Pioneer Woman at Heart

April 9th - rain and snow mix, morning temperature was 21°F! April 10th - 38°, high of 44°F, rain April 11th - 30°, low chance of rain, partly sunny We should be picking asparagus, wild violets and wild dead nettle right now, but the weather is delaying it.  I surely hope we still get them all.  Time will tell. Despite freezing cold weather that is freezing my chickens water at night, my potted comfrey is already coming to life again.  The weather is to warm up again thankfully. I need help with deterring rabbits. Does anyone have any tried and true (non toxic) ways to deter rabbits from your flower beds and herb garden?  I read coffee grounds deter them, but they are not good for my herb garden.  I had motion sensor noise gadgets, but they did not work for the rabbits last year. A tree of some sort is growing in the edging (between the landscaping stone and chives of all places) of the herb garden, and it has thorns.  It needs to be dug out thanks to the b...

  I have not been watching the news at all, and late Monday, I was told there was a bad storm expected mid-week for us.  What kind of storm?  I had to turn on the news to find out. The storm was rain, thunder, wind, possible hail, and possible tornado.  It came in two parts.  One storm in the morning and one later.  I had charged all the things that needed charged, just in case.  We did lose power, but thankfully it came back on.   It's 63°F this morning.  Much warmer, but it's flooded almost everywhere around us, area towns, etc. Home repairs/updates: we ordered, picked up and installed a new window blind for the window.  I do need one more blind for a kitchen window, but that particular size is out of stock. The remainder of the home repair list is on-going for now.  We tend to run out of time in the evenings. One mole-chasing windmill has broken from years of use.  It's on the repair list, but we may have to replace it....

  Success this past week. I installed shelf liners on 3 shelves in one of the bathroom cabinets.  I also completely cleaned out two large corner kitchen cupboards, purged any expired seasonings, vinegars, oils etc. Cleaned them, washed every lazy susan/turntable, lined the shelves, and re-organized. I made a trip to town to buy liner to finish the remaining shelves.  I also invested in two more turntables to make life more organized. However, between putting the roll of shelf liner on the check out, and then paying for it, apparently it never made it home.  The drive back is not short.  The remaining shelves will be waiting until we retrieve the roll.  We are stumped at how we never got that long roll back into the cart.   Anyway, I have also done inventory to see what I need for this year's canning season.  I, apparently, have enough celery seed to can items for the next two years (ha ha! Whoops!).  The kids moved in and out, but left b...

We warmed up from 0°F to 2°F today.  It's all a sheet of ice outside.  No sign of thawing just yet.  We also got more snow last night. We are getting news from family and friends of sickness.  One is one of the kids too.  She has confirmed having the flu.   The water softener is still on the "off" mode.  My husband has acquired the supplies to repair the leak in the line, but has lacked the time to do the actual repair.  I'm tapping my foot in anticipation, so I can turn the water softener back on (laundry awaits).  He works outside in this cold some days, so when he comes home, he is physically spent so to speak. With that said, I have only moved a few puzzle pieces on our current puzzle. Update on the last new pancake recipe.  I froze about 15 of them, and we are thawing them this week for breakfast with a side of homemade chicken "sausage" patties.  I may add scrambled eggs later, but I wanted to let you know they thawed and...

  I admit it.  I'm  am so ready for winter to be over with this year. Between ice storms, icy roads, more snow, and now another deep freeze, it's getting old real fast.  Not to be one complaining, but it's been rough this winter.  I have had to change my last appointment twice now.  Plus, I really need to get into town for a haircut soon.  Boring news for sure. As for our mini water leak, I shut off the water softener until my husband can access the line in the wall.  We are pretty sure that is what needs repaired.  I'm hoping that "fix" will be done today (finally). I did reach out to a family friend, but he was either busy, or did not want to help out with it.  Nothing exciting to share on the home front right now.  I may have a new recipe to share soon, but that's about it.  I'm still working on the current crocheted baby blanket, but finished a few books.  I put a halt on my utility room purge until we figure out the l...

January 2025 comes to an end, and I am thrilled to have met my own goals of staying off social media (less scrolling time), being more consistent with reading, exercise, time better well spent overall.  Although there is more wiggle room to become better at avoiding morning procrastination (winter cold weather can do that to a person). Winter time gives us zero harvest from the outside world.   We lack a greenhouse.  However, I purchased a cilantro plant for indoor growing.  We are praying we have the funds to fence the other garden, and have been working on a garden plan.  I have toyed with the idea of not growing one, but that thought quickly dissipated.  Our health is important, and I'd miss all that garden goodness. There is nothing better than to take a red sharpie, and cross off to-do's that have lingered on the list for almost a year. Do you ever finish a job, and then go back and look at it over and over and smile?  Ha ha!  I finally ...

  I am not an affiliate with Amazon (or other stores), but here is what we decided on for the night light in one of the bathrooms.  It is chargeable, has 4 light settings, and can be taken off the included stand, and can be used as a "flash light" if needed. It has an on, off and auto setting, so it can be left on, turned off, or set to auto to motion detect.  When set on auto, it only turns on, when motion is detected, and only in the dark.  We love it.  I may buy one for the camper too.  I found it on Amazon, but it very well may be in stores.   We wanted something that did all these things, but was solar chargeable, and we could not find a solar chargeable one, so we settled on this gadget. And because I wanted one, and the only place I think I would find one is a store within a flea market 3 hours away, I bought a teabag squeezer.  Some of our teabags, including home sealed bags, have no string.  These work like tongs.  Again, f...

My first post for 2025. January 2025 started with a clean washing machine, clean oven mitts, and a clean dishwasher.   I got all three cleaned by the afternoon of the last day of 2024.  It rained the entire day, and the temperature was in the 30's.  Awful weather, but the right kind to make it much easier to sit and crochet for a bit. January 1st it snowed.  We got more snow last night, and there is a possibly snow storm later this weekend, but our temperature may be too cold for snow here. Winter time is a time to rest and re-set.   I do try to embrace the slow down, because those busy garden days will arrive soon enough.  Winter time pick me ups - smelling the orange or clementine as I peel it (really boosts the mood).  Also, painting my fingernails.  I buy the chemical free brand, and winter is the only time I get to pamper my fingernails.  The rest of the year, I'm busy playing with dirt. On the home repair front . . . Hubby rep...