What Wonderful Weather In Maine….

We are experiencing some wonderful weather here in Maine.

Most days it feels like summer with temperatures reaching the 60’s.

It’s really very strange. Some mornings I need to scrape my windshield before I head out.

By mid afternoon it’s hot. I take a coat with me, and then peel it off later on in the day!!

One thing is for sure, we are saving on fuel and that’s a plus.

It’s November 10th and my husband plans on mowing the lawn this weekend!!!

     I have some health issues I will hopefully be getting to the bottom of

tomorrow. I have to have a sonogram. Will know more then. I can’t seem to get back here

much lately but sure am going to try. My mother in law Alice and I took a wonderful trip

to Harpswell, Maine to see Dawn from the blogs and finally meet her mom Jean!! We had a

lot of fun! What a wonderful lady Jean is and we met her husband David too who was

delightful. Jean is quite the cook. She had prepared a wonderful meal for us that was to die

for. Soon, Alice and I would love to have she and Dawn up our way! Dawn looks fantastic

and seems to have come out of all she went through fine. She’s a tough lady. It was great to see her.

If I don’t get back here, I wanted to wish you all a and

am hoping you are all well. I think I may be back though…..at least I will give it a good try….

and get over to your blogs as well……take care….

Falling In Line…..

Hello fellow bloggers! This picture is on my desktop right now. It always

makes me think of fall! It was taken in 2005 in the middle of harvesting

my garden that year. That’s my cat Baby and she still loves to hang out

on top of the picnic table and run up against the pumpkins. No tomatoes

this year though. It was the worst year I have ever had, for as long as I

have been gardening. All that heat we had this summer and me not wanting

to go out in it. For some reason I can’t take the heat anymore. It makes

me sick and very weak. I think it’s my heart meds but I’m not sure.

It might help if I lost some weight too!

We still miss Obie every day. That little guy brightened our day. Every time

we came home, without fail, he acted as if he had not seen us in a year.

Aren’t animals wonderful like that? Unconditional love. Someday we may

get another dog. Not right now. We are not ready yet. We have

Baby to keep us company and drive us crazy with her insistent Siamese

crying! Oh my, she tests the waters some days! Just thought I would pop in

and say hello. Not long from now, I plan on coming back and blogging at least

once a week I hope. For now I am getting the yard ready for winter, making

my son Kyle a lap blanket, crocheting, still selling marbles for my friend, and

just living life. I miss you all and will visit soon. Anybody know how Dawn is

doing? I emailed her recently but didn’t hear back? I hope she’s well. Be back

real soon…..

Hot, Hot, Hot… Summer So Far….

Hey are any of you sick of this heat yet? I know there are a few of you that just adore this weather!

That is very foreign to me. I absolutely hate it. My favorite time of year is the fall. It’s when I come alive.

I can barely get to my garden without passing out. Of course it is suffering because of it. It has strange

looking bugs and some of my plants have damage from the bugs. It has been an unusual year for heat in Maine

That being said, bring on FALL!!! I am ready.~~~

My brother Art and sister in law Amy are headed home from Nashville on the 7th of August. One of the

things that we have planned together is to do a tribute to my parents on a radio station in our home town

of Yarmouth. The radio station is owned by a family friend. His name is Gary King. My father used to give him

banjo lessons. Gary plays a mean banjo amongst many other instruments and has an absolute love for old music.

Here’s a link to his website…..WYAR . Of course the YAR stands for Yarmouth….but you already figured that out!

We have a little intro regarding my folks and my brother will sing a couple of wonderful old songs my folks used to do.

My mothers specialties were Five Foot Two and Bill Bailey. That’s probably what we’ll sing. We also have a recording of

them from years ago. Should be fun.

I have harvested some beautiful gold zucchini and regular green already. That gold zucchini is soooooo bright yellow!!

I will get some photos of it. My spaghetti squash is coming along great. I planted everything too close I guess this year.

