Thursday

~ Blessings~

 
 "The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings." Henry Ward Beecher
 Heavenly Blessing : Rain and more rain.




And more rain..


Heavenly Blessing : First tomato of summer.
 One that the deer didn't get.
 Hallelujah , the DIY deer deterrent spray is working.

Heavenly Blessing:  Pears in the dehydrator.
   We wait all year, to dry pears, which are a family favorite.
We will dry peaches, plums, pears, apricots, etc...
Once they are dry, I put them in the freezer.

This year, I also have started making fruit leather : I used puree of pears and black berries, and sweetened with all natural honey. I tried out three ways of drying the puree... one on silpat, one on parchment, and one on plastic wrap. All dried in the oven on the lowest setting.
My preference; the plastic wrap.  I think it worked the best out of all the methods I tried.


Attitude of gratitude:

~I am grateful that I have an appreciation for provident living. I want to be able to make the most of the summers' bounty.
I'm working on filling my deep freezer, filling my food storage shelves, and filling my pantry.
It's deeply satisfying to see those shelves filled with good food.
It also makes preparing a meal a cinch.




Wednesday

Scary... .Someone's under there....



Little Johnny was in his bedroom playing with his toy tractor when his mother walked in.
"Mom, doesn't it say in the Bible that man was made out of dust?" he asked
"Yes," replied his mom.
"Is it also true that when we die, we go back to dust?" he inquired.
"Yes, " said his mom again. "Why do you ask?"
Because I was looking under the bed, "Johnny answered, " and there's someone under there either coming or going."

Just a little humor to break up the week.
Also.... true confession........ there's either somebody coming or going under my bed, and couches.

To see this post in it's original form, click on the link below.  The link is to my other blog  ~
"Cottage On Main".

http://cottageonmain.blogspot.com/2011/06/someones-under-there-little-johnny-was.html

Tuesday

. Daily Life .


This day is shaping up to be a great day.
I'll be busy, but happily so.
I've been thinking about what a wonderful weekend I had with my family, and I am so grateful for them.
 We started the weekend out with an early morning drive.
Community pond.
 Just up the mountain from our home.
   From the mountains above our home, you can look down into the valley and see our little city.
It's surrounded by mountains, and fields and meadows.
We feel blessed to be able to live in such a beautiful place.
We drove around a few of the little towns here, and took pictures. We've been looking and considering options for a fence on two sides of our property.
 Below is a picture of an acquaintances house. They restored this home a few years ago and sold it.
One of the best features, in my opinion, is the darling post and rail fence.
Post and rail fencing is at the top of our list for consideration.
 I love the charm and old fashioned appeal of post and rail fencing.
Borders planted with perennials, and the post and rail fencing adds such curb appeal.
 As we drove around our little city, up to the pond, back down to the valley, and to neighboring small towns, we saw this sweet little old farm house.
No longer livable.....
 However... someone still sits by the front porch.
There--- in the background is a chair, overlooking the wildflowers.
 
On the list for this day :
* Load the dehydrator with pears.
* Prepare dinner
*Brush the dog... a never ending job
*Vacuuming
*Sorting through more canning bottles and supplies
*Running loads of canning bottles through the dishwasher.
*Check out a website that a blog friend told me about that does photo editing.
*Hang pictures in the family room.
*Catch up on some reading and journaling.
* so forth, and so on... work on my 'to-do' list......
Attitude of gratitude:
~Rain!! I am so grateful for the rain that we received yesterday.
It was a real gully washer, and everything has greened up considerably today, and the air smells so sweet.... rain mixed with pine from the mountains, and sage from the valley.
~So grateful to have celebrated our youngest son's birthday {Spencer} on Sunday. It was a bitter sweet celebration, as Spencer and my oldest brother have always shared a birthday.  This year is the first time that my brother didn't get to celebrate with Spencer. My brother passed away this past March.
I'm sure that my Dad and grandpa who are in heaven with him celebrated though.

