A gift

 Imagine my surprise when a package was delivered to our door!  

The package was really cute...

Love this leather bookmark and a place to keep track of my books! 

Inside was a book Inspire 100 Devotions for coloring and creative journaling!  

Thank you Shug!  What a wonderful surprise!  

Far Side

Crane and lights

 Tucked into a Christmas Card was a wonderful surprise! 

An Origami Crane!  Just perfect! Thank you Larry!  I have been following his blog a number of years:) 

We went out one evening to see "the lights"  the Lions in Grand Forks North Dakota do a bang up job with the display every year.

Monday we had two appointments.  I had to renew my military ID because it was expiring...now I have an Indefinite one.  Far Guy saw his Pulmonary Doctor and she is pleased with how well he is doing.  Keeping our fingers and toes crossed that he escapes the flu or any such germs. 

Three more medical appointment round out our week.  Will it ever end?  I see my worthless Rheumatologist on Wednesday.

Andy is on Christmas break and he is a much better cook than I am!  Last night we had twice baked potatoes, chili and fruit.  He already has Tuesday nights meal planned and the meat is being sous vide.

( cooked at a very low temperature in a special container that holds water) 

Minnesota weather; Monday it was sunny and the sundogs were out again.High was 5F or -15C low was 2F or -17C eh!  Tuesday we may get above freezing!!!

Far Side

18

 This blog is eighteen years old.  Hard to believe its teen age years are almost over. 

 I usually give myself flowers. 

Well here they are... Autumn Joy Sedum covered in snow.  

It kinda fits the snowy day we had on Sunday. 

If you are a long time/ part time reader/commenter you are partly to blame for me still blogging.  So thanks for that!  The blogging community is a wonderful group, many of you  are like family!  Thank you for sharing your lives with me! 

I shall continue on with the daily drivel. 

Minnesota weather; Snowy and some wind.  High 8F or  -13C Low was -9F or -22C  We have a blizzard warning through Sunday night into Monday morning. 

Andy ventured out to pick up pizza so that was a great supper!

 Happy Bloggiversary to me!

Far Side

 

Friends

Thank you for being such caring friends, how wonderful to have so many people that care about me and my wonderful husband. 

 This beautiful gift was waiting for me when I got home.  Thank you so much dear friend Linda. 

Yesterday Jen took Far Guy to his infusion and after we had some lunch we all headed North. 

I cannot drive when I take the good pain killers.  So far the pills are working as long as I stay on a schedule.  Ice packs really help the most and I can walk without difficulty and go up and down the stairs as long as I go SLOW. 

(How many words can I misspell in one sentence?)  Thank goodness for spell check.

I shall be back when I am able.

Far Side

I won!

 Sara over at Punkin's Patch had a drawing and I was the winner!!  Yeah me!

Fun stuff...a project bag, a note pad and her Lamb Camp ...the bottle lambs booklet!  The lamb camp booklet is a treasure in itself! 

 Head on over to Sara's blog...she is better known as the crazysheeplady. Over there you will find great photos about her flock of sheep...she does the hard stuff...raises bottle lambs that are rejected by their mothers...and takes in/rescues sheep that need a home and special care from Sara.  She washes, cards, spins and knits the wool from her sheep. I have been reading Sara's blog for many years...following the ups and downs of her life on Equinox Farm (falling in love with all her critters). Her blog is a treasure!  I am a winner just reading her blog however I do appreciate the gifts!!  Thanks Sara!

Far Side

One bloom

 My Fern- leafed Peony had just one bloom again this year.   It was a gift from Larry years ago.  I hate to move it... I am just thankful for one bloom! 

  Pop on over to Larry's and say Hi, this week he brought his wife Della home from the hospital/rehab center...she has not been home since March 25.  So it is a big deal that she is finally home!   I am positive that you will enjoy all of Larry's flowers as much as I do.

Far Side

Unexpected gifts

I got  a box from Wyoming!  Always fun to get something unexpected!!

Long time blogging friend Nancy mailed me a hanging kitchen towel and two dishrags!  Thank you so much! Nancy is a marvelous crafter...she knits and quilts...mostly Quilts of Valor for Veterans.

We got a text message yesterday afternoon inviting us to a social distancing supper with friends.   We ate outside on their back deck... that overlooks their pasture.  It was a perfect evening to be outside. We enjoyed brats and lettuce greens from their garden and some delicious rhubarb kuchen.

We even got in some dog time!

Buddy was happy to see us too!
Far Side

Relaxing Day

We had a very nice day yesterday. No appointments! No place we had to be.  After doing some household chores we had the day to ourselves.

Far Guy wood carved and had a nap.

