Pioneer Woman at Heart

  It has been nice weather to get the laundry and bedding out on the line.  I had it out early and painted for 3 hours.  Painting trim is a pain, but I am getting more done if I stay home ha ha!  I'm almost done with the upper cabinets.  I have about 3 to go, and paint the doors as well.  Four doors went back up last night. Progress is being made. I know we are ripping out the carpet, but I wanted to spot clean in case we sell the other 2 pieces of furniture.  Put the plants out to harden, and totally forgot to put my mail in the mailbox.  Oops. I got to enjoy a few minutes of porch time and could smell my lilacs all the way out there.  I went and cut some before they were gone for the season.  I picked a bit more asparagus.  Hopefully it will be a side dish in a few days if I get enough. I worked in the master bath, purging another cabinet.  I think I have a few drawers to go, but more progress there as well.

Hard to believe this was Jan 7th, 2015.  Five years ago.  This year we do not have snow, but we are told lots of rain is heading our way, with a small bit of snow.  Gotta love that sunshine we had back then. It didn't take long for our internet service to hike their rates.  I called, there are no "deals" right now, and I was told all customers rates went up.  We now pay $70.00/month just for internet.  Unfortunately, we are in the boonies, and extremely limited to any other source.  One said nope, we can't get service through those trees. The chickens are laying, but on a limited basis.  Not sure if it's just their slow return to laying or lack of sunshine.  I'm just thankful for the eggs. Freezer rotation is still in progress.  I dug out one area of the freezer, re-organized and made notes on what meals it all could be used for.  I also made notes in my "canning" journal, to better utilize what we put up last fall, and...

Hubby tried the strawberry margarita jam and gave me the green light.  He loves it.  Said it was "amazing."  I will be making more if the strawberries are available again.  I do have to say though, it has a lot of foam that needs skimmed off, more so than any other jam I've canned. Canned another batch of reduced sugar strawberry jam. Froze one quart.  Saving the last qt. for a surprise dessert for the family. Washed two mountains of dirty dishes.  Only to start to dirty some to prep dinner. We had a good dry and surprisingly sunny day.  I got the potatoes hand hoed, all but two rows too wet yet.  Green beans are starting to come up - so happy about that.  Two zucchini plants sprouted, along with the greens, and all the grow bags.  Radishes look great, so I hope the sunshine will speed up the process.  I'm hankering for garlic scape - radish spread , radish hashbrowns , and simply eating them. Filled the clotheslin...

The weather yesterday was fantastic as fantastic can go in winter.  Not only myself, but the laundry was out getting fresh air.  Low 50's, a bit breezy, but cloudy.  I still took advantage of it and put the laundry outside to dry.  I even got a load of towels dried outside.  Felt great, since it's been awhile to be out. What went up, must come down.  I am starting early due to our schedule right now.  I feel like it's coming down as fast as it went up though. I pulled out my recipe book for my 4 Thieves vinegar and was short of one ingredient.  Thankfully, I got an order placed and will restock my ACV as well.  My gallon jug is almost empty.  I have one more jar of 4 Theives already made. Other than laundry, bills got paid and one daughter came for a visit.  She took her Jeep to a dealership to have the heat looked at (not working properly) and when she took her Jeep home (heat not fixed) it was making a horrible sound....

I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom today.  I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend.  Oddly, my kids did not try to prank me one time. Over the weekend, we got a motorcycle ride, joined Hubby's family for Easter dinner, took my Dad plate of food, and split more wood.  I think not being prepared with a few years of split wood has finally weighed on my husband's mind.  He keeps saying, "I'm so tired of this, I will have all our wood split before next winter." Update on my fall:  I had placed a comfrey poultice under my arm where I slammed onto the chair, but not anywhere else.  The bruise was gone in a few days, but last Saturday, I had shoulder pain and two nasty bruises show up on my knee.   On the breakfast plate. . .

I woke up yesterday thinking, "hm, a good day to clean the coop, or maybe the next?" I checked the weather. Oh boy.  Our temps will plummet to the single digits at Christmas, and Tuesday was the warmest (high of 48°F). So...I skipped on out to the barn and mucked the coop, giving those lovely egg layers clean straw and warm beds. I needed the vitamin D and fresh air anyway, and a break from the kitchen.  I had a sink full of dishes anyway.  I then decided to spend about two hours digging out photos for our youngest daughter.  She had her party, but her sweet 16 birthday is approaching. I also took advantage of the day and put the laundry on the line.  The wind dried it very quickly too. Here is the book I borrowed from the library.  I have no idea if I'll get time to read it.  I'm still crocheting two scarf orders, but not complaining either.  It intrigued me, as my other blog (store) is called "Rooster's Crow Farm."  It's...