Wednesday

* Perfect*

 This day started out in a perfect way.
Six O' Clock in the morning, and the skies are ablaze with color
Sun rising over the mountains.
 Perfect Sunrise.
 Perfect gift received from Nancy @  http://nancy-jo.blogspot.com/
She had a giveaway recently, I am the lucky recipient of that giveaway. 
Everything is lovely, but that magazine.. Daphne's diary... it's perfect
Spencer came over, and we got busy making freezer burritos to fill up his freezer.
We made breakfast burritos, filled with eggs, sausage, hash browns, peppers and cheese.
Chicken burritos, filled with chicken, beans and cheese, wrapped in spinach tortillas.  Last but not least, we made dessert burritos: filled with cream cheese sweetened with powdered sugar, and apple pie, or strawberry pie filling.  The dessert burritos turned out very much like apple Danish, or  strawberry and cream Danish.
All in all, we made 60 burritos for his freezer.
He's happy, and Mom is very happy to know , he won't starve to death... *smile**.
            Yesterday, we stopped by "Home Again".  A fun store filled with all kinds of goodies for the home!{ Click link if you'd like to visit their site.  http://www.homeagainconsignments.com/}
There is a lot to see in the store, and something for everyone.
I loved these chairs... they were sold of course. 
Spencer bought a set of gorgeous green glass candle holders. I didn't buy anything.... this time.
On the way home:
See those mountains.... we have to go through the mountain pass, and still travel quite a few miles to get home.
 It amazes me how much traffic there is , especially in the middle of the day. 
I always wonder... 'where are all these people going'??? 
Growing up in Utah Valley, we never saw traffic like this, except on game days ...*smile* B.Y.U. vs. U of U.
When we pass the wind turbines, traffic thins out, and we are getting closer and closer to home.
Perfect.
I love living in the country!!


Attitude of gratitude:
~I'm so grateful for being blessed with safe travels.
~I'm grateful that Spencer's A/C in his car was fixed, and under warranty! What a savings!!
~I'm grateful we had a little time to visit the "Home Again" shop, go to the farm stand and buy fresh veggies, and go to the Salt City Candle Co. store and stock up on yummy scented candles.
~I'm grateful for the blessing of being able to live in the country.  It's nice to have cities close enough by to shop, or take care of dr. appt. , car repairs etc.. but.. it's always nice to come home
It's the perfect life for us.

Friday

* A Daisy kind of day *

One of the fun things about being in a new home aside from new spaces to decorate, of course, are some really pretty perennials growing in the berm and the borders.
Adorable petite daisies.  Anyone know the name of these?
 I placed a few stems of the petite daisies in a hob nail vase, and added a few Shasta daisies.
There are clumps of daisies planted every where.  In the borders, and in the berms.... daisies.
Another nice find, is the wooden basket.  
I found it in a box of stuff that I was organizing and putting away.
Like Christmas in July!! Even though we've had it for a few years, it's been packed away. 
Nice to have it out, and be able to use it again.
Geraniums are flourishing in the old wheelbarrow.
We bought this old wheelbarrow a few summers ago at a yard sale.  I've never regretted it!
I still love that old wheelbarrow, and I've placed it on a landing
 by the front porch steps.
Perfect colors for summer, and July.
On the front porch glider, new pillows.
As I was looking through my fabric stash for fabric to sew curtains for our youngest son's office and kitchen, I found these fabrics.
No wonder I bought them. They are so darling, and I still love these colors and patterns!
A bit of time at the sewing machine, and I had 3 new 20'x 20' pillows for the front porch.

This weekend:
~ I hope to take inventory of my canning supplies, and get my canning jars all washed and ready to fill.
~I want to finish the second guest bath paint job.  Just need to add trim, and paint a little bit more.
~Put a couple of batches of turkey jerky in the food dehydrator.

*** Edited to add.... so far, the deer spray IS WORKING... Yay!!

Attitude of gratitude:
~I'm grateful for morning walks : time to ponder, and prepare myself for the day.
~I'm grateful that I have learned a few skills in my days that can be a blessing to my family.
 Sewing curtains for Spencer, cooking meals, and baking, canning and putting food up.
 I truly enjoy making a comfortable and welcoming home for my family. A place of respite from the world and a place to feel peace, and feel of our Heavenly Fathers spirit. It's important to me, and I'm grateful that I have the desire to be a girl that loves her home and wants to make it the best place in the world for her family to be.

Wednesday

.. Daily Life..

 The clouds gathered over the mountains, and the meadows last night.
The winds picked up.
It started raining, and the rain continued for about 20 minutes.


Our temperatures dropped, and everything cooled off nicely.
We also lost power.
It's not un-common for us to lose power if the winds blow hard.
It was off for just a few hours, and it was in the evening.
We spent the time playing  UNO, and laughing.

Today, I'm getting things done around the house.
 I'm also going to start making some curtains for Spencer's house.
 He finished his office, it just needs some simple curtains now.

I relish days like today.......
When I can just putter-butt around my home, and be a homemaker !!


Attitude of gratitude:
~ Of course, I'm so grateful for the rain, and the cooler night temperatures.
~I'm grateful for a bunch of ripe bananas.  I'll mix up a batch of banana bread, and have a nice treat waiting for them, when they get home.
~I'm grateful for being able to find the good in each day . It's easy to find the negative and the sad.... there is so much of it. However, we must try to find the good. Find the blessings, and be a blessing to those around us by serving.

