Cooling Off

Our girls did this.  Luckily, one daughter was able to snatch up a 9 foot wide blow up pool.  They invited a friend over for some cooling off time.  It's been hot, hot, hot.

Sunrise ~ Pumpkin Farm ~ The Harley Rides Alone

The sunrise was just plain gorgeous yesterday morning.  Hubby was called into work, although we planned a family day with the girls.

Grab your coffee - this post is a "rambler." There's not much on homesteading packed into this post either (strangely).   Sort of a "play" day for us that ended on a not-so-good note.

 With my treadmill out of commission, and Hubby off to work (yeah, I could have done squats, push-ups etc), I went to the porch and watched the sunrise in peace.  Although a teensy chilly, it may be the last good weather weekend we have.

 Good morning sunshine!  

By that time it was still too early to head to the garden.  The dew was pretty thick.

So I debated.

And waited.

And made breakfast to kill some time.

A totally self-sufficient breakfast - garden potatoes, onion, jalapeno, one dinky bell pepper, a bit of kale and eggs. 

Then Hubby announced he'd make it home in time for the "family" day out. The problem was, the girls were still in bed and had no desire to get up, ha ha!  Our birthday girl daughter, who showed up for a surprise night over, had to leave for various reasons (birthday dinner will be delayed - she turned 21 today).

We visited a pumpkin farm - hay rides, field mazes, tons of pumpkins and squash for sale, good food (homemade donuts), cider etc.  You could feed goats and chickens for $.25.  This farm gave me a lot of ideas for easy profit making (but looks like a lot of work too). The only problem?  It was packed with people.  Too many.  The bees were horrible too, and one landed right in one of the cups of cider.  Otherwise, on a good day, this place would be fun.  It was super busy because it was another "work" sponsored event.  We were given free donuts and cider, and a $10.00 gift certificate to buy a pumpkin.

Back home, the girls had more plans, and we were invited to ride.  So we did.  With 4 other bikers.  We were to be back home by 5pm, so we could bake and take our fixin's to a Halloween/double birthday party with family and friends.

But then on the way home, at the last 30 minute stretch of our 1 hour ride, this happened. . .

 Just before the sun completely went down, one of our biker friends rode on home, and came back with a truck and trailer.  Another biker we rode with, took the car keys I accidentally had in my purse (and Daughter needed them to get to work), and dropped them off to her on his way home.

First, let me say that we broke down at a stop sign in a small town.  It could not have been a better place.  We had so many people stop and offer tools, a jump start (which failed), and one store owner offered the back room for us to hang out.  Very nice people.  Second, it's a huge bonus to belong to a group of bikers.  All who watch out for each other.  Not one of us "freaked out" during this all.  Every one of us remained calm, relaxed, and once in a while cracked a joke.

Hubby couldn't let his bike out of his sight, so we walked to the nearest store, got a bottle of water, and went back to sit on a street bench by the bike.  It was sort of relaxing to hang out there on Sweetest Day (of all days to break down).

We'll try and see if it's just the battery (no part stores in that town), and pray it's just that.  Hubby woke up awfully stressed about it.  Maybe a good hard working morning in the garden will take his mind off of it?  Nope.  He's heading to the parts store as soon as the open.

Me?  Heading straight to the garden.  I have to work double time for taking yesterday (too gorgeous of an October day not to ride) off.

Random Tidbits

Remember when I posted that we'd have a few "dry days?"  Well that same day (yesterday) we had thunderstorms roll in after 4:30pm.   The weather seems to have it's own mind these days.

Today, the sky is cloud covered, but I am heading out to pick peas and berries.   The sun should arrive today.

Here is our progress on just the cauliflower/broccoli/cabbage/brussel sprout garden.  First day weeding it:

New Blooms ~ Rain ~ Library Visit

Despite the weeds multiplying here this season, I am still getting some new blooms in the flower beds.  I've been dodging the rain showers (and storms) and cutting flowers to bring inside.

You can see the bees are very busy this year in the flower beds too.

Weekend Fun ~ Back to the Grind

We earned two free nights at the campground.  Not knowing how the weather will be in October, we decided to go.  We still came home during the daytime (some of it anyway) to get work completed.

We enjoyed the campfire again, on quiet cool evenings.

Homemade Frozen Yogurt

I have one kiddo who loves frozen yogurt.  However the stuff you buy in the store is processed with unhealthy ingredients (high fructose corn syrup etc).  I decided to buy some yogurt, and toss in some honey and my homemade vanilla. 

The kids churned it in our ice cream maker.  As a kid, my siblings and I, always churned ice cream (on special occasions) with a hand crank ice cream maker.  I love my ice cream maker too.  We made goat's milk ice cream in it last year. 

The results?

Easy Steel Cut Oats ~ Go Kart Repairs ~ Chicken Alfredo

Sharing another steel cut oat recipe. This smells so good when it's cooking.  Sorry for the bad photo, it was not the best time of day to take one indoors.

Fun Day ~ More "Camp Out Embroidery

Sunday we got the gokart out.  The kids rode it all day long.  Do you see two of them in the middle left of the photo?  They took me for a spin a few times.  We had a blast until....

Old Commerical Songs

School closed today.  I am pretty sure they will be going tomorrow. We are to get a high of 15°F today and at around 6:00am tomorrow it will only be a low of -4°F.  Timmy, our barn cat did come to the door last night.  Thankfully he's okay.  He must have found a good place to hunker down for the night, and stay warm.
 
