I Didn’t Know That??…….

   Last year I called our local nursery and asked how I could keep my pumpkins and gourds from rotting so quickly. The answer I got was to give them all a bleach and water bath. Well, I did just that, and it worked!! Before I gave any of my pumpkins away to friends and family this year, they got a bath. I took about a half cup of bleach and added it to an empty quart container of milk, filled with warm water. With a rag dipped into this solution, I gently scrubbed the entire pumpkin. It’s important to get the stem and the other end too. By doing this, it kills all the bacteria that continues to grow, once it’s out of the  garden. Wondering, if there was any information about this on the internet, I came across this crazy Science Experiment site regarding several projects…..including bleaching pumpkins! My Science Project  Sure enough, the bleach experiment won out!

   Has anyone ever heard of Incredible Pink? They sell it at Ace Hardware and it usually comes in a gallon plastic jug like this…..

 Here’s a link to their website….INCREDIBLE PINK 

not only does this stuff work, it is also biodegradable and non toxic. You can use it to clean most anything! I used it years ago to clean a friends walls who smoked cigarettes (ah cigarettes a thing of my past :( ) and the nicotine just dripped right off. You can use it full strength or put a little in a spray bottle with water. It’s just INCREDIBLE STUFF! Another good cleaning product sold by Ace Hardware is DIRTEX.   

          This stuff really cleans a pane of glass like you wouldn’t believe. It sprays out foam that makes those windows shine, shine, shine. Those are my two fall cleaning tips for 2010!!

Meanwhile, back here on the plains, we are still under construction. The floor is down and it is grouted. The kitchen is painted (a color called cream yellow) by Benjamin Moore. We have brand new interior doors that need painting. We are still putting down baseboard and crown molding and have many other minor things to finish. I am painting out light switches and outlet covers. We need to buy lights. It’s been quite exhausting at times but we’re getting it done. My wonderful husband has been working very hard!!! For my next post, I am in hopes of showing some before and after pictures. I am sorry I have not been able to get to your blogs. It’s really crazy here right now still. Hope you are all well? Our friend Dawn is home!!! Yay!! She just got home a couple of days ago…..I was shocked. She was in hospital for about a month!! Poor girl! She’s doing well and reading  your comments so go ahead and leave them! She is recovering slowly but surely. Keep on praying for her. See ya’ll soon…….happy fall!!

It’s chicken manure at the big farms on my road that is wafting down here on a regular basis lately! Ouuuuulala…..it’s enough to make you want to never open your windows again! Yuckeroni….nasty stuff. But I guess it is the best stuff around to use next to cow manure (which is what I use)………….  this link gives some information regarding different types of dressings to use in gardens.       MANURE MATTERS  I guess it’s the best to use, but it sure does stink big time!!

September’s Happenings…..

   There’s a lot going on over here on the plains. Come on up the deck stairs & into the house and see. The garden is very close to being ready to pull everything out for the season. I got a million or so of these…  One thing about the Roma is that the plants put out a lot of tomatoes!! Bushels!! I harvested some of these… and these… and was so happy to get a lot of these… 

I am loving the look of my lemon colored sunflowers. The many branches on one plant are awesome!

I am so drawn to sunflowers. These always remind me of a brush stroke. And these too…. I didn’t get that many of these colors this year. A close up of a school bus yellow one. My popcorn is finally filling out and tassels are turning brown. Can’t wait to see if I got any colored corn! See how each plant puts off at least 3 to 5 ears! The sweet corn stalks are being used for this….  I make my own hay bales with a milk crate and long grass from the field. This one needs more grass….you can see the red crate coming through! All of those gourds and squash and pumpkins came from my garden this year. And this is what my husband has been doing a lot…. cutting tile on this  saw in the yard!! He worked in the pouring rain for 5 hours last week cutting ceramic tile to be laid on my kitchen floor!! Can you believe it? I thought he was crazy but he wanted to get it done. He and his friend had made a plan for that night and they pulled it off! It’s a good thing he didn’t get sick. He was soaked to the bone! I will show some pictures of my new floor soon. It is getting grouted tonight.