Hard to get to but plenty of produce! First year without tomatoes…never got to it. I don’t miss the tomato hornworm!

Just look at how disgusting that bug is……. Nope…not missed a bit.

This is my new problem. I just looked it up

on Google for the first time….now I know what I am dealing with…..the squash bug…..more on that when I figure out how to deal with them!!!

Stay cool everyone!!! ~~~~

THE BLACK CROW

Not too long ago, I was happily off my diet, munching on a container

of French fries and a dollar menu cheeseburger from McDonalds.

My husband and I were sitting in a parking lot where we work. After

a while, the fries just didn’t seem as appealing to me as I thought

they would be. Don’t you  hate that? You go off the diet because

you think you are missing out on something so good, to find out

it’s not so good. What a bummer that is. While I was sitting there

contemplating all of this, I noticed a Black Crow lurking on

the edge of the roof of the building next to me. He was cawing

away. It reminded me of the seagulls that we have here in Maine that

are such scavengers.

They are not the least bit shy and will fly right

next to you to get a bite of food. So….I figured the crow would too.

I threw out lots of fries as far past the car as I could. The Crow stayed on

the roofs edge. Suddenly, another large Crow swooped in and started

gathering. That gave our friend on the roof the courage to do the same.

Actually, it was more like “you’re not going to get my fries!”…I think! The Crow

that flew in,  just scooped and flew off. The roof Crow did that once,

then he came back  and scooped as many as he could get into his mouth.

That was an amazing site to see…all those fries being crammed into

his beak….over and over….dropping a couple and picking them back up!

Then I saw something I couldn’t believe. He took 5 or 6 fries (while the

other Crow was away), and put them into the bushes next to our car. He

then picked up a large, dry, oak leaf, and covered up the

fries!! I could hardly believe my eyes!! What an intelligent thing to do!! Meanwhile,

the other Crow came back looking for more. Our roof crow, was out of the

bushes, almost acting a little lame. He kind of cowered a bit, while picking up

a piece of gravel and chewing

on it, as if to say….this is all we have left to eat! How sly was that?

I began telling folks I know, what I saw. Many people already knew how

extremely intelligent these birds are.  I went online and found out

many things about the Black Crow. The Intelligent Black Crow 

Did you know they are known for using tools? And, did you know that

many Crows gathered together  are called  A Murder Of Crows?

That’s kind of spooky.  Check this out….All About Crows  ….

this is probably more information than anyone would ever want to know

about these birds! They have been coming to my back yard and field

since this past winter, for the first time, on a regular basis. They like

wide open spaces and composts….I have both in my back yard. I will take

some pictures and share with you sometime. What do you all think

about these birds?? A nuisance or do you like them? 

You have GOT to see this video!!! I couldn’t believe it!!

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?????????????????????????????????

  

SPROUTING HAS BEGUN…..

Almost all of my seeds in my garden have sprouted! I am so happy about that because I started late this year.

Not only late, but the first few days were raw and cold. I really wondered if the seeds would take.

My two rows of sweet corn are coming along but are slower than the couple of rows of colored corn. I love that

colored corn! Here is what it looked like last year….. after I made swags. My cosmic purple and rainbow carrots

are showing their fine blades through the soil. I have never tried Cosmic Purple carrots before but I hear they are very sweet. Here is

a photo of what they are supposed to look like………….pretty cool huh? And of course you can’t beat the rainbow carrots! Here they are….

 You never know what you are going to get with these. I tried gold rush Zucchini this year and regular Zucchini. The gold rush is a yellow variety that looks like this…. They are both up and growing nicely.

I planted 3 different kinds of cucumbers. A pickling cuke, a long cuke, and a short vined one. On some, all of the seeds came up and others  are a bit slow.  My Watham butternut squash is coming up nicely and two new squashes I planted

this year, are Vermicelli Spaghetti  and Red Eye.They are up and growing well. The red eye is supposed to be a good eating squash, and is fun for fall decorating.

