WEDNESDAY WORDS OF WEIGHT LOSS

Well I thought that I would link up with Patrice this fine warm muggy Wednesday and I got so darn busy and then had a function to go to so now that I'm home I better get on with it before the clock strikes midnight.

Here are the questions and my answers.

1) What are you doing to go green?

I stop putting poison on my lawn to control the weeds, I recycle and do lots of compost, I even use Baby powder on my cucumber plants to fool the cucumber beetles and it has worked for me.( I tried this in a panic last year and saved my cucumbers) so I tried it again this year.
I try to save energy by turning the heat down and turn the lights off  when leaving the room.

2)  If you could try a sport you've never tried before, what would it be?
     I'd try golfing.

3)  What's your favorite vegetable and how do you like to prepare it?
      My all time favorite veggie is broccoli. I stir-fry it and I either steam of blanch it or eat it raw.
      I like it crunchy.

4)  Do you enjoy thrift shops, consignment shops or antique stores.
      I love thrift shops. I never go to consignment shops or antique stores.

5)  Who is the most positive person you know.

      My mom was always positive in any situation I miss her.

Thanks for doing this Patrice.  I just wish that I could have posted this earlier.

I was posting a comment on Orange Sink's blog this morning and this is the Word Verification that came out. I thought that I better take a picture of it.  Cathy, this word verification is for you.  JB

ALMOST FINISHED

It's been a hot muggy day and I know that I shouldn't complain after all the cold and rain we've had but I have difficulty working in the heat and humidity. I need frequent breaks and I get fatigued  and I huff and puff.  A good excuse for me to come in to check on blogs while the fan cools me.  During the summer I think more about  Petals than Wool. For me they each have their season just because I can't do both ay the same time.

 I got a bit more done on my brick border and I worked until I ran out of bricks. Hopefully I'll be able to get some tomorrow at the brick yard.  I use recycled landscape fabric that I saved from another project a few years back to put under the bricks.

It's hard to see the brick with the long grass. I need another 56 bricks to get me to the end. I'm not putting any in the back because of the hedge and lots of surface roots. The hedge has been neglected since my neighbor moved. It definitely needs trimming in a bad way.

Saturday we had a wicked downpour and I thought that it would have flatten pretty much everything but surprisingly it wasn't that bad. One of my peony, the darker pink was heavy with blooms and all flopped over but the lighter pink fared better.  It needs better support for next year.

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I had a good support for the big one but still even thought all the stems were tied some flopped over in the rain.

It flattened my chives.

One of my clematis has a broken branch

I think that this is a William Baffin rose.

This is a Grootendorst and is just starting to bloom.  Very hardy rosebush and quite thorny.

This bright  yellow flower closes at night and on overcast  and rainy days. They are called Sundrop.  I got a plant from my sister in law from Ottawa many years ago. I've dividd and planted in mass and have given away a lot.  I've got them planted in several places in the back yard and it lights up the yard even on an overcast day. They are just starting to bloom and in a few days it will ablaze with yellow. I'll post another photo when they are in full bloom.

Here they are just starting to bloom and in a few days they will be ablaze with bright yellow flowers that brighten the backyard. I'll try to think to take a photo of it in full bloom. Gee I wish I had the time and energy to cut my grass today. It's supposed to rain tomorrow.

Believe it or not these are serendipity flowers that just decided that they like to grow on my rock steps. I did not plant them there.

That Sedum Acre is growing everywhere, even on my rock wall.

Here most of these flowers are self seeded and they spread by themselves. I used to plant petunias on this rock wall.  Now you understand why my blog goes by the name OF PETALS AND WOOL.  I have petals in the growing season and wool in the colder seasons. They are my passion and joy. I hope that you like my ever changing gardens. That's the beauty of having something always in bloom until I get tired of caring for them and then I welcome the cooler season for a rest and grow a few house plants inside.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. They mean so much to me.  JB

A TIME FOR TEARING DOWN AND A TIME FOR BUILDING

Remember, earlier when I was tearing the bricks out of my unfinished flower bed and I had to just leave it because it started to rain and it rained for weeks, well I tried to tackle the same flower bed today on the other end.   I can't work long in the sun and I have to come in often to cool down.  I didn't get much done today. I  was so tired that I laid down and set the timer for 30 minutes and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Then I went to the farm until about 7:00pm. came in and ate and sat at the computer where I still sit. lol...