Far Guy  made me a blocker for the afghan squares.  He got the right size board from Andy and I sealed the top...Far Guy drilled the holes for me and cut the dowels.

I put two damp blocks to dry.  It will work just fine...the idea is to make all the blocks the same size so that they can be crocheted together and make a good looking afghan.  I think I can put a whole stack of squares on the dowels.

I worked on my newest crochet project and watched Spy Games.  I also worked on The Farm Diaries and made it into 1927 so I am making headway!

We made supper together...Naan Bread Pizza.  We can make them how we like them ...he likes pepper and mushrooms on his and I do not.

A card and crochet heart from Sam! Thanks Sam for thinking of us! 

Far Side

Colorful Gift

This week the mailman brought me a package from Kansas.
Imagine my surprise!

Thank you Mary Lou!  It has a home on our couch  where it's warmth can be enjoyed!  I have been following her blog and she has been following mine many years now.

Far Side

Gifts from friends

This was a great week for gifts!

Always fun to get something in the mail or from neighbors that stop by with a bag of gifts!

A Border Collie Table Runner and Coasters from special neighbors Leah and Jo.  The gift made us smile!  I had fun finding Border Collies that looked like our Chance...we still miss him everyday.

Soap, lotion, cuticle cream and lip balm from Araignee's Tangled Web...she has more hobbies than I do!

Yes Far Guy was woodcarving at the dining room table when I took photos.  He has a special board he uses at the table to catch chips and it also protects the top of the table.

Sheila at woodcarving shared a pattern with him...and another fellow was cleaning out his garage so we have all kinds and shapes of basswood for carving.   One of the pieces was just perfect for his project. 

We have not yet picked a Christmas Ornament for this year...we have two ideas and will see what makes the cut...so to speak.

Far Side

Friends who sew

I can manage a decent hand stitch with thread and needle.   Sewing with a machine is a whole other adventure.   One of my problems is that I don’t like to measure. Ha!  Eyeballing fabric just doesn’t work.   I have always had good intentions…but I think I might be too old to learn to sew properly.
Anyways I am thankful for friends who sew.  When they say they have sewed all day and into the night…I think…wow…sounds more like a prison sentence to me.

Gifts from Henny Penny who is an awesome seamstress.

The cast iron pot holder is wonderful!  Thank you Henny Penny!
My neighbor/friend down the road Jo is also a seamstress.  She amazes me with her creations!
 
This is a way cool bag with a top that snaps open and shut. It is called a snap bag or metal measuring tape bag.  It is the perfect size for my Ipad and a few other things!  To open the bag you just pull on the triangles.
I am not sure how these gals come up with all their sewing ideas…

Snow and A Gift

It snowed and snowed some more.  It snowed most of the day Thursday.  We had about three inches at the snow stick…now we have more.

I waited for the snow to stop so I could shovel, it never stopped so I will shovel today.  We are going back into the deep freeze this weekend so all outside work must be done Friday.  Fun.

What makes a snowy day better?  Why a gift in the mail! Isn’t the card just the cutest!

These are Benne Wafers a gift from Cynthia who lives in the Lowcountry.  (Former Minnesota gal) Thank you so much Cynthia!  They were delicious!  One was broken so we even shared a little with Chance!

Cynthia shared the history: Benne Wafers are unique to the Lowcountry.  Benne (the Bantu word for sesame) seeds were brought from Madagascar through West Africa to the southern United States by African slaves.  The sesame plants were set among the rice fields and tended by slaves.  Benne Wafers were made and enjoyed from pre-Revolutionary war times to the present.

A Winter Garden

My garden in the winter lays quietly under the snow, sleeping,  resting, languishing in its frozen state waiting to be called from its snowy icy slumber when the snow melts and the spring sunshine slowly warms the earth.

All the weeds are enjoying the snow cover, I think they like the party atmosphere of a snow bank and they multiply under there all winter long.  Not a one of them dies from the harsh winter or the frost heaving the ground…every spring they attack the perennials with renewed pleasure..

  

Parts of the garden that we used to till are now mowed..plants have reseeded in spots they have chosen..some plants like the Lupines just sow themselves and grow wherever their seed lands.  I gave up on weed control..it is what it is..weeds are beautiful too. 

Life is too short to be concerned with how many weeds you have in your garden..if you waste all your time on the weeds you will forget what you really planted your garden for..

the flowers..the ones that are strong enough and tall enough to live amongst the weeds.

Two things happened recently.

The first:   Nanna nanna boo boo..God is going to get you..and I will stand at the side lines and clap.  A Doctor at a local clinic is finally being sued for malpractice…it is way past time..I would testify against her ( Doctor She Devil) in a heartbeat. If you think that sounds cruel..perhaps it is..but having a license to practice medicine does not give you the right to batter your patients. Someone finally had the guts to stand up and say..enough is enough.

