Early Christmas Continued

In early December, when Joel arrived at 1:30 AM, he joyfully announced that he was at Grandma's house where he never gets in trouble and never has to do "time out".  He's right. 

 

 

Bless the old Fisher Price toys.  Hallmark made a minature replica of the the school house as a Christmas ornament and one hangs on our tree.  Two generations have played with this real one.  Three if you count me.

 

 

Cookies taste better when small hands have helped.  Find a couple of oversized aprons and we are ready.   In this case we were making Gingerbread Boys.  We didn't use frosting or decorations because they got eaten too fast.  First one foot, then then other, left arm, right arm.........the head is the last to go.  So joyful a time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Birth of Quinn's Smile

 In early December, Ben had company business here, and so he brought his family for an early Christmas present.  Quinn was slower to remember her surroundings in our house.  But with coaxing, her expression went in stages from glum to the happy smile we all love.  Never take a smile for granted!  And never assume that there will always be one.

With Ross, she gave him "the look".  Although she did eventually see it his way, after all he had another dog and she loves dogs!

I am determined to find ways to make this blog work.  Steve showed me a back door to upload photos and I hope I can keep it going.  In the meantime, I have plenty of catch-up work to do.

They Made It to Grandma's House

 We moved most of the furniture out of the living room to have this extended table for the wonderful
gathering of family for Thanksgiving dinner. 

The man and his dog......cooked wonderful food......

 

Joleen and Phil smoked the turkey on the grill.  Yummmmm.

 We introduced Grace to Monopoly and her life has not been the same since.

 

 



Our guests of honor.......Lisa and Jacob made the trip from Rexburg.  LOVED having them here and welcoming Lisa to the Petersen clan.  She is a perfect fit! 

 

Kemp's Crew.......the source of the pies!!! 

 

Yes, it is true that turkey can make you sleepy.  This was no casual nap.  Took a while for him to come to.

 

 

Grace talked to me today and shared her Thanksgiving Day observation of the relationship that her grandparents have.  She said that when I want something, I say, "Robert,..........".    But when he does something I don't like, I say, "BOB".    And so on that note we celebrated our 53rd Anniversary.

 



Loved Ones Missed This Thanksgiving

Thank you, JoLin.  The pictures of your family I borrowed from Face Book.

These are some of the family members we will be missing this Thanksgiving. 

JOEL AND QUINNEY

 

 

 For Benjamin and JoLin, it will be a notch or two better than last year.  Ben was stuck in North Dakota.  JoLin and the kids were so sick at home.  Bob and I took part of our turkey dinner to their house.  This year, though they are away from the rest of the Petersen/Peterson families, at least the four of them will be together. 

Joel lost his first tooth on a day he was home from school and very sick. 

And then there are Jay and Kerry's three wonderful girls. 

Libby, Elissa, and Natalie

 

 

There will be other members of this family missing at our table.  But we remember and give thanks for you all.

Something Special is No More

HO-HOS

 

DING DONGS

 

 



TWINKIES

 



For several years Robert's office was located in Tumwater.  Several blocks to the south there was also a Hostess "Day Old" store.  With kids loaded in the car to go get "Dad", we would find ourselves at the "Day Old" store to purchase a box of the stale, perservative and calorie filled goodies.  Generally, Ho-Hos were the most requested, but whatever, the contents of the box were well gone before we ever reached home.

Amidst the piles of news this week, there was mention of a strike at Hostess.  After time, differences could not be settled and Hostess chose to declare bankruptcy.  Hostess is to be no more... Twinkies are to be no more.  Ding Dongs are to be no more.   And no more Twinkies.  How SAD.

We took a trip to Tumwater this afternoon, hoping for one last box of something, and maybe enough to share with the family on Thanksgiving.  But alas,  there was a Black Friday like waiting line, and the shelves were empty.  Not even one last bite......Now that's really SAD.

Fleece Pants Extend the Season

 Gardening, when it is mildly cool, is the ideal.  Yet there comes a point when cool is too cool.
As you can see the work was not all done, and so I got my fleece pants that I made last winter and wore them. 

They were so comfortable and I got so much more work done!

 

Now I can wear them in the house, when we don't get a fire started and we are too cheap to turn up the thermostat. Snug and warm.........

My Favorite Maple

Like a lot of other things in life, I really should keep this maple better pruned.  However, like yesterday, when the east coast and inland were enduring a catastrophic storm, this tree and its glorious color was like a sentinal in our yard.

 

 

Lacey leaves against a noble fir.

 

Gusty wind brought down a blanket of gold and copper on the garden path.  Note the volunteer fir seedling on the left.



ALSTROMERIA

 I love alstromeria.  It has great color, is a  wonderful cut flower and lasts forever in bouquets.  Over 10 years ago, I purchased the above from the local Farmers' Market.  And was so excited to add it to our garden. 
I also came home with a start of the native variety, which I was told was easy to grow and was a bright orange.  And I planted it too.  Each year it spread, inserting itself into more and more spaces in the garden.  I recognized the pattern as that of a "weed".

 This summer I decided to take back control and began to dig to remove unwanted plants.  This is the entanglement I found hiding underground.  The roots were everywhere. .........and in almost all of the beds.  By the way, every tiny piece of root that broke off as I dug, had the power to send up new shoots.