Good News: Doctor gave me the thumbs up.  Spider bites should heal on their own.  No skin graphs or specialty doctors.  He was very impressed with my progress, and I even told him I did some dancing over the weekend (and no swelling).  It will be a few more weeks for healing, buying a semi truck load of gauze and roll gauze, but it will heal.  I will have a nasty scar, but I am very happy.  I really like my new doctor too. Once again, nurses came to see the updated larger bite, ha ha!  I'm like a hot topic there when I arrive.  Trust me, if you saw a photo of what it looked like when I first went to the second doctor, you'd be "sweatin' bullets" too.  He and I both were concerned. Bad News: The heat is drawing the spiders into the house and I have yet to spray inside.  As they crawl in to escape the heat, however, the outside spraying should keep them from living too long if they do get all the way in.  I had to swat at jumpin...

The "homesteader" in me has been in my blood for years.  Hanging laundry outside has been a habit of mine, even when I lived in the city.  I was ever so thankful to have a long two line clothesline in my very first house. It was at the house, where I planted my very first herb garden, and first tomato plant too.  Even our first pumpkin vine and green bean plant. Oh, I had a dryer.  The inexpensive kind, and I hardly used it.  I loved taking my laundry outside.  I got exercise, movement, fresh air, and could enjoy the outdoors, even for a short while. My laundry always smelled so good bringing it back in too. Many, what I call "city" people, complain that they have no time to hang laundry out.  And that it's "more work" etc.  For some it's just physically not possible.  I understand that, and some day I may be struggling with that (hopefully not) too.  We can always put wheels on the laundry basket, ha ha!

I've been doing some more deep cleaning. Dumping drawers, sor ting, purging, tossing, re-organizing.  I'm purging like a mad woman this year. I saved t hose days for rainy days. And look at this.  I don't think I need any new bandan as for outdoor work and camping this year.  Ha!  They are all was hed and ready for the sea son.

The white mums I planted a few years back, are blooming now.  These were table decorations at my younger brother's wedding, and I have two that stayed alive and continue to bloom.  They add a color in the flower beds that I did not have before. This past cold spell kind of took a toll on my zinnias.  They don't look like they'll be blooming for much longer, but boy have we enjoyed them.  We are already talking about where to put in new flower beds to add more color here.

My ladies have been slacking in the egg production department lately.  Considering the amount of feathers out in the run, I'm guessing they are molting. The weather is now cooling down at night, but the forecast for the end of the week is in the upper 80's again.    I'm so glad I got my garlic planted this past weekend.  One more thing off my list. Wood splitting has resumed.  Thank goodness.   I was getting worried.  Although the dead trees are still standing (patience is a difficult thing). We need about six more good Saturdays to finish it up.

I managed to get all the dirty laundry on the line, however, I did have to chase a few pieces that flew off in the high winds.  Life would be boring if I did not attempt such tasks.

I wasn't kidding when I said the porch was calling.  It just wasn't the front porch this time.  I made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and had lunch on the back porch - best 15 minutes of my day!  I had one small patch of patio that was not snow covered.  Even so, I would have put that chair and table right on the snow, if I had to.  It was 40°F and the sun felt so good.  It was peacefully quiet, and the birds were singing. Warning:  It's a grab-a-cup-of-coffee kind of post. 

That's it.  I'm declaring it is spring now, which means "porch time" and my furniture is coming out of storage.  Even if I have to drag it out on the sled. The wood pile tells me so.  I should I say lack of a wood pile.  I did not even shovel the snow yesterday.  It is going to melt very soon anyway, and the scent on those sheets is so wonderful - natural "medication" for a good night's sleep.

People driving by often ask Hubby if he makes me put the laundry out in winter.  Nope.  For show?  Nope.  It's my real life.  It smelled so good when I brought it in, and it dried completely.

I'm glad I did all of our laundry last Sunday.  It's been raining here for a few days now.  I'm starting to wonder if we'll even have snow on Christmas this year. I, once again, had a busy day in the kitchen.  I did not make it back into the closet as planned. Now that Alias has a new tag to wear (his rabies shot tag), it sounds like jingle bells when he walks around the house.  He's now gotten the nickname of "Jingles."

Monday was my typically cleaning day (for the indoors anyway).  My indoor clothesline and all of my drying racks were filled to capacity.  

The kids pretty much eat me out of house and home after school, so Friday morning I baked up some pumpkin pancakes using some of our favorite ingredients, and saved the rest for their after school snack.

While walking to the mailbox, I noticed my snapdragons are adding some vibrant fall color to the flower beds.

I've been busy here at the homestead.  Laundry was put out again yesterday and today.  The weather is still very nice. Yesterday I took a quick road trip to buy sweet corn (we only planted black popcorn this year).  When I arrived, the nice gentleman tells me, "if you buy two burlap bag fulls, you get one free." Well, of course I was okay with that.   A burlap bag is not quite, but close enough, to a bushel.