The second : My girls are 35 and 38 years old..well this year they will be 36 and 39..but that is the point..hopefully they will both celebrate their birthdays this year.  I have a friend in blogland whose son died yesterday morning..he was 33.  His death was anticipated after the cancer diagnosis last June.  Cancer never wins..Nathaniel won in the end..he tromped all over cancer as he marched victorious into heaven:)

Toast

Simple..I have two slices of buttered toast every morning with an apple for breakfast.  I am a creature of habit. I used to have a banana, but I think I may be allergic to them so I switched to an apple. Not just any old apple either a Raeburn..tart and crisp.

When we used to go camping I missed my toast. We never splurged and bought one of those baskets that you could toast bread with over the campfire.

I have made toast in the oven on a cookie sheet under the broiler..but given my history with burning things under the broiler I am glad I don’t have to do it that way everyday.

Now here is a non electric toaster for you. Apparently the bread was strapped on with the wires..it was placed on the stove.  If it was a newfangled gas stove with an actual burner then this toaster was placed over the burner. If it was an old wood fired cook stove I guess it just sat on top waiting for the bread to become toast.  I wonder how long it took to make toast that way?

Far Guy likes toast..he likes his peanut butter toast at night and in the morning too..so does Chance.

One day our toaster gave up the ghost. It had toasted it’s last slice of bread, it was about time, it had only been toasting one side of the bread for years, you had to flip it around to achieve equal toasting or just be happy with one sided toast. It was a plain old white toaster. Easy to clean..you could tell when it was dirty.

We went shopping and bought a Oster..yup an Oster Toaster..brushed stainless steel. It has a retractable cord, whoopee..and a button that says cancel just incase your toast is burning and you need to pop it up manually.

  For comparison..there is an old electric toaster sitting next to it..a very pretty stainless steel one that is an antique..Far Guy needs to rewire the electrical cord.  Times sure have changed.

I am sure that this new brushed stainless steel lummox of a toaster was designed by a man.  You know how I can tell?   All along the top of that toaster between the black and the stainless..there is a ditch..a road for crumbs..a place for every little crumb to try and make a home.  When it is about to drive me totally nuts..I drag out the Q-Tips and wet them and go crumb chasing.  I have not decided what is worse..chasing crumbs in that toaster ditch..or having a toaster that when moved even slightly would spew all its crumbs from its bottom all over the counter…or the one that would get so hot on the outside that if someone put the plastic bread bag too close it would melt to the outside of the toaster creating its own artwork.

I know my toaster problems and opinions might seem small in comparison to all the problems in this troubled world..and some people even have worse toaster problems than me..like Karen at Wyndson Farm.

Do you ever look inside your toaster?  I do now:)

Three Years

Today I get flowers. Or maybe it is you the reader that deserves the flowers. Whatever..

A Yellow Lady’s Slipper along the driveway.

A big old bee drunk on the nectar of the Baptisia (Wild Indigo)

Three years and 1,100 entries. Thats why we get flowers. Me for writing them..you for reading them.

Far Guy and I never plan too far ahead.  We try to be flexible.  There was a Train Show that Far Guy had been looking forward to a few weeks ago..the weather turned stormy..so we stayed home. He was disappointed..so was I ..not for the Train Show but for the Antique Shops that we would have passed by on the way back.

I won’t plan too far ahead with this blog either..if it makes it to four years that will be fine and dandy..if it doesn’t ..it doesn’t. My daughter Jen would say “Mother it is what it is.” 

I believe I have accomplished what I started out to do three years ago.  That was to leave some small part of me behind for the “Grands”.  I have a really good start.

I would like to thank my readers, and those who take the time to comment!  The side effect of having a blog is the connections you make with people of all walks of life all over the world. I have amazing friends..amazing readers who leave comments ..people who I could have over for coffee this afternoon and within minutes we could be in a comfortable conversation..but they would still have to bring their own cookies:)

What ever happened to?

Customer service, free gift wrapping and boxes with your purchases?  Remember the good old days?

Can you tell we have been shopping?  The best part of the entire day was the ride home.  It certainly wasn’t fighting the traffic in the icy parking lots or risking life and limb to walk through those parking lots.  It certainly was not the customer service where we shopped for a CD that we never did find, or the books that went by the wayside because the titles could not be located.  It certainly was not in the store where I asked a young man ..What is the price of that item?  The little placard with the price was missing…five minutes later he came back and said well it is a dollar two forty one and that is the only one left.  I told him fine we will take the other one then..he looked at me like I had three heads and was oozing bodily fluids…and said “I will have to get someone else to help you”  Off he sauntered coming back after another five minutes with someone older and wiser. There was supposed to be video surveillance in that store, I hope they got the message when I pointed my finger to my head and shot myself with my finger..many times.  I even found a comfy spot to sit and wait and add some sound effects to my explosions.  I must have made a impression on a few people as they smiled and shook their heads.  I asked for a box at the checkout..I figured I had spent enough to warrant a free *&^%$#& box..guess not…but have a Merry Christmas anyway mam. 

