My mad wood-working skilz

 The other day I bought a purple aster. Mostly just because it was purple but it was also on sale. So I brought it home, stuck it in a pot, and put it on the railing of the porch. Then the wind blew. The aster did not last long on the little 4" railing.

So I came up with an idea. Borrowed some wood from M, dug my jigsaw out of it's hiding place and set to work.

Three days, 4 partial re-dos, and a-lot of jigsawing and TADA!

A bench.

 

It may not hold a lot but I only intend for it to hold plants. And it seems to hold L just fine. 

And she helped clean up.

 

Tomato Hornworms - The End

 

It's not really the end of the Hornworm. Or even the end of my troubles with the hornworms. But it is the final life stage of the hornworm. Meaning I found a hummingbird moth flitting around my flowers. Sad part was I was so excited to see one. Even though I knew that meant that some worms avoided my Bucket of Death, and that next year my issues with the worms will continue. Still very cool though. 

The Stone Egg Experiment - Part 1

This is a stone egg. It really is a rock. If you get it wet it looks like it glows. It used to be one of those things you buy as a kid because it's cool. Now it's in the hen house.

Why is it in the hen house?

Let me put my teeth in and I'll tell you a story from my childhood....

*insert sloppy denture insertion noises*

Back when I was knee high to a grasshopper and bread was... probably less than a dollar. I wasn't the one buying the bread so I have no idea how much it was. It was just always on the counter and I was aloud to eat it.

Anyway. We had chickens. And I remember someone, who was taller than me which means they were older, said to put a round drawer knob in the nesting box to stimulate their laying instincts. Well I don't have anything with a round knob, but I found this stone egg in a random place. So I put in the nesting box. We will see how it goes.

Piles of Hay!

There isn't a whole lot to say about this one. In the picture you can see my "hay" pile, composter, and chicken hut. I can even spot a chicken. I say "hay" because it's really just long grass that M bush-hogged for me because my little electric lawn mower couldn't make it through it. But isn't hay really just cut grass anyway?

I started using the "hay" right around the chicken hut because it was handy and I hadn't found what I thought was supposed to go in the hut and laying boxes and didn't think Henrietta would appreciate a bare floor. Then I realized the cut grass = hay thing and tada! hay pile!

Now to hope the grass grows a bit taller before it dies for the season, hope M fixes his tractor or get Dad to bring his over, and collect the grass. It doesn't get much better than that!

Country Dogs

This post is kinda gross. But that's dogs I guess. I'll skip down a bit just so your not forced to see grossness if you don't want to.


But who wouldn't want to see what the dog dragged in?


Or is it drug in?


Well either way.



Have I given you enough chance to leave the page yet?




Ok If your still with me now your seriously interested. So here's the story,
I'm dog-sitting my dad's two dogs. Both are hunters, German Short-hair pointers. Abbey is 15 and Buster is 3. And Abbey is gross. Well Buster is too but it's cause he's an unsnipped (though soon to be snipped) male. Back to Abbey. She came home with this yesterday:

And then this morning she found the rest of it. I spent a good 10 minutes scrubbing my hands after having to wrestle disgusting decaying turtle parts from an old dogs mouth.

Seriously. Ew.

Roosters, Hens, and Eggs!

 

Henrietta is finally comfortable and relaxed and has started laying! Her eggs are large in size and a lovely sea green color. 

The two hens that have just recently joined my little flock lay small-medium sized brown eggs. 

All in all everyone is getting along and I haven't needed to buy eggs in almost 2 weeks!

No Preservatives Please

One of my goals that accompanies moving into the country is to break my prepackaged, sodium laden, preservative packed foods. Yes their low in calories, as long as you don't eat the whole box.... oops.

Have you ever looked at the ingredients list on the bread bag? Natures Own was one of my favorite store bought breads. It has 20 ingredients. Seriously? Here they are:
Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour, Water, Maltitol, Wheat Gluten, Yeast, Contains 2% or Less of Each of the Following: Butter (a Trivial Source of Cholesterol), Salt, Dough Conditioners (Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate, Monoglycerides, Calcium Peroxide, Ethoxylated Mono and Diglycerides, Datem), Cultured Whey (Milk), Vinegar, Natural Flavors, Calcium Sulfate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Yeast Food (Ammonium Sulfate), Soy Lecithin.