Monday

Little.

 Little red poppy.
Such a wonderful, surprise.
{ We brought a red poppy from the old homestead
 Grown by seed, and planted next to the barn.
 It never blossomed last year.
So far, it seems to be growing nicely here at the new house... but still no blossoms. }
One morning, much to my delight and surprise, there it was.... this one little red poppy.
Planted  by the previous owner.
 Such a little thing, but it makes me so happy.
I have great hopes that my transplanted poppy will continue to grow, and perhaps even bloom before the end of the summer. 
Should the transplanted poppy plant not make it, I feel quite happy that the little red poppy plant that was already here, will continue to grow and bloom.  
A token of welcome, this little red poppy.
 The moon was quite beautiful the night of the "Super Moon".
 It rose above the mountain, shining down on the meadow and neighboring farm.
Something so grand can make one feel small, and little. 
What a wonderful, beautiful world we live in!!
 Little booklet.
Does any one remember correspondence courses???
I found a little Poultry Farming Correspondence course booklet.
Just 10 little cents at a yard sale.  Copyrighted 1925. 
Just a little of my weekend here at the new house.
By the way, we are working on a name for our new house.
Homes should be named.
People name their children, pets, cars, etc.. etc...
Isn't fitting that our homes have names, since that is were we spend so much time. 
Making memories, keeping traditions old and new.
Feeding our families, and our spirits.
Yes, it's a little thing to name a house, but it's an important thing, I feel.


Attitude of gratitude :
~ I'm grateful we saw a little duck in the creek.  On our morning walk, we were rewarded with a 'quack-quack', 'quack-quack', and the beating of wings as the duck flew off the creek and into the sky.
~I'm grateful for a fun afternoon of playing 'Yatzee' with my family.  I love board games, and we laughed a lot.
~I'm grateful for rich, chocolaty cake on a Sunday evening. Perfect finish for a happy weekend.

Tuesday

~ Brand New Day ~

 Early morning.
What is that saying? "Red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky in morning, sailors take warning"?
The forecast is for monsoonal rain later today, or tomorrow.
Praying we get the rain.  It has been so dry, and so hot.  Rain would be most welcome.
The morning sky was simply beautiful.
 As you can see, the sun rays are beaming over the mountains and reflecting off the clouds.
 Soft pink-gold clouds across the meadow.
You can just make out the back of a near-by dairy farm.
Early mornings, the cows start mooing.  And, mooing. And mooing.
It's a good thing I don't mind it, and I'm not trying to sleep in.
 A stand of dead trees just a little bit to the west of the last picture.
I actually like the way they look. 
 We've had deer problems.
In all the country homes we've owned, we've managed to keep the deer out of the gardens.
Not so , with this house.
One night, I watered the tomatoes and flowers on the back patio.  Thinking how delicious those tomatoes would be in a week or so, once they ripened
Next morning, my sweet husband called to me in the house. 
He let me know that the deer had eaten every single one of my tomatoes, and munched down all my geraniums!!! Stinkers!!!
The deer didn't touch my poppies.  Suppose they dislike the fuzzy pods.
I mixed up some deer deterrent spray. A recipe I found on You-tube, and is supposed to be the spray that is used in the Kew Gardens in England.
Today is the second day since I sprayed the deer deterrent on my plants, and so far, so good.
I still have a few geraniums left, and one little teeny-tiny tomato.
The recipe for the spray is :  One egg yolk
                                              1 Tbsp. baking POWDER {not baking soda}
                                              4 Cups of water.
        Whisk together and spray plants to deter deer. Re-apply every 2 weeks.
I'll keep you all posted on how well this works.
Sweet little brick cottage, all decked out in flowers for summer.
We took a little road trip during my husbands little vacation from work.
We drove up to Midway, and Heber City. 
We went to Granny's drive-in and had the most delicious malt. If anyone from Utah has been to Granny's, you know what I'm talking about.  Delicious!
Also, in Midway we went to the Heber Valley cheese co.  We bought cheese with vanilla bean in, and cheese with rosemary and orange zest in.  Unique, and quite tasty combinations.
This little cottage is in Midway, and looked so sweet, I just had to add the picture to this post.
Love the fence, entry posts, and flowers. 

Attitude of gratitude:
~I'm grateful for summer time. Even when it's blazing hot, it still beats winter!!
~I'm grateful for such a wonderful, kind, giving husband. He's the best!!  He took me on a date to the drive-in movie, and bought me a pretty tasty hot dog.  Perfect date!!!