Far Guy really should start shopping earlier next year:)

Today we have a pretty picture from the archives because I used to have a friend named “Flydragon” who required all her blog posts to include one.. she left for heaven a year ago today..I still miss her. Your arrival in heaven must be something like your birth..only better because you will know all the people waiting for you:)

Chance: I know who won!

Hey it is I Chance the handsome blogging Border Collie.  It is only 5 degrees F  or -15 C here this morning..we must have sent that below zero rotten ball playing weather south.  Yesterday during the walk to the mail box, I came back on three of my four legs.

This is where I wait and thaw out my feet..and nap..right in front of the door..no one can escape without me. That would be my bright orange ball launcher in the background..we shatter at least one a winter in the cold weather…so we try to remember to bring it indoors. 

zzzzzz’s..sawing…zzzzzz’s

I guess I better tell you who won…

Big drum roll for the big moment!!!

And the Winners are:

GramMary from the Fargo Forum sponsored blog, Far Side sent her an email!  She uses Multicolor lights!

Liz in PA please email Far Side your address. She won for her entry of Red Twinkly Lights!

Lanny who never wins anything..but should be basking in warmth at 48 degrees F ..I think I can sniff out your address. I bet her Ratters never lose their balls in the snow banks. You can find Lanny at It’s the Dirt.

Congrats to all!  Far Side will wood burn your name on the ornament and get them in the mail real soon. I wish I could personally deliver each ornament:)

Jack Frost

He made a visit to the area..he left some signs..

On my Peegee Hydrangea..it did well this year..it must thrive on neglect.

  On my stupid Forsythia ‘Meadowlark’ that never blooms…not even one lousy tiny yellow bloom..nothing..nada..zip…zero..zilch. 

On my Spirea that grows on the edge of the old parking lot.  He never looked real good..even when I gave him some attention.. but he looks good covered in frost..

This one made me smile and think of a friend( From My Back Porch) and her husband(Jack) who live in Indiana. They hit a bit of a rough patch awhile back..stop by and say Hi!   This sign is from Bemidji, Minnesota.

Has Jack Frost visited you yet? :)

Buffalo Gal and Bluebirds

Connections made through blogging with the right attitude can make a difference in your life. When I first began to blog, I told Far Guy, I just needed to write for the grand kids, so that they would know more about me someday if they cared to read my drivel. ( Someday when they are much older and more interested.) I also said that I would keep it real, and the truth as I know it or as I recall it. It had to be that way, for me. I was a blog reader before I became a blogger. Buffalo Gal the woman that inspired me to blog in the first place has become a friend. She might be a tad older than I am, but she is a very talented writer, I enjoy her style, and her stories! She has made me laugh and yes, she has made me cry too. She and her best friend whom she also just happens to be married to, visited with us on Friday afternoon. She knew I was going to be the real me, no makeup, no fancy outfit or shoes, I didn't thoroughly clean the house..but I did straighten up a bit. I did not weed my very wild naturally weedy perennial gardens. I like being me, and she is comfortable with that..thank goodness.

Buffalo Gal had never watched Bluebirds in the wild. Our set of Bluebirds seemed like such a small thing to share, so we invited them over, the Bluebirds busily kept feeding their babies while we feasted on homemade Buffalo Gal Rhubarb Custard Pie! I do appreciate a freshly baked pie, especially the first rhubarb of the season. She did share her pie crust secret with me..so in case I ever decide to bake a pie I will be prepared.

We had a lovely visit. I so enjoy their company, this would never have been possible..except for the fact that we are both "real" bloggers..my what you read is what you get attitude gained me a new friend. Let me tell you now- a- days everyone needs as many friends as they can get. This was the second time we have met, we are looking forward to a get together at their place on the Buffalo Bluff later in the summer. She reports that Chance is just as special in person as he is on my blog. I knew he would like her, he thought she was a wonderful ball thrower!

The blogging community, should you ever decide to join it, is a very interesting way to make new friends. That may seem foreign to some of the readers..but I know the bloggers understand! If you are lucky enough to actually meet a fellow blogger face to face, and still like each other your life will be just a little richer, and if they bake a great pie, that is an added bonus:)