Some of Us Are Busy

Some, notsomuch.

This big guy is setting a poor example...


For this little guy.
He sure got with the program quickly.


In another part of the house...


Five pints of apricot jam down and all those ↑ to go.
Tasty.  And grateful for a bountiful harvest this year.

For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.  ...But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.  Isaiah 64:6, 8

Pickled Blogsite

Lying fallow for more than a year-and-a-half, this morning I breathed a little life into CarolineNot Cuisine, posting a recipe for Candied Dill Pickles.  If you get right on it, you still have time to make some of these crispy-crunchy, candy-sweet dill pickles for your Independence Day celebration.  Simple to make, never-fail, and always a crowd pleaser.

But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.  These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.  But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.  Jude 1:17-21

Catfish Not

Yesterday, I fished our little pond for catfish and caught a couple of nice ones.

I was enjoying the battle with this one...


...until the wrong face surfaced:


And it was pretty peeved:


I warn't none too pleased, myself.

And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: he is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.  Luke 6:46-49

Predator Pumpkins

Last year, around the end of June, I was talking to Charles about how fervently I dislike gardening (pain, heat, dirt, weeds, bugs, snakes, et al), when he made the most amazing statement: "Well, people who garden do it because they like gardening.  They enjoy it."

You gotta be kidding me.  For real?  All this time, I thought good women planted gardens, and I so wanted to be a good woman.  Not gardening didn't make me a goodNot woman?  Now, if it was garden or starve, I'd do the deed, but that may be for another year.  I was NOT enjoying gardening (that year or any of the others), so I quit; I never saw the garden again, and neither did it see me.  Vegetables disappeared beneath weeds, and if that was wasteful, I'm sorry all over myself.  I became a much happier woman, and no one needs a cranky (dusty, perspiration-streaked, whining) woman hanging about.  *brushing garden dirt from hands*

But late last fall someone tossed over the fence, into the garden, (surviving) pumpkins which had served an ornamental purpose.  Splat!  This spring: Surprise!  Pumpkin plants in the garden, a few feet from the tomato plants Charles does enjoy planting and tending.  Yanking up many and transplanting others to the other leg of the garden, we decided to allow some to stay where they'd magically grown.  Now Charles wrestles the monsters, directing them away from his tomatoes, which they threaten to choke on a regular basis.  To the right you see the plant which crept through and past the tomatoes to get to the kid. 

For me, volunteer plants, untended gardening, and photo ops are perfection.  And here you have it:

Now that's a LEAF:


Crazy pumpkin-crawl on the other side of the tomato plants:


Gotta love the tendrils.

So no thanks to me, we may have quite a pumpkin harvest this fall.  God planted the pumpkins, He waters them, Charles wrestles them, and I'll eat 'em.  Perfect. 

But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.  Titus 3:4-7

Nana Mouse Ears - Do We Have a Winner?

Four Mouse Ears.

I'm going to ignore that Tickseed part, because I don't like it.

I like the Nana part, so it gets a star.  This surely must be a flower meant for me.

I also like these parts: perennials, 1 year guarantee, and heat and drought resistant.  Watering is not my forte.

More work to do in the flower hospital, but some of the gaping holes are now closing.

Mouse Ears are weeds.  They'll love it here!

Meanwhile, back on the gazebo path, lilies are blooming:


And we've picked a few apricots:

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.  He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.  John 14:23, 24

1 Dozen Egg-Maker Photos

Faring much better than my flowers, may you enjoy a dozen chicken pics, including your first view of the black HenNot which sneaked into the shipping box with the girlie chicks last November.

[black star, delaware, leghorn, California leghorn, ancona, partridge rock, golden laced Wyandotte, ameracauna, Rhode Island red]













I ♥ tail feathers.

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.  Romans 5:10, 11

Flowers Update

Okay, these 3 weeks after planting, the flowers you saw in May are looking pretty ugly.  This is not a flower bed.  This is a flower hospital:


Lush is out of the question under my care, but the little purple things are looking really lame:


I better go buy, and ram into the ground, something to step this up a notch or twenty-seven.

And those hanging baskets which were my favorites?  If you've been hanging around for a while, you know I'm not keen on the purple-red blend thing, but I didn't even notice purple and red were married in the baskets...until all the yellows in one of them shriveled up and died:


Really, do I get blamed for this?  I think not.  But there we have it.

