Along came a spider

“If you don't know where you're going, any road'll take you there”
― George Harrison

Yesterday we had a visitor on the back patio. I tried to put it in a jar but it hopped out so I just covered it so Frank could see it when he got off the phone. I had to go to work so I told him to kill it!

YUK! I'm not afraid of spiders but this one was huge and all I could think of was I didn't want it getting in the house and crawling on me while I was sleeping.

He opted to release it, rationalizing that it would kill a lot of bugs. So, a second chance he got.

I went over and saw Angie and the boys the other day. They were busy outside catching asian beetles. Luckily we haven't had a bumper crop of those this year, at least so far.

It's much cooler today so I am in Fall cleaning mode. We will probably start the wood stove today 😀

P.S. We won - I think they are starting to get agitated with all the "girl power"

Making progress

“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
― George Bernard Shaw

This week, and next, is all about getting the firewood all taken care of. Last year we didn't get it all done and had to work from a big old pile and split as weather permitted. Uffda!

I found this mushroom in the back yard. I don't know much about mushrooms but I thought it was interesting and pretty. It was big too, probably 6-8 inches wide.

Mike, Ang, and the little boys stopped out for awhile yesterday so we took a break and visited and watched the boys ride bikes. Milo has improved a lot with that. He still has stopping issues and tips over but he keeps trying. Rowan was on the trike since we didn't have one really his size here. 

Crystal is in the "hills" and has sent pictures and texts. Looks like the girls were having fun.

The Gramma rose missed the memo about the change of seasons. This is an old rose that originally came from my Paternal Grandmother years ago. I don't argue with it though, it's always a welcome sight whenever it blooms.

Picture of the week:

P.S. We won!

Taekwondo Take 2

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” 
― Albert Einstein

Tomorrow is Milo's first "class" in Taekwondo. He had registration and some demonstration on Monday and he called to tell me how excited he was. Angie said he was listening very intently to the instructors. I hope he can maintain that demeanor. Last time we tried was 2 years ago but he had too much trouble sitting still, listening, and just behaving at 5. He's 7 now and he thinks he can do it and so do I.

We've had a lot of heat here the past few days but, supposedly, it's going to start cooling back down now to the 60's. Just the way I like it. We've been watching the trees change color so we'll be taking a road trip this weekend or next to see the "Fall Colors". One of our favorite things to do this time of year.

Crystal called last night and is heading to the hills for a fall campout with the girls. It's been even hotter there so hopefully it will be nice for them. Not sure exactly where the "hills" are but somewhere in South Dakota. 😎

Fall Chores

“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.” 
― Robert Frost

The past couple days we've had a couple guys here sawing wood. We buy it in logs and they saw it in chunks for the wood stove. The next couple of days will be splitting and stacking. We stacked some today and my body is in shock! We used to do all of this ourselves but it just seems a bit overwhelming nowadays.

All the veggies from this weeks CSA box are still crammed in the fridge. There's just not enough time (or maybe it's energy) to get everything done. We were on the last week of CSA but I get a bonus week because we didn't get it one other week this summer. We'll get that on Thursday so I will need to deal with what's in the fridge before then. I was a little surprised there were no potatoes or pumpkins but otherwise I guess I was satisfied with what they offered. I don't think I'll do it next year though, we plan on trying to garden ourselves again with just a few raised beds.

We had visitors the other morning. They may be hard to see - Sandhill Cranes. Cooper tried to intimidate them by barking but they just made their noise back at him, he finally gave up.

This was so pretty the other morning. There was actually fog flowing across the field too but my camera just wouldn't pick it up. It's pretty nonetheless.

We've been following the hurricanes and watch in horror of what all those people are/will go through. I can't even imagine!

P.S. We won!

The Past, Present, and Future

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” 
― Mae West

I received a wonderful surprise in the mail today from South Dakota. Crystal and Dale sent me a book to jot down all kinds of stuff about my life and family.

One of the greatest treasures we found after Mom passed away were the daily journals she kept. She wrote every day in them. Just daily life - her life. They started in 1982 and went up until right before she passed away in 2015. They weren't fancy books, some were actual diaries that she probably picked up at the dime store and some are just little fat notebooks. Nowadays we do it electronically. The girls don't know that I blog so I hope it's a treasure for them to find when I'm gone.

Oh, and the mums are blooming, one of Mom's favorites 😊

The Weeks Activities

“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.” 
― Dr. Seuss

This week, as usual, has been a whirlwind of activity.

On Monday, Angie brought out Milo to stay for a couple of days. He was ready to have some time without little brother.

He had a list of things he wanted to do while he was here. We got them all checked off - Luckily the list wasn't too long 😊

Angie is still fighting fleas at her house. She thought she had it taken care of but then she saw more. The vet said to expect it to take a few MONTHS to completely be rid of them. She's into it a few weeks now. I have only had that happen once and I hope to never go through it again!

Crystal and Dale are having their house re-roofed. They are excited to get it done and hope to paint the siding yet this year as well. When we remodeled the farm house we went with a metal roof and we're glad we did.

Frank and I took a "fun day" yesterday and went to the thrift shop in a neighboring town. We haven't been out too much so it was nice to go someplace together. We found a few kiddo movies for a nickel a piece. I told him that we could have a movie night on the cheap! 😁

Today was CSA pickup. We got more zucchini and yellow squash. A really nice looking Carnival squash, green peppers, eggplant, carrots, brussels sprouts, jalapeno peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes. We got the peppers all cut up and in the freezer and I blanched all the zucchini, summer squash, and eggplant to go in the freezer too. We got corn too but we'll probably just eat that this week.

This weekend is Labor Day weekend but we'll just hang around home and get some stuff done around here. After all, winter is right around the corner.

P.S. We won