One of 30 buckets of roots that went to the burning pile

 

 

Just one of the beds after I was done digging.

 

 

 There it is........the sneaky cultprit.........about to bloom and look so innocent.  I think the man who sold me my "native" start, was probably laughing all the way home.  Just think what business I could have had with all of those roots I dug!

 

Locked by the FBI

While I was on the computer, the monitor went black.  When it came back on, the screen said:  Your computer has been locked by the FBI.  Pay $200 identified by this code at any of the following stores:  7-11, Walgrens, Walmart, etc. Yep, it was locked alright.  We called Kemp, thinking he could talk me through what ever needed to be done.  Instead he made a house call all the way from Kelso. 

 

 

Some 5 or 6 hours later, after he had done some pretty fancy scrubbing, he brought the working system back to life with everything in tact.  We are so grateful for our personal computer engineer.  He's so good at what he does.  Thank you, Kemp!

Fall Coloring of Hydrangeas

 

 

 

I posted this photo earlier this summer.  I thought nothing could surpass this beautiful blue surrounded by pink geranium..

 

 

This is the same bush two months later. The pink geraniums have long since stopped blooming.  But with the coming of fall, the blue has taken on an almost ethereal look.  I don't know of any flower that delivers such continuous glory.

 



Bats in the Belfry

At 4 AM, I went out the back door to go do my walk in the wet grass to cool my itchy feet.  Of course, I left the door open.  My plan is to never be locked out of the house when I do my dances in the moonlight.
I came back in, went downstairs to do my "sit up and go back to sleep".  I was almost there when something swooshed by.  I knew in an instant that it was a bat.  Terror!!!!!.  I turned on lights and looked everywhere.  Not liking my lights, it flew up the stairway and at that point I screamed for Bob.
He was so brave....The bat went into the kids bedroom.  Bob closed the door, then threw his robe over his head, went in and took the screen off the window.  A quick email to Shannon who has had a lot of experience with these creatures said to throw a tennis ball inside a nylon stocking.  The hope is that the bat will get caught in the nylon. 
By the time we got that together, the bat appeared to have found the open window.  We can't see him anywhere.  The lights are on in that room and the dark outside is calling.  We hope that we are done with this unwelcome guest.

The Hole In The Fence

Even as a child on the farm, I learned that a good neighbor kept good fences.  Fences were meant to keep our cows home and the neighbors' cows from entering our fields.  A broken fence usually meant trouble to someone.

When someone in our neighborhood started intruding inside our property line, we decided that rather than confront, we would simply build a fence on our common property line.  We did that.  Then in a tree tipping wind storm, a third neighbor's tree fell upon the fence and destoryed a length 17 feet long. 

Our "intruding" neighbor had a change of heart, we thought, and he promptly fixed the hole in the fence.  It stayed that way for a couple of years.

Then last summer, Bob, wanting to be a dutiful neighbor, cleaned our trees that were hanging beyond our fence line.  The "intruding" neighbor got mad, to put it mildly, and took out his piece of fencing he had used to mend the break.  Once again, we had a gapping hole.

A whole roll of fencing is expensive.  But a friend had a different height fencing and gave a piece of it to us. 

With wire cutters, leather gloves and twisting and bending, Bob created a tight fence.

This should keep our "cows" in and the neighbors' "cows" out.  And peace came to Amsbaugh Gardens once again.

Remember The Birch Trees?

Much earlier  I posted last winter's storm toll on the beautiful birch grove. .  You can see the stumps here where Bob had cut them down and that they will be this winter's firewood.  BUT LOOKIE HERE.  New shoots surround all but one stump.

And this one......obviously got more water, etc.  The birches are rising from the ashes and we will have a grove of them again. 

3 Bin Compost

This is my compost operation.  Building these bins was one of Benjamin's last "living at home" projects and I have appreciated having it every time I have "things" to add to the pile. 

Bin # 1 is for new additions.  The screen door is to keep Sailor out.  She loves to lunch on contributions from the kitchen.

 

Bin #2 is aged compost from the past year.  It is still active with earthworms which love to multiply in this wet environment.

Bin #3, which is in the middle in the top picture is ready for next year.  I'm trying to keep the activity hot enough to kill any weed seed so that when I use it, I won't just be scattering the "thorns and thistles".

Digging and turning compost with the pitchfork is one of my favorite, mindless activities.  I feel like I am helping to create stuff from the middle picture to useful stuff in the third.

It's Saturday.........I think I will go use that pitchfork. 

 

A Man, a Dog, a Canoe and Some Water

A smart man designed and built this rack to carry the canoe more easily on the truck.  Our days are still sunny, but are definitely cooler.  We cannot waste such a perfect day.

 

 

With a place to launch into Puget Sound less than 15 minutes from our house, we unloaded and Sailor was ready to go.

So I even got in long enough to have my picture taken.........  Beautiful day.

Profitable Day

At a recent visit to my favorite "slightly used" store on a 50% off day, I found the following for $30:  2 hot pads, a hardanger table runner, a wool embroidery cardigan sweater, a Tally Ho boiled wool jacket, 2 pullover sweaters, 1 knit pullover and a white cardigan.....Oh, yes, and some Levis for Bob.
All have been washed or dry cleaned and ready for a new home.

I don't know why I love this kind of shopping.