I went to a yard sale this summer that my daughter had,  and bought this…. casserole dish. Guess what? As I was leaving, I remembered that I bought it for her for Christmas  about 3 or 4 years ago! Ha! Apparently that’s why I liked it? Shame on you Carissa! You could have at least hidden it or sold it before I came! Just kidding. I teased her about it before I left and am glad to have it. I already made a lasagna in it!

   I met a very neat lady recently that owns a shop called Screen Door Collectibles. It’s a pretty funny story actually. I was out on a Saturday in my home town perusing yard sales. I had time to check out just one more quick one and I came across hers. Her shop is located in a one car garage next to her house. The yard sale was in the driveway leading up to the shop. I was mesmerized by the items I was seeing and also the hand painted folk art chairs and furniture! I finally made it up to the garage/shop and was even more excited at what I was seeing. I kept looking around trying to find the person running this lovely shop, when I heard a kind voice say “Can I help you find anything?” There she was….hand painting something…and sitting behind “Two brightly painted Screened Doors” that were connected together  in the shape of a V and being used like one of those Japanese privacy screens!! How cute!! This was hanging on one of the screen windows and I think I paid a dollar for it…. I had to have it. It has beads on the ropes…. that are attached to old rusty bells…..pretty colored beads…see..

 She had this bowl sitting on her desk behind the screens. It had some candy in it. I asked about it. She took the candy out and sold it to me for fifty cents. A piece had been glued back onto it. I couldn’t tell…..besides….it is for my room upstairs….so who cares! I loved it!! See the frog and the lily pads? Isn’t he cute? It has a twig base and it’s a Fitz and Floyd….so no wonder it’s so adorable!!

On a more personal note, I spoke with Dawn from C & G Design this week. She is supposed to be going home from the hospital tomorrow (Wednesday) and will begin Chemo as soon as she is feeling up to it. She will tell everyone what has happened to her I am sure. She’s been through a lot….she’s a very brave girl. Please continue to keep her in your prayers…..thank you.

 

 

 

A Friend In Need…….

   Most of you that follow my friend Dawn’s blog, at  C & G Design,  know that she is in  the hospital. I have been calling her every chance I get and she is getting better day by day.  She sure could use your prayers. She wanted me to tell you a few things. She is hoping to come home by weeks end. She is focused on healing, as she should be, so she will not be posting until she is feeling up to it. When I spoke with her this afternoon, she felt bad about that. I asked her why? She just thoroughly enjoys it and has met so many great people through the blogs. I want to thank those of you who have contacted me regarding Dawn. I let her know and she was really pleased. She’s a tough lady and she will get through this bump in the road. Make sure you check her blog each day….she’ll be back soon and I am sure she will by posting regarding exactly what happened to her!

  I probably won’t be blogging for a couple of weeks because my kitchen is under construction. My refrigerator and stove are in my dining room. My little cape cod is upside down right now. We are repainting the walls, laying ceramic tile on the floor, putting in all new interior doors, replacing an old beam with an updated one and many other tasks along the way. We have been at it less than a week and already have had many mishaps that I will blog about  at some other time!! My house is a mess and it drives me nuts. Why is it that carpenters think it is alright to leave the door wide open??? I must have killed,  with no exaggeration, 60 house flies, between last night and today. Yuck!!

 

That’s ok…..I need to focus on the positive. My kitchen is going from 1983 to 2010!! Yay!!! The cupboards and sink won’t be done right now but that’s alright. We plan on painting the cupboards at some point. We are getting lots of pictures, in between shoveling out the sawdust and sheetrock dust. See you in a couple of weeks hopefully!! You all enjoy this beautiful season!!

September is finally here……

 The cooler weather is finally here and the trees here in New England will soon look like the above picture. This is by far, my favorite time of the year. Let me tell you what I love about the fall……

1. You can spend an entire day outside and not get overheated or bitten by bugs.

2. The cool fresh air is invigorating and getting outside chores done is a pleasure!

3. The trees are beginning to turn. What a gorgeous site to look at!

I guess that’s enough for me! I am so looking forward to my favorite season!! Of course with the fall season comes my favorite holidays too! Halloween …..then Thanksgiving …..then my favorite one of all….Christmas!!!!!!! My birthday falls just 5 days after Christmas and then of course there is New Years …..so it’s just one big long holiday season! It’s incredible. Who wouldn’t love it???