I have given it up since moving. I now make my own via a bread machine. There are 6 ingredients in my bread now. Water, sugar, salt, flour, dry milk, yeast. That's it. It's fantastic. Tastes amazing. Makes the best grilled cheese sandwiches.

I also have given up store bought cereal. The amount of sugar in a bowl of cereal is enough to run a toddler for an afternoon. Home made granola cereal is so much fun though. As long as you don't burn it. :) And I can change it every time I make it and it's like a whole new cereal. Sunflower seeds, peanut butter, almonds, raisins, cranberries, wheat germ, even baked apples. Everything adds a new flavor and each has it's own nutrition value. Well wheat germ doesn't add much flavor but it's nutritious.

One word. Bisquick. My grandmothers secret to amazing pancakes. Holy preservatives Bat Man. So easy to mix up a batch of home made "bisquick" without the preservatives. It's not like they help preserve a healthy body. Botox would do a better job.

I'll keep adding to the list of foods I've learned to make to avoid the prepackaged - quick and dirty - foods. Next up: The Bug's favorite: Kraft Mac and Cheese.

The Cutest Dino Onsies

Since it was raining out this morning I decided to use nap time as craft time. We LOVE dinosaurs around here so when I discovered some plain white onsies in the little mans stash of clothes I couldn't help myself.
The applique design is from some embroidery files from my stash. The fabric is from some of my favorite newborn sized outfits. I found 8 other white onsies and I have many more dinosaur embroideries to play with it. Yay!

A Handful of Hornworms

Literally.

I've picked so many hornworms this spring/summer/fall that I've started to wonder if I shouldn't have found a way to eat them. Like deep fried and covered with chocolate.

When a Bird Bath isn't

I didn't manage to capture a picture of the crime but here is the evidence of my bird bath visitor.
Can u see the path? It starts in the upper right corner and makes a U around the bird bath.


There's nothing like looking out your bedroom window and finding a horse in the flower garden drinking from the bird bath.

We call the horse Trouble because that's all she is, trouble. Trouble finds any way out of the fence that she can. Half the acreage here is fenced for the horses but she is just not satisfied. The grass is always greener on the other side. Now that the fence is up all the way around she has learned to step on it to reach the grass on the other side and has it so squished in places that she lets not only herself out but her black and white friend and occasionally the other gray out too.

I do appreciate the help with the lawn care though since my weed eater has a broken fuel line. Just wish they would spread the fertilizer out a bit more.

Cool Bug - Cicada?

I was mowing the lawn yesterday with my awesome electric lawn mower. It sounds like a really loud vacuum and I don't have to buy gas for it. Anyway. I heard a buggy noise OVER the sound of the lawn mower. So of course, I stopped mowing to find out what it was.

I found this guy/gal:

Look at the amazing clear wings. Awesome markings and colors.

View from the front:

It wasn't a small bug. My thumb is right next to it despite the fact the my camera decided to focus on my thumb. I don't know if this bug is a cicada or not. It's a lot bigger than I thought they were. It wasn't afraid though. I was right up close to it and I even touched it. It didn't fly away until it realized I was coming it's way with the mower.

Bug Patrol - Meet the Flock

As of last Sunday I had a flock of 4 chickens. As of yesterday I have a flock of 2 chickens. My two mix breed pullets (to big to be a chick to small to be a chicken. It's the actual term.) Tom and Dick, have disappeared. I am unclear as to whether they got taken by something as we have alot of hawks, or if they found a hole they could get through and ran away to be eaten by something. Either way until the third Sunday of September, the date of the next Swap Meet and my next opportunity to get more chickens, I have just two.

Without further ado meet Henrietta and her boyfriend Steve.
Henrietta ^
Steve ^

Henrietta and Steve are Ameraucana chickens. When Henrietta settles in and begins laying her eggs should be a blue/green color.

The Ameraucana was developed in the 70's by a few people who were trying to standardize the Araucana breed. The Ameraucana is easier to breed as there are no complications due to lethal genes. *Quoted from backyardchickens.com

This is my little chicken coop. Big enough for 4 chickens and I painted it green.

Busy hunting bugs. I'm not sure if it's normal for chickens to go to bed at 630 pm and wake at 0430 but that seems to be their pattern. Steve is very prompt about waking the entire state up at 0430. But he doesn't stop there. He pays tribute to the sun for as long as the sun is in the sky.