I planted two different types of pumpkin. One is called Spookie…. It produces heavy yields of 7” across bright orange pumpkins. They have strong stems, very flavorful flesh, great for pies and for carving.  Another variety I have tried in the past and the seeds never sprouted, is Lumina. The seed company gave me a free packet to try this year and they came up!!   They are a white variety of pumpkin! Here’s a photo of one carved……  Cool huh? The orange flesh usually shows through from what I am told.

I have yet to get tomatoes but still plan on doing that. The only thing I forgot were sunflowers….I planted a variety that surprises me with many different colors.

Aren’t they pretty?    So that’s it…..next time I will try to get some photos.

I saw a picture of Obie the other day on my computer and it just about tore my heart out. It sure does take time to get over our furry loved ones. I have started volunteering at a food bank in my town twice a month. It’s been really rewarding. I have had to cut back because of physical ailments but hope to do more in a different capacity. I worked with a woman from our local cooperative extension, to create a little cookbook of monthly food samplings that she brings in for the clients to taste. That was a lot of work but it was fun seeing their faces when they received it!~~

Our construction continues. I think I mentioned Lowe’s was replacing our kitchen floor. What a job that was! The two brothers that work for Lowe’s came here and did a fantastic job!! The first day it looked like someone blew up my kitchen. By the third day it was beautiful and looked almost identical to the original floor….without the grout crumbling! Now when I vacuum the floor, I don’t hear the PING PING PING of the grout flying up into the vacuum!! That’s a plus! Our newest bit of construction is ripping out carpet on a set of stairs and replacing them with Maple wood stairs. I will get pictures to show you as always!~~

This weekend I am going to try and get by to visit you all. For all of you that come by here….Thanks!!! You’re the best!! You know who you are…..you wonderful women you!!! See you soon……..And stay cooooooooooooooool……….

 

Happy Birthday Carissa…..

 Today is my dear daughter’s 29th birthday!! This is her (above) at a wedding.

 And here she was dressed for the prom.

 With Boyfriend Adam….(they broke up some time ago!)

 This was her latest tattoo that I posted about a while back. She also has a dragonfly on her shoulder.

Here she is with her uncle Steve at Port Hole celebration in Portland.

And with her other uncle Art who entertained us all at Port Hole.

And with her best friend and roommate at the time, Brooke.

Playing a tinfoil guitar…..

Breakfast with her brother….

Hugging the real love of her life….her beloved dog Piper!!

Happy Birthday Honey!!!!

Well folks……I planted my garden yesterday….I know…I am late…but I got it done!! I am so proud of myself because it was not easy.

I have had a lot of health issues and pain….that’s ok…I have my garden in!! Yay!

I have multi-colored mini corn or popcorn, regular sweet corn, 3 different kinds of cukes, regular pumpkin and white pumpkin called Lumina,

tomatoes, regular green zucchini and yellow zucchini, butternut squash, vermicelli spaghetti squash, 2 rows of rainbow carrots and one row of

cosmic purple carrots, sunflowers, and red eye squash. I think that’s it but I may have forgotten something…not sure. Did you all plant gardens

this year????

Sad News…..

It has not been easy to write in my blog. On May 23, of this year, we had to put Obie down.

It was one of the hardest things we have ever had to do. He was such a good boy and we

miss him terribly. After two years of being on insulin for his diabetes, he just got real sick.

I looked out the door one morning, to see him throwing up lots of phlegm, while he was

trying to go pee. That was heartbreaking and between Bobbie and I and the vet, we made

the that horrible decision. He is free now. We loved him dearly and we were with him at the

end with lots of kisses and hugs. I will be back soon……I miss you all too.

   As I write this, our kitchen floor is being torn up and replaced. I am hold up

in my living room and he is pounding right outside the door! It’s very irritating but it has to be done.

I hope all of you are doing well. I will visit soon….just a lot going on right now….Debbie

SPRING IS FINALLY HERE….

Hello everyone! Sorry I have not been blogging for quite some time!

