Fall

What is that guy thinking?  This is
my favorite spot.

Halloween is a good time
to be in Monument.

If your day looks grim,
simply lay on the back of the sunny
couch and keep your face down.

July

This is all I have to say about July for now.
Maybe another time I will have more words for all that
went down during that month, but for now, I am choosing
to look at the husband I've been blessed with
and the great times we have together.

June

I started this blog in June, does that count?

Valedictorian

Freshman

Family

Ummm....

Seals 

Lambies

Gratuitous pooch shot 

April....

Well, missed April!  Maybe in May I'll get a writing bug?

A Tiny Friday Rant

For a rant, large print seems appropriate.  

I have finally figured out why I am almost excited for the wheels to come off our current political system.  It's been bugging me (the wonder at my attitude, I mean)  since 1999, when I was hoping the everything would shut down.  Here it is...my apostrophe....I am sick of the first world whining and posing and worrying about stupid stuff.  I want to get back to will we eat today, not is my carb load balanced with my protein.  And if you do these "16 easy exercises" you will have a six pack of abs and buns of steel.  If community was a necessity for survival, people would stop being so petty.  If we needed Joe and his plow to make us a spot to grow a winter's worth of food, we would be less likely to gripe about Joe's wife's dog barking at our cat.  Or something equally important.

Am I the only one?

In Like a Lamb

      I like old stuff.  Old dishes and old seeds and old sayings.  I like in like a lion, out like a lamb...even when it is vice versa.   
    We had such good intentions to follow the old rule of planting potatoes and onions on St. Patrick's Day.  For the week leading up to P-day, it looked as though we would get it accomplished with gorgeous sunny skies in the 70 degree range.  Until the night of the 16th when the sky cleared and the temperature dropped to the mid 20's, with a high of 48.  It proved our mettle as gardening "urban" homesteaders.  Zip. Zero. Zilch. NADA!  We cleaned the house and played games inside instead.  The chickens didn't even get their grass time.  
    Today I got a surprise day off of my paying job, and thought I would type a little and look back on the last few years of garden through pictures.   A little encourage and reminisce.  

I love this picture of Emily and Sparky.
I think it is the only garden picture that
survived the death of the picture hard-drive
that took 3 years of our time in Vernonia.

The bean jungle of Putnum Valley was the only time
 I ever grew enough beans to put  my own into jars.

My little helpers back in the day. 

Look how beautiful and organized, before it all went feral.

My biggest greenhouse and biggest cuke and tomato crops
at Grandma's place.

Chicken tractors hard at work on the outside
 garden at Grandma's. 

Last years, teeny little Eastern Oregon trial garden.
This year's dwarfs it in comparison.

      Looking through old pictures always makes me a little melancholy.  So much has changed and people who were so prominent  in the old days are not in today's pictures.  But there are also new faces and places and happiness of a different kind.  Looking forward to another good year of gardening and of living.
    

The Wee-Remodel

This weekend's project, the Big Project that is, has been to move the sewing and craft area upstairs into what was Char's room.  It hasn't been her room for quite some time, but it seems that much messiness has happened in there.  

The plan has been to have the guest and sewing room downstairs after Wilson moves to Boise in the spring.  The plan was thwarted, however when Em and Char decided they wanted to share that room...the one with the carpet and big windows.

Char and I have been busy girls this morning!

These windows overlook the chicken yard and the river in the
 distance.  When I get to town for an extension cord,
 the desk will go over there to enjoy the view while working.

A place for Tim and Madi and Ashe when they get to come.
The cat will have to be uninstalled

Craft desk on the right and sewing on the left.  You can see
behind my chair how well organized I have been.
Those boxes, tubs and bins hold my some of
my fabric stash and mending pile.