The War Against the Hornworms

Tomato Hornworms are beautiful, bright green caterpillars with black stripes and a red horn on the bum end. I was so excited when I found the first one.
Then I realized it was eating all the leaves and the tomatoes off my plants.
After some research and a lot of trial and error I found the only way to get rid of these pretty pests was to pick them off by hand and drown them in a bucket of soapy water. Make sure it's soapy water as the soap helps break the surface tension of the water so the worms can't hold their heads above the water. Don't be shocked if you grab one of these and they spit sticky green stuff on you. Or if they whip their heads around and make clicking/chomping noises. It's all show. Just grip the little beasty tightly and pull. Your tomatoes will thank you.

I have experienced two separate hornworm hatchings. The first started in the spring while the plants were still young but had flowers and a few green tomatoes. My official count was 23 individual hornworms. This second hatching has so far brought out 8 hornworms. One of which was especially large.All in all while these are fantastic looking caterpillars I don't have a very high opinion of them and wish they would stay out of my garden.

Traveling with Kids: One parent, 2 kids.

This past weekend I did something many people told me was brave. By the end of my experience I realized I wasn't brave, I was padded room crazy.

I took my two children, aged 2 and 11 weeks, through a total of 4 airports and on 4 airplanes.

Alone.

Completely.

Crazy.

Picture it. Me. Pulling a red rolling suitcase to which is strapped my daughters car seat. My daughter is in the car seat with her little backpack, blanket, stuffed dog, dino, and sippy cup. On top of my little red suitcase is the diaper bag, boppy pillow, and lunch bag with sippy refills. I am wearing the baby in an infantino front carrier. It was effective and back breaking. It was more effective on the trip home that the trip out but some bugs with the straps got worked out.

Here's some advice I will be taking for the next trip:

1. Triple check the time of your flights before you click the BUY button. This will prevent arriving at the destination at 1 am and having to be to the airport at 430am on the return trip.

2. Book directly with the company your traveling with. Airlines let you change flight times, rental car companies would have your credit card on file for their security requirements. Prevents having to get a taxi at 1am. I got lucky and the taxi meter stopped at $56. I only had $60. Talk about a heart pounding taxi ride.

3. Get the CARES Harness. This is the only FAA approved child seat restraint that isn't a car seat. Most people don't realize that the FAA requires that all children under 40 lbs be in an approved child restraint system. Which normally means having to bring the car seat. My harness' have already arrived. It was the first thing I did upon arriving home. Next time the car seats will be checked baggage.

4. Book a hotel that offers breakfast. Any breakfast. Bagel and coffee, it doesn't matter. When you are alone with two kids, have no car, and are outside of the reasonable toddler walking distance from a restaurant, some kind of breakfast on site is a sanity savor. Even if it costs a bit more.

Some people have told me that I should have canceled our trip because of the difficulties we were experiencing. Some other people, and alot of the same people, told me that next time I shouldn't even think about it. To those people I say no. Just because I'm alone with two young kids doesn't mean we have to stay home. Lifes an adventure and we will share the adventure no matter the obstacles.

:)

The Bugs of the Prairie

Ok so it's not exactly the prairie. But if you travel straight west for at least an hour things do flatten out. And there are alot of bugs here. I like interesting bugs. The bugs I don't like bite, or have more than 6 legs, and jump at me.

This is a garden grub. I found him while pulling weeds.
This is a moth caterpillar. We found him in the grass. He was fuzzy and made my fingers hurt from his odd fuzz.


This is a leaf bug. He was about 2 inches long and looked funny when he flew away.
This wee worm is an Army worm. He was enjoying my tomato plants.
The Squash Bugs and Cucumber Beetles remain a problem. All of my squash plants have died. I'm so sad that my zucchini bread will have to come from someone elses garden.

Garden Booty

No no, not that kind of Garden Booty.

This kind:
Not bad for my first haul. And tasty! The flavor coming out of each of these fruits and veggies is nock-me-on-my-ass good.

Emblished Target Dress

I bought this dress from Target the other day. I brought it home with the thought of possibly enriching it.

So I removed the black lace from the neckline and above the skirt ruffle and added some bright pink ric rac
and made two flowers from the leftover lace and pink ric rak.

Happy Things

Every once in a while I come across some things that make me smile for no other reason that they make me smile. Here are a few from today:





A Yellow Butterfly







A tomato turning red.








A Black-Eyed Suzan.







I hope you have found a few things that made you smile today too.