We have been quite busy. I thought I would update a bit on what

is going on. First, an update on Obie…..and at the moment I am

kind of irritated with our little boy! He kept us up half the night last night!

We had a terrible rain and wind storm and that makes him very anxious. We

barely got any sleep. He paces and whines and pees….well leaks! Up and out

we took him and mopped and sopped. I’m tired and guess who has had their

breakfast, gone outside again, had their insulin and is now napping?

That’s right! Him!…not me! Arggg! Oh well…..

at least he is healthy in every other way. He turns 11 in a few days. That’s pretty

good. Ok…another update is our kitchen floor.

The last post I made about it

mentioned that our tiles were coming up. What a nightmare this has been. I can’t

even tell you how sick this has made us. The tiles are lifting now even more and

the grout is crumbling. One day I said to my husband…”Call Lowe’s”. He looked at

me funny and said “Why would we call Lowe’s? They are not going to do anything.”

Well, that turned out to be not true, and that phone call was our saving grace.

Turns out, the person at Lowe’s who originally walked us through all the “stuff” we needed

to make this project happen, gave us the wrong bonding agent for the tiles!! He

gave us the type that needs an additive and never told us. We now believe he

didn’t even know. It was a kid that started working at Lowe’s not too long before that,

stayed there for

one month and moved on. After talking with the manufacturer of the Mega bond,

they put the blame back on Lowes. Next, Lowe’s asked us to come to the store and pick out a floor.

That’s all they would say….so we went and looked at floors. What does this mean?

After a bit of a dance with the manager, Lowe’s is paying for our kitchen floor to be

torn out, and completely replaced by one of their professional crews. Can you believe it?!!!

We are thrilled that it is being replaced without cost to us, but not happy about being

under construction once again. We will have to probably get a motel for a couple of nights and

find a place for the animals. Ok….guess who is awake and wants to go back outside!! You guessed it!

My little Jack Russell!! I’ll be back soon to write more. Hope you are all well. Has anyone talked to Dawn?

 

AHHHHH SPRING IN MAINE

It finally happened! Spring is just about here. One more week before it’s official on the calendars but I can feel it in the air today.

One of the signs of spring in Maine is the Portland Flower show. Portland Flower Show I didn’t make it this year but I saw photos of it and I thought I would

share some with you. Look at this wonderful Wood Sliced Walkway….. What a great idea not only for

recycling wood stumps, but it looks very cool. Here is best in show….. and Kitchen Door Garden….

Wow….if that doesn’t make you think spring! Before long we will be seeing some of these… along

the rivers and streams. Fiddleheads are a Maine delicacy. They taste like a cross between asparagus and broccoli. My kids used to really enjoy hunting

the streams for them. Yup…..spring is coming….finally…..we will all be enjoying that breath of fresh air and seeing sights like this….

and this…. and and and this ……….

We still have very high snow banks in the yard but for the first time in quite a while, I can see my picnic table in the back yard. It’s been buried all winter!

That’s a good sign! It’s been a long winter and I think we are all probably ready to be outside…..to open our windows and air the house out…..to

sit on the deck and drink in the air. It’s a new year….with new dreams….new gardens….new people to meet….new projects to begin outside….I guess a sense of

renewal for us all. I look forward to this spring with vigor! Come on Spring…….I’m ready for you!!

Tonight….we set out clocks ahead. We get an extra hour of daylight and that in itself is pretty thrilling. Happy Spring to you all. I just wanted to say a couple quick

things about 2 very special bloggers that have not been around here lately….like me!! Kathleen of Rural Maine has closed her blog but can be found on Facebook!

I will miss her but will keep in touch with her via emails. Dawn of C & G Design is still hanging in there. Her treatments continue so our prayers need to as well. She is

a very brave girl who needs all of our positive thoughts each day. I am hoping she makes it back to blogging very soon. She is in retreat mode and with all our well wishes

and God’s grace will be alright. God love her.

Happy Spring wherever you are!!!……….Hugs and Kisses to you all!!!!……