week to try cutting grass-ugh

 Happy Wednesday!

Good Morning Monday

  I am drinking a cup of coffee (decaf) and watching the sun rise this morning-so peaceful As you can see this tree is now dead and needs to be cut down-most estimates are a thousand dollars-craziness-still looking for a better price.

      

       

        This looks like the last cool day for awhile-I didn't get anything accomplished outdoors over the weekend-sigh.  Once the dew is off may try to cut some grass

   Enjoy your new week