I'm showing my age with my kids this week.  For some reason I was singing the (1973) old Oscar Mayer song, which led me to the Tic Tac song (from 1974), which got us talking about how much our meal choices have changed.

Keeping Letter Writing Alive ~ A Work Week

Remember my girls writing letters?  My 11 year-old wrote 3 letters, and got 3 back.  She also got some bracelets from one of her Aunt's (a brother/sister celebration held in India, sorry for the bad photo).  

I have mailed the last of my postcards for the postcard swap I participated in. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We are currently doing an entire inside and outside homestead clean up.  It's long over due, but it's best to get it done this week.  I've been carpet cleaning (cannot wait until we have zero carpet here), dusting, wiping, weeding flower beds, and doing a lot of coughing. 

We've washed up bedding for the camper, took a load to recycling, cleaned up the garage, but there is so much more to do.  Including those light fixtures that keep collecting more dust.  

My bedroom needs a complete overhaul.  When they cut the tile in the bathroom, dust went everywhere, despite the air purifier.  It may take me two days in that room alone, just to get all the dust out.

Our barn roofing is being delivered today, and will be in progress soon.  They are calling for more rain yet this week, so his project is taking priority.

Hubby has many jobs going on this week too - replace the front screen door, tar the wood-stove piping on the roof, replace an electrical outlet we found went bad after the last storm, camper repairs, and a lot more.  And we still need the fencing finished before winter.

Today, I plan to make a batch of homemade ginger-ale, to enjoy after my work is done for the day.  

Library Summer Reading Programs

The kids are enjoying the summer reading program at the library. During the time they are in their program I am able to have 60 minutes to myself. I can crochet, read, write, browse - all without interruption. Woo hoo!

The programs are free. Right now our family is getting the most from our libraries, especially during a financial time where money and jobs are extremely limited. Our libraries are currently being threatened by another state funding cut. If this goes through, there will be more jobs taken from Ohio residents, and the wonderful resources the libraries provide will no longer be available. How will school students complete homework assignments? How will I be able to review books? How will we survive without their important and much needed resources to Ohio residents? It's sad for most Ohio residents right now. Hopefully they will find other areas where funding can be cut from anywhere but out libraries.



I was thrilled to be able to crochet the set of Wagon Wheel Coasters for one of the kids. These are on the left in brown colors and will go into her Hope Chest. The other set is for my mother, and are made from a free pattern on www.coatsandclark.com.

KIDS INVENT NEW SANDWICHES

This one is not the only one they have invented. The above photo is homemade macaroni and cheese topped on a hot dog (we where out of buns). As for me, I did join the fun, but chopped my hot dog into my mac'n cheese and skipped the bread. They found these delicious!

Yesterday my 12 year-old invented a 2-1 sandwich. This one I did not try yet. She topped a slice of bread with creamy natural peanut butter, layered with mini-marshmallows, then topped with slices of turkey and mayo. Top that all with another slice of bread. According to her, it was like to sandwiches in one and very tasty.

Summer Kids Activities and Kittens

The younger girls are being "moms" to the kittens. You can see that the "goldie" in the top photo is fast asleep and very comfortable. That picture was taken while our 7 year old daughter rocked him in a rocking chair (ha, ha, ha!).

Rain has arrived and the humidity is pretty thick. We are a bit uncomfortable but entertaining ourselves. Older teens are exercising, reading, and drawing. Younger kids are putting newly printed photos in family and kids albums and giggling at old photos. I'm reviewing children's picture books and Dad is busy at work

I slept in until 10:00am this morning. I could not believe it! I never do that. My body must have needed it, because it sure felt good. My bed is not made and the house work has not even been started. Some times the daily routine needs to not be a routine. Yeah for slipper days!

Summer Kids and Parents Activities

Today is Saturday and hubby has to work. It's the first Saturday he's had to work with his new job. So today I asked the kids to make sure the house is completely cleaned and looking clutter free when he gets home.

Inside Kids Activities today: toys, playing with kittens, modeling clay, 9 year old cooking "eggs in a nest" (coordinated with the egg cooking movie from the day before), teaching 7 year old to sort and fold socks, teaching 9 year old how to properly sweep the porch/patio

Outside Kids Activities today: water painting, play parachute, reading, squirt guns and bathing suits

Inside Mom Activities: writing, reading, crocheting
Outside Mom Activities: gardening, reading

Inside Teen Activities: Computer movie making program, reading
Outside Teen Activities: animal care, yard work, running (exercise)

Family activity: visiting the library, hanging out on the porch/patio together

...........and of course all of the daily housecleaning and upkeep that's done regularly.

Summer Kids Activities

Today is the official day in which all of the kids are out of school. With so many ages in the house, it now becomes a challenge to keep computer time and video game time to a minimum, especially for the teenagers (who haven't found a job yet).

For the younger ones (9 and 7), our indoor activities are modeling clay, and reading. Outside activities are a 10 foot parachute, putting up a tent to read and play in, and for the evening a movie called "Kids Get Cooking", The Egg (for ages 5-12). The library is full of ideas.

Kids Get Cooking: The Egg, Goldhil Learning Series, DVD, Endorsed by the National Education Association.