Saving Space - Growing Watermelon Vertically

I'm not really sure where this idea came from. Perhaps it's the size of my garden. Or perhaps it's my refusal to give up precious space in my garden for a plant to sprawl at it's leisure. Either way when my watermelon (and cucumber) plants got to the stage of sending out runner vines I stuck a tomato cage around it and wound the runners through the bars. Seemed simple and perfect at the time.

The vines just keep climbing up the cages. When the fruit gets large enough I pull it to the outside of the cage for easy picking later.


But I didn't anticipate one thing; the vines can't support the hanging weight of the fruit. See? I didn't want to break more vines and let the fruit sit on the ground though. So I came upon another idea: Stockings. My Grandmother told me once to always have a clean pair of stockings in your drawer.

I don't think this was her intended purpose but hey, I don't wear them so I might as well use them.
Hopefully these will continue to support the watermelon while allowing the fruit to continue to grow.

Weapons of Mass Distruction

There is an unpleasant aspect to gardening. And I admit, I didn't pay it much attention when the signs first started showing.

The holes in the leaves; the slightly yellowed leaves;
The completely eaten leaves;
All the signs that my garden had dinner guests. It couldn't get that bad, right? I wanted and still strive for an organic garden. But what other choice was I facing? My beloved plants were dying.

I tried an organic insecticidal soap: reduced the bugs a bit. I tried Dawn dish soap: made soap bubbles on the ground, very effective (sarcasm). I tried spraying water at a high rate of speed: broken leaves and stems. I was starting to pull my hair out.

Until I decided on two things. Chickens and a more personal approach; woman to bug. Face to buggy little face.

I have chosen two weapons, so far, in my war against the bugs. The Bucket of Death and The Stick of Fire.

The Bucket of Death is the only method of ridding myself of Tomato Hornworms. I'll get into those later.

The Stick of Fire is my newest revelation and I am excited about it's effectiveness. It works best on the smaller bugs. The young Squash Beetles are my current target. I'm genuinely surprised at the effectiveness of this weapon. Beyond the antennae burning like eyebrows in an experiment gone wrong, the little buggers sizzle. There is something disturbingly pleasing in that sound. Maybe it's the sound of hope. Hope that by frying these beasts I just might save my squash.

We will see...

Gone to the Birds

I remember the day we moved into the house here in Kansas. Besides all the running around, shuffling of boxes and the endless "hey where did you put _____". I got buzzed by a hummingbird! Oh sure there are hummingbirds in Vegas. They just didn't like my house.

Not so in Kansas! I hung two feeders off the front deck in front of the windows. A hummingbird feeder which attracted the first bird in under an hour and has attracted 4 separate birds so far. 2 hens and 2 males. They are so fun to watch. Each gender chases each other. Hens on hens, males on males. If I sit still outside long enough they cease being as frightened of me and I can hear the buzzing of their wings and their angry chirping at each other as they chase around the house. It's a nice way to spend a quiet naptime. The other feeder is filled with regular bird food. Seeds and nuts. It took almost 2 weeks for the yellow finches to find this feeder which was really a surprise. I can hear all the birds in the trees out here all the time but they were really slow finding this feeder.

Now I just keep the feeders full and listen to my cat Amelia chatter at them in frustrated fascination.

The #2 Reason I moved to Kansas

GARDENING!

Despite all my efforts in Vegas the only thing I was able to do with a plant was kill it. Pre-potted, started from seeds, given to me by friends, it didn't matter. If it sat in dirt, drank water, and grew in the sun, which remarkably sounds like my kids, I could kill it. My kids are all alive, my plants are not.

Fast forward to Kansas. As you can see from the pictures, things GROW in Kansas. With very little effort and alot of weeding, I have a garden. A genuine garden. With veggies I can eat.

This zucchini made amazing Zucchini Bread.

Intro to me.

I grew up in the WI countryside. Navarino WI on an 80 acre farm to be exact. Great times. I've been a city girl since 2001. Went to college. Got a degree. More great times. Moved to Las Vegas. Got married. Had babies. 10 years I've been in the city. Paying someone to spray for the bugs I never saw in the first place. Living 2 blocks from the grocery store and every other convenience a big city has to offer.

If you ever plot Hoyt Kansas on a map you will notice one BIG thing about it. The distance to anything else. Any trip from the house is planned for maximum effectiveness. There's no such thing as a "quick trip". Or QuickTrip for that matter.

So this blog is about my return to the country. The bugs, the animals, the distance from civilization. Love it or hate it, here we go...