   This last Saturday we had a  gathering of family here. My kids were here and helped clean out the rest of my garden. The only thing left now are sunflowers, corn, and tomatoes. We dug up my beets and carrots and there were NO carrots to speak of. I let them go to the weeds. That won’t happen next year. There were some beets and the kids took them home, along with pumpkins, gourds, corn, butternut squash, cukes and sunflowers. We had quite a harvest. I didn’t get any pictures! Can you believe it? We had a wonderful meal. I made a creamy pasta salad that I just love! I got the recipe from a blog I follow called Deep South Dish and my oh my do they have wonderful recipes!! I also got my southern ice tea recipe from them. I added some frozen strawberries (thawed) and lemons sliced to it. It was fabulous. I also made a lasagna and an appetizer I got from another blog. They were stuffed jalapenos from OctoberFarm. Everyone devoured those right up! Joyce has some amazing recipes on her blog!! That woman is always cooking….good lord! Check her out! It was my father in law Woody’s birthday the day before so I made him an Arizona Angel food cake. It tastes good and it’s pretty. Sometime I will post the recipe. My mother in law Alice brought a ham sliced and Woody made a chili. My brother in law Joe brought breaded chicken covered with sauce and melted cheese….kind of a chicken parmesan…..it was great! He also made his famous homemade salsa and garlic hummus. My kids purchased cheese’s and crackers and homemade pickles and such to add to the goods. We also had some of my sour pickles I had made a while back. I will post the recipe for those too…..real simple….no canning! So….a great time was had by all and fall is just about here. Next post I promise will have pictures!! Please remember to keep our friend Dawn in your prayers from C & G Design. She is on the mend. :):):)

 

 

 

 

THOSE MISERABLE ALLERGIES…..

 

   I woke up this morning with a  pretty good sized area that is very swollen, under my left eye!! For the past few days I have been rashing out here and there on my arms and wrists. An occasional small swelling will show up too on my wrists. I should have paid attention to it and taken the dreaded Benadryl that makes me so sleepy. Now I look like I have been in an accident! It’s not a good look. I think I scared a customer that came to the door a few minutes ago! Glad I don’t have to be anywhere today! My allergies, which I have been experiencing for about 9 months now, off and on, are a mystery to me and my doctors. I need to have an expensive blood work done to see if it is a result of my immune system. I cannot afford that right now but will have to have it done sometime soon I am sure.

Fall is on it’s way finally!! Although you would never know it here in Maine. The temps have been in the 90’s for the past two days and we broke some more records in the weather books. This year has been record breaking in many ways. I am harvesting my garden slowly. I am really pleased with the amount and quality of my pumpkins. I just cooked up some of the yellow corn and froze that. It was delicious. I still need to harvest the carrots by digging them up this year. I let the weeds take over in that area of the garden so I probably have NO carrots….we’ll see. My kids love to dig those up.

The kids are coming out here on Saturday. Bobbie and I are having the whole family over for a day of eating and visiting. An end of the summer gathering. I have been getting tomatoes from the garden but most are still green! I will never grow Roma’s again….they are too dry. The popcorn is beginning to show ears but it will still be a while. There won’t be many. I made the mistake of growing that corn in one single row. It should have been two…one beside the other. It needs that for seeding. Next year!

As soon as I get my camera charged up, I will take photos and show you what I mean. I must get pictures before this Saturday, when everyone will be going home with a basket of garden goodies. It’s a tradition!!

Please, everyone keep our friend Dawn, from C & G Design in your prayers for a speedy recovery from her surgery and a cancer free life from here on end. She is a very strong and brave girl but certainly our prayers can’t hurt. I hope you are all well. This Benadryl is kicking in and making me very sleepy so it’s time to sign off. Stay well and be happy. .~~.