Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing this 30th week of 2024? It's been a rainy week. There have been lots of interesting mushrooms & fungus popping up. I did some Christmas shopping this week. Amazon Prime Days may be a gimmick for some, but I got almost all my Christmas stuff bought up. When the packages started showing up on the porch, Kevin asked if I'd went on a shopping spree. Well... Yes, Yes I did. I had in mind the things I wanted to get, so I got them. It's a nice 71 degrees here this Friday morning as I get the supplies ready to make the blackberry jelly this weekend & then I'm going to go check out the food truck event. Grand stayed a few days this week & caught the biggest fish, he was very happy about that. We all caught fish & Kevin cooked them for supper. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage, how about a coke float & I'll tell you a fishing tale or 2. Let's walk down to the pond & see how it's coming along...

The knockout roses are making
another round of blooming
beauty.

Kevin has been working on a walkway
between the spring & the pond. The pond
still isn't holding water. Kevin says we
need some of that red Georgia clay to
put down there on the end where he took
out some big rocks.

The pond & spring has lots of tadpoles. I
saw the cute little frog in the spring
that might be responsible for this.

*  During hot weather the fish don't bite too good. We were out on the lake before daylight while the air was still cool & comfortable. The water temperature was around 83 degrees. A lot of fish seemed to be down 15 to 20 feet. It rained several times while we were out. The water felt extremely warm against the damp cool air & the cold rain. We had a picnic breakfast of Kevin's famous breakfast sandwich (grilled spam, egg & cheese). We sat in the boat under the canopy during the rains. We watched a bold eagle fly around the lake diving for fish. Grand fished hard. His patience ran thin a few times. He may have grumbled a time or 2 & shed a few tears but in the end his endurance paid off with catching the biggest fish. We caught 5 fish all together, 3 spotted bass & 2 catfish. I was fishing with worms & caught the 2 catfish. When the rain clouds cleared, the sun came out & started heating up, it was time to head home.

He's a pretty good garden
 picker helper & badminton
 player too.

It was still a good fishing day, fishing
between the downpours of rain.  I kept
 a worm out most the time, just
in case I would get a bite.  

*  I put up some more onions from out of the garden. I cooked some of the onions for supper & put the others in the freezer. 

As I was finishing up my morning walk,
I picked a small handful of blackberries
 to take in & have with breakfast along 
with some tommy toes.

Onions from the garden...

...to the supper table. Baked onions with cheese

Summer Day Camp - Library
story time, picnic in the park &
playtime on the playground.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been.

Kevin requested an egg custard pie to
use up some of the eggs.

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing this 29th week of 2024? The black-eyed Susans are looking pretty this week. It's another very pleasant 68 degrees here this Friday morning. The weather forecast is rain, rain & more rain. We continue our outdoor planned activities & pause if it were to come up a shower of rain. We fished 2 different lakes this week in search for new fishing spots & discovered a new favorite. It's a little farther from the house but it's doable for an enjoyable outing & picnic. I assisted with Art Summer Day Camp, Kevin split more locust to make a fence around the pond. I didn't get around to making the blackberry jelly like I had intended so I'll see how next week goes for jelly making. I was thinking about taking the supplies up to Moma's & doing that activity with her, though I've not talked to her about it yet. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage, I got a gnat in my coffee, watch out for them & let me tell you about an announcement I'm excited about...

*  Art day was so much fun & enjoyment. The young ones had lots of energy along with their creative imaginations. They produced some really beautiful & unique artwork. There was sand art, painting, nature, beadwork, watermelon, happy meals, popsicles, playtime, socializing...

* Daughter made a blessed unexpected announcement. She's pregnant! With twins! Stay tuned for the announcement of their gender. What would be your guess?

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

Picnic in the flower garden &
 then wading in the creek.

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing this 28th week of 2024?  It's a very pleasant 63 degrees here this Friday morning as I'm planning a picnic for the weekend while we're out on the lake trying out a new fishing spots. The asiatic lilies are blooming. I thought for sure that I would miss seeing their blooms back at the beginning of June while I was out in the mid-west. The flower buds have taken their sweet time to open up & show their beauty. I picked more green beans & put them up in the freezer. I plan to make blackberry jelly next week. I've had an enjoyable week spending time with a couple of the teen Grands. I also enjoyed indulging in more sweet treats & snacks since last week I mentioned how I'd cut back on such things. Kevin got the pond dug & has been working on that project for the last couple of weeks. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & let's go see the pond & see if it's filled up with enough water after all the rain we've had this week...