The last big flood in 2008 did a lot of damage to my flower beds, I'm just getting at unearthing the border and the bricks now. There was so much soil  and sand that was eroded from my vegetable garden that settled over the brick border and my prime concern was to remove the excess soil and sand and even gravel from the perennial beds so my flowers would survive and put back soil where roots were exposed... I lost a few species but most everything survived.

This is how deep I had to dig to unearth the brick today, even the border was buried. The bricks were totally covered with grass.

This shows the  curve border by the patio. The bricks were buried under about three inches of top soil and sand from the vegetable  garden.

This is the bed I'm working on. The bricks around the peonies also were partially buried.

This is the peony bed from the above picture. Notice the soil built up on the upper right hand corner. The bricks are no longer visible.

A lot of the sand from the vegetable garden ended on my back lawn.

I hope that I can muster up the will power to finish the job if the heat, the flies or the rain doesn't keep me from working.  When it's cool, I'm at the barn in the morning so it will probably be a slow process.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.  JB

SOMETIMES, TWO IS NOT BETTER THAN ONE

It seems that I'm loosing ground with blogging.  My posts are getting further and further apart as life seems to get busier and busier especially in the summer. Did I just say summer?

Monday morning I walked in the barn and nothing new to report. I fed the girls and put some fresh bedding for that cow that just didn't want to calve and she just laid down on the fresh hay. She was checked the day before and the breeder said there was an error on the due date. She was due on the 27th of June.  OK... that explains things.

When I returned to the barn around 4:30 pm, I saw a calf laying beside the cow in the birthing pen. I called my son to tell him that #291 just calved and I walked to the milk parlor get milk ready for the other calves. When I returned I proceeded to give grain to the heifers and I saw another calf on the other side of the cow. So I called my son again to let him know that she had twins.  A bigger heifer and a smaller bull. Both will have to go as we don't keep the bulls and there a good chance that the heifer calf is sterile. The cow was treated and the calves moved to their little pens. The first one was all cleaned but the last one was only half cleaned. Mama was too tired to finish the job so I put a jacket on the trembling smaller wet calf.  Both are doing well but Mama misses her babies.  She comes by the nursery often and moo for her babies.

Today was hot outside and I decided that I better take some pictures of my vegetable garden as I promised and I took lots of flower pictures too. I think that the light was too bright as some of my photos are a bit washed out.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.  JB

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MORE PHOTOS OF MY GRANDSON

It seems like quite a while since I've posted and it seems that I only had time to read a few blogs at a time and leave comments when ever I could squeeze them in.  Life has been very busy and Blog had to take a back seat for a while.

We're having rain today after a short spell of nice weather so I hope that the sun will return soon. The garden is growing but I still haven't taken even a single photo.

 I'm glad that my daughter send me some more photo of my grandson last night. He was 5 months old yesterday, hard to believe that 5 months has already slipped by like sand through the fingers.

I got the news that my new grandson is coming for a visit in August and I can't wait to hold him.

Dressed just like daddy.  Actually, I think that daddy dressed just like my grandson.  My grandson is very conscious of having his picture taken. His expression changes as soon as the camera takes his picture. He gets serious.

These feet are made for walking... pretty soon...

Smiling for the camera and making bubbles.

My daughter and her smiling little man.

Standing tall on a friend of the family.

Can you do this?

He was a bit concerned of the swing in the park and because he's still little, they put a pillow in the back.

He's getting a bit more comfortable with the swing and daddy is gently swinging him.

I wonder what he wants to say.

I'll try to have some time to blog next week.   Take care and thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.

I almost forgot to tell you that my second attempt at making my sourdough starter has failed. It could be my water.  We have a water softener and one of the bathroom tap is leaking and maybe there is a bit of iron that gets in the water. I'll have to try again. This is ridiculous. I'll use some bottled water next time. I've seen some different ways of making the starter on Youtube without yeast, just water and flour.  JB

SINCE KIM GOT HER SMILE BACK...LADY LUCK IS SMILING ON ME AGAIN

If you read my blog yesterday, you know that I lost my house keys when I went to town on errands.

