Dolly Weds.

Cocoa is one of my little daily helpers. She is just so shy that some days she does not enjoy being seen except to get her morning meds , her lunch and then night time meds. But when ever she spends time with me it uplifts my heart.

I had to put my stevia and chard back in the dehydrator - I do not know if I did not leave them in long enough to start with -or- if I left then in the dehydrator overnight and they absorbed moisture or not. But I ran them at a low temp for 8 more hours and then I ran them through the coffee grinder into a powder. That way I can add the chard to my smoothies If I run out of greens in the garden over the Winter or run out of money. ~smile~

I headed back into the sewing room again and worked on another one of the dolls for the Sewing Guild.

It is amazing how fast your day flies by when you stay busy. We had a horrendous amount of thunder come rolling through. It rattled the whole house and one time I even ran outdoors to see if someone had drove up??? But Nope - just all that thunder clanging around. Sounded like a roaring motor over the sound of the fan? Seems the storm when down the road about 30 miles and let Roanoke have it with lots of rain and wind.

I am so grateful that all is at peace here. Another lovely day in the country.

Nice Busy Day

I still have my cat dilemma -Callie -the one who was dropped on me last Snowstorm has tried to run the other two off??? But we all know Rosie is my "Sewing Cat" and since Midnight passed away last Summer , I promised Rosie that she could spend time in the front porch on the swing. My daughter even built a really nice roof to shelter the porch so we could enjoy the swing. Well, I have to Lock Callie up in the spare room all day long so Rosie can come out and she is wide open to hit that porch the first thing each morning after I lock Callie in. Callie is learning to sleep most of the day away unless I go in and out which takes me by her window and she talks to me and I talk to her . I tell her she should not be such a bad kitty????

I did all my morning chores and then headed down to the garden.

My poor Rainbow Chard is really struggling as every bug in town has tried to eat it up. So I went through and saved what I could and then doused the rest with Diatomaceous Earth . Then I moved on the the Stevia plant.

I had already harvested one batch of the stevia and dehydrated it . I was So Very proud of it - only to have something fall out of my hands and crash into the glass jar I had stored it in and lose every piece of it -thanks to the shattered glass????? So, I am trying one more time.  I have cleaned the chard and the stevia up and have them both in the dehydrator.

I had a late lunch and then debated my next course of action. Realizing my Summer is fast slipping away I debated on the next most important project and realized it should be the Sewing Guild Dolls ! So hunting up supplies seemed to take forever??? It is amazing how easy it is to misplace things when you have house-guests. But I finally pulled off this little outfit for this little doll. The Sewing Guild meets the second Thursday of each month so I am determined to complete this box full of dolls that I had brought home with me. Then I can start back on Christmas gifts as it is just around the corner. Time I finish this doll project, then the Christmas projects -the rest of the garden - it will be time to figure out how to get that wood stove installed back into the house?? I tried to do without it but learned from last year that I cannot afford the propane furnace. My bill averaged 600.00 a month and I was still so cold. That took all of my savings -so I will have nothing to fall back on this Winter. Hubby had tore the chimney down before he passed away because of a chimney fire that had cracked the blocks. Now I will have to come up with some kind of chimney and some human man-power to carry the old stove  back in the house????  My daughter has to get her truck fixed so I can use it to carry the firewood I will need to cut and carry home. But, at the moment my shingles pain is trying to give me a fit so I will have to go deal with it. One little challenge at a time. ~smile~

Where In The World Did I Go TO?????

Well, my life got slammed by a family crisis involving young people and drugs and that kind of altered my steps for many weeks. It seems that a large  majority of families are getting slammed that way. It can be heart-breaking .But it is turning out with good results this time.

Then the last of my sheep of twenty some years all passed away with in weeks of each other , leaving the antique donkey very lonely. The only companionship he can work up is the local Mama deer and her baby.

They helped sooth his isolation for a little bit and life moved on .

I next manage to find myself involved with a monster called Shingles and it laid me low for several weeks - Grrrrrrr!  Not the Summer I had planned to enjoy. But still one to learn lessons from.

I did get to enjoy my little great-granddaughter and come to remember why God gives babies to the YOUNG People! LOL

I next lost my beloved Blondie of 13 years -who died in my arms of heart disease. My daughter helped me bury her that day as my heart was broken. She leaves behind two daughters and one son who are 10.

I did finally manage to stagger back into my garden, turned jungle and discover I had grown carrots -for the first time in my lifetime! I was very impressed. I have been canning tomatoes for the winter . I also discovered a new recipe for squash. I had sauted an onion then grated a yellow squash and placed a diced potatoe on top of it all . I seasoned it with salt and pepper and DILL and fell in love with it! I had never used dill in anything but pickled and really enjoyed this change of pace.

The only sewing I have pulled off was cutting off long sleeve shirts for one friend and then cutting off pants legs for a neighbor. But I was tickled to pull that off as it all takes time and energy and a calm mind and some eyeballs that co-operate. I am still having that conversation with-mine. But I am so grateful to still be able to see.

My daughter has built her a "tiny-house " in the back pasture and she has had her own learning lessons as she found the donkey standing in her house heating the cat food??? LOL

I wonder how your Summer has flown by?????   ~smile~