Then there's the bed near the trough thingy, where I planted the strawberries...which got croaked, of course.  Who knew the wind had blown off the cover, knocked down the chicken barrier, and provided a feast for the chickens, who are not satisfied to gingerly pluck berries and must obliterate the plants as well?  So we planted perennials yesterday, a portion of which I managed to get in the photo frame.  They're looking pretty lame too.  This is prettyNot:


Sorta looks like a vegetable garden gone bad.  Mayhap I should just cease this annual debacle and resulting whine.  ºÜº

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.  Matthew 7:13, 14

I've Done It Again

Sometimes I don't care that I'm not the picture of culture, poise, convention.  Sometimes I do.  I truly would be Caroline-Ingalls-like, if I had the first notion of how to go about doing that.  I suppose I could study and try really, really hard.  That might make a difference.  I'll think about that tomorrow.

Today, I took a couple of packages to the post office for a friend.  I've engaged over-the-counter with the postmistress numerous times, but it's not like we have coffee or anything, and bear that in mind.  Today she was training a new assistant.  I'd requested a receipt for the postage, so I could present that to the owner of the packages, so the postmistress began filling out the receipt, while her assistant handled the packages. "What name should I put on the receipt?" the postmistress asked me.

"Oh, mine," was my reply, then I turned my attention back to the woman working with the packages.

Thankfully — I guess — I realized the postmistress was sort of frozen and was still looking at me...with a slightly pained expression on her face.  "Oh! Oh!," I blurt out, then supplied my name, and I just stood there laughing at myself like a hyena, as I thought about my initial, idiotic response to her query:  Mine.

When I told Charles what I'd done, he laughed.  When he learned I hadn't done it on purpose, he laughed harder.

He is the Lord our God: his judgments are in all the earth.  He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.  Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac;  and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance. Psalm 105:7-11

Favorite Thing - Net Scrubby

Realizing the image is a bit scroungy looking (and there's no sense in trying to dress it up), I nonetheless deem my net dish scrubby one of my favorite things.

I first learned of washing dishes with a net scrubby a couple of decades ago, when we lived in Illinois, and a friend who was also a transplant to that state received a fresh scrubby from her mama back home in Georgia.  Now hers was significantly more elaborate than what you see here, and I studied and mimicked hers at the time and for a time.  But over the years I've discovered my personal preference is to just cut a hank of net and put it to work as-is.  You can see it doesn't appear very deliberate in this form, and you wouldn't want to wrap it up and give it as a gift.  Yet, I like the free-form feel in my hand and the ability to truly stretch that thing out for rinsing, so no food particles are left in it as an unsavory presence, or worse, a contamination threat.  (← I added that contamination part for Little Loo, who curls her lip every time I offer her a scrubby: "NO!")

My dish scrubby makes me so happy^♥, and at something around 75¢/yard, when it eventually seems a bit on the limpish side, I can fairly economically toss it away and cut another hank.  Last summer, I bought quite a stretch of net to shield my strawberry plants from the birds, but my strawberries croaked...as naturally they would in my care.  See how thoughtful I was, buying green, so it wouldn't be an outdoor eyesore?  Who knew that net would become grass green scrubbies in a non-grass-green kitchen?  For five or six years.

Favorite thing (despite being grass green) — Net Scrubby

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.  II Corinthians 7:1

About to Get Hammered

By this...

Good thing I didn't plan a parade today.

*head cocked*

I've never planned a parade.

Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.  Psalm 147:7, 8

You Should Know about This

And even though the camera was within arm's reach, if you think I was going to look away even long enough to grab it, you're cwazy!

Monday morning I stood from my chair at the computer to go refresh my beverage (okay, it was coffee and I didn't want to admit it), and nearly stepped on a spider the size of a gingersnap.  No, I'm not kidding or exaggerating.  Gingersnap.

THIS IS A GINGERSNAP:

THIS WAS THE SPIDER:

See what I mean?
And those things sticking out the front of his face:
Those are the parts that wanted to bite me.

So I wasn't going to take my eyes off of him,
Because if I did, he was going to hide,
And I'd have to move out.

I slowly removed one shoe,
Stood like a flamingo,
Centered the shoe,
And dropped it.


I won't draw any pictures of the rest of it.
And don't think about it.

Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.  Jude 1:21