Pioneer Woman at Heart

  Although the spot on this bug looks orange, I swear it was read when I saw it fly.  The top one was about 2 inches long, so does anyone know if this is a danger?  Or harmless?  We've never seen it here before.  Best guess they are Mydas flies, but can't be certain. It's been a horrible rodent/bug year for us.  The mole chasing windmill is keeping the moles away from the garden, but I had to order another windmill for the front of the property.  The moles have dug tunnels all over my front flower beds (grr!). It was a beautiful sight to watch the plethora of lightning bugs last night.  I don't think I have stayed up, or stayed outside that long in a long, long time. I spent a good part of the day tying up the tomato plants.  Good grief!  Some of them I tied up the day prior already needed more tying up.  They are growing crazy this year, however we did not get any rain last night as predicted. I was up very early this morning to ch...

  Long, but busy weekend.  While our handy-man had the weekend off, I was working hard to paint bathroom door trim, and juggle the laundry, put things back where I painted another smaller area of a kitchen wall, do dishes, cook, garden, and stock up. The bathroom repairs continue.  The floor is in.  He had to make some changes with the new sub-floor.  The new shower base drain hole was about 1 inch off of where the original drain was. The kids, when they lived here, took long hot showers, so the paint on the ceiling was literally coming off.  It's been cleared, sanded, and areas filled.  It could be another 3 days before the drywall can be put in.  The ceiling will be painted with kilz, then re-textured, and painted with ceiling paint.  Each step taking a day to dry, so I'm trying to be patient. The garden is starting to roll in bounty.  I pulled the last of the lettuce plants and made us a big salad for these humid and hot days.  I...

  Update on the 8# of dehydrated onions - I refilled our homemade onion powder (I store this in the freezer in an air tight container and it has worked great for years), and I learned something new this year.  I learned how to vacuum pack for longer shelf life. I do not have a food saver, however, I used parts from food saver for part of it, and used a hand pump and it worked perfectly.  Thanks to watching numerous Youtube videos, I have now added more knowledge to my preparedness skills.  I showed my husband what I used, and he just shook his head and laughed.  Well, I got the job done, ha ha! I think I shared this stuff before, but now I am be-bopping from painting the last door/trim in the kitchen.  Our handyman takes weekends off so I am tackling the trim to the bathroom door this weekend.  I'm also cleaning upstairs, and back to the tile floor in the master bathroom.  It works great, and I only have a small area left to do, and it's stayed cl...

  My computer loaded these backwards, but from bottom to top this morning's sunrise. I whipped up some homemade Thousand Island Dressing for us.  Recipe is linked.  You can make your own mayo, used home canned sweet pickle relish and home canned ketchup.  Yum!

Our hummingbird came to the porch for a very long visit.  It was about 5 feet from me enjoying our porch hanging flowers.  Visit from Mom? Woke up to no water pressure in my kitchen sink, and a ton of dirty dishes to wash.  I left the water on to clear air and painted. Before The other side of the bathroom door got primed.  I will be picking up paint samples soon for the other bathroom. I also painted the last wall in the kitchen.  I just have to paint some trim and the kitchen will be done completely. We got a lot of rain yesterday, so the garden should be popping with bounty soon. We were on the porch eating dinner, and heard a gun shot.  He pulled into our drive and we talked for hours.  He was taking care of rodents in the field north of us, so we gave him permission to park in our north drive to take care of ground hogs that took over our barn rubble, and were also causing havoc in the same field. I put 8 # of onions in the dehydrator.  We di...

  I did a lot of kitchen work early, due to the water needing shut off again, for the bathroom repairs.  I finally got a batch of taco seasoning made, whipped up some biscuits for a breakfast for my husband - biscuits and sausage gravy, scrambled eggs, and fried potatoes.  However, I have a mound of dishes to do this morning, and need to empty the dishwasher. We got more rain early yesterday and more last night.  We hit a heat index of 100°F yesterday, and boy was it humid and hot. The bathroom repairs are coming along, but slowly due to the rain.  The old drywall is cut out, and the floor is in, but there needs to be another layer of floor to get it the the same height as the kitchen.  Not sure how long that will take.  All water lines to the bathroom sink have been replaced. I brought down another bag of trash from the upstairs and got more organizing done, but have a large tote of hay to get rid of.  Apparently, Daughter K had it for her rabb...

  Bluebell flew the coop again.  My husband put the ladies away the other night, and didn't realize she flew the coop and was not in the run.  She was left outside all night long on her own, and survived.  We found raccoon and coyote scat nearby.  She is one tough bird, but naughty.  I have to clip her wings soon.  It's thunder storming, so it's not happening today.  Although thankful for the rain, our bathroom project is delayed.  There is no where to saw the wood, unless we move it to a barn possibly. I'm taking inventory on our freezer stash today, and in one pantry area.  I have a lot to keep me busy, so that is not a problem.