Lady luck was with me every steps of the way  yesterday and I was giving thanks to God on my way home for this as I truly believe that  we should be grateful. I always say that a thankful heart is a happy heart. I was happy until I got home and found out that my keys were nowhere to be found and I had them in my purse when I left home.

Today I prayed to St Antoine De Padue as he's the patron saint of lost objects and I've had incredible luck at finding lost objets in the past and I firmly believe in his help when prayed to sincerely.

Today when I had time I called the Co-op  first as I was retracing my foot steps,  and they had some keys in the found and lost but they didn't had my keys. Then I called the Daily Gleaner newspaper office and  I described my keys and the nice girl at the desk told me that someone found them in the parking lot and had turned them in. They must have fallen out when I loaded those three rolls of paper in the car.

I was so glad and I think that since Kim got her smile back, Lady Luck is smiling on me again.

  My irises are just starting to bloom and this is Cherub Smile

If I recall the name of this bearded iris is Stepping out.

I can't remember the name of this one. but I love it anyway.


I didn't get much done outdoors today except pick some dandelion fluff and water plants as it was rather hot and humid. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.  JB

TAKE TWO ON THE SOURDOUGH STARTER

What a beautiful day today to get things done and work in the garden.

After my morning chores at the farm I got ready to run my errands. My first stop was at the Co-op to pick up some large boxes to finish packing my ceramics bisque. For some reason there are no boxes on Monday but if you go early enough on Tuesday morning, there a good choice of assorted sizes.

 I got a really nice parking spot close to the store. I picked up my boxes and went to the garden center to pick up some vegetable and herb seedlings and to pick some fly stickers by the case for the farm.  I noticed that the price was $.19  for a pack of 4 stickers. I knew that they were left over from last year so I asked if they had any more. I picked up all 5 and a half cases for 2.28 each. I know that they are old and will not be as easy to unwind but for that price I was willing to take my chance. I use a lot of fly stickers at the farm and I change them every day especially  in August  when the flies are plentiful.  By then usually it's difficult to find fly stickers.

Then I went to the Newspaper building up town to pick up more roll ends of papers to finish packing my bisque. She only had a few rolls left so I picked up three. I went down town to make a bank deposit for the farm and I got a prime parking spot as I turned the corner and with my luck I didn't need to put a cent in the meter as there was still 23 minutes left on the meter. I thought that everything had been just in my favor all morning and I was very grateful. Then I went to the feed store to pick up some pumpkin seeds for my husband.

When I got home my house keys were missing from my purse. They must have fallen out of my purse as I took my car keys out. So now I have no house keys. Minor details. I'll have to back tract to see if someone found them. I'll probably end up getting some more cut.

I got busy planting my garden today. It was hot so I had to take some breaks from the sun once in a while. So now I have sweet peppers, tomatoes, onions, shallots, leeks, celery, basil, parsley, yellow beans, green beans, cucumbers and swish chard and I still need to plant zucchini, cabbage, broccoli.

I've been so busy lately that I've neglected to get my sourdough starter  going. So this evening when I came in from the garden as the mosquitoes were really bad, I sat down at the computer to check the blogs and saw that Doris from Moments in Time  had made some yummy sourdough waffles I decided that since the weather has warmed up, I'm going to give it another try. Doris uses the very same starter that she made ages ago and she keeps some frozen just in case she needs to replace her starter that she keeps in the fridge. Doris uses sourdough starter a lot. I'm keeping my fingers crossed this time. Wish me luck.

It only took me a couple of minutes to get it ready. Here is the recipe.

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp dry yeast
2 cups lukewarm water

Mix dry ingredients throughly and add the lukewarm water. Cover and set in a warm place  85 degree F. or 30 degree C. to sour. Stir several times a day. In 2 to 3 days the sourdough starter should be ready.  If you use a plastic wrap, poke a hole to let the gas escape. I have used a heavy crock pot  this time.
There's a lot of information on the web on how to care for your sourdough starter.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.   JB