Here is Kevin scratching around in the dirt in the beginning stages of
getting the shape of the pond started.

*  We saw a little damage from several of the thunderstorms that have come through in the last couple of weeks. We didn't have any damage on our place this time, thank goodness, but just up the road there was a tree that fell across the road. Just outside of town, a tree fell on the lake beach pavilion.

We walked up there & offered our help using
the chain saw & tractor. The county crew 
was there moments later to clean it up.

 

The tree was still down at the beach when
we went there to have a picnic & swim. I 
drove by a couple days later & the tree
was all cleaned up. 

Yay! (Clap! Clap!) The spring is overflowing into the pond like it's supposed to. 
The water will clear up when it settles. Kevin plans to put mulch around the 
edges & plant flowers. 

We made milkshakes using frozen
yogurt along with the peaches
  I had got at the produce stand &
 strawberries from the garden. 
Hopefully a healthier version
 of yumminess!

 

 *  I came in 3rd place in the triathlon of games with Grands, just my luck. It was all fun & games till... I was the looser of all the games, not on purpose either. I tried

to be very ladylike & have good sportsmanship though it was difficult to keep my composure at times when they wanted 27 do overs & I got one.  I gave the boys tips for proper card playing etiquette just in case they go on to be professional players one day.

Putt putt golf - Just look at how close
my ball came to going in for par.

Phase 10 - Which one should I
give the skip to?

 

Guess which one I got? 

Trouble = More snacks.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

Unfortunately, the pond didn't
keep holding the water. Hopefully
when the dirt & mud shifts around,
it will plug whatever hole is
letting the water out.

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing this 27th week of 2024?  It's been hot around these parts. July is my birthday month. I share it with Granddaughter in Law & soon to be Great Grand that's due date is this month. I picked & gathered more stuff out of the garden this week & cooked up another mess of green beans. Kevin cooked the fish we caught. It was all so good. I took Moma a mess of beans & some of the other stuff out of the garden. I had a doctor & a dentist appointment this week. The results from walking 30 minutes most every day, getting more fresh air & sunshine, drinking more water, cutting back to very few sweets & eating less portions have paid off, though I've still got lots more work to do in self-care & keeping up these habits. I had a crown come off one of my teeth a few weeks ago while eating noodles, of all the things. I was able to save the crown & get it successfully put back on. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you about fixing onions, going to the farmer's market & fishing on the lake, let's go see what's growing in the garden...

Kevin is not sure what this is.
He said he didn't plant it. Perhaps
a mishap in the seed pack. It 
seems to be some type of
winter squash. There are
several of them on it's vines.

 

The 6 green bean plants were loaded.
These are tenderettes, a type of bush
bean. Kevin has had good success
 growing these stringless beans for
 years & they taste good too. 

*  Kevin gathered up the onions from the garden & washed them off. I only cried one time during the whole ordeal. I chewed gum to help hold the tears back while cutting up the onions. Years ago, I heard that it helped. When I was a kid there was no way, I was going to eat an onion, now look at all this onion deliciousness.

There were several bags of each - sliced,
chopped & diced.

Some were cooked for supper.

*  Me & Kevin went to 3 different produce stands/farmer's markets. Kevin was looking for some more plants for the flower gardens. I went along to get the biscuit from Bojangles.

I talked with this vendor for a
while about her crafted items &
Baby Bigfoot.

 

We brought home fox glove, hollyhock,
sedum, a couple more daylilies &
another rose bush.

These are the famous Georgia peaches.
I got a small bowl. We ate a couple &
 I froze the others with thoughts to make
 peach milkshakes real soon. I need to
see about getting a blender.

 

There were all kinds of good looking
veggies compared to what we're getting
 out of our garden, so we didn't get any
 of that kind of stuff.

I got some honey for my coffee, a loaf of bread
compared to a bagel that I thought I'd like to try,
cookies because they looked so good & the radishes
because Kevin didn't plant any & he likes them.
Kevin ate his radishes raw. I baked mine along with
 some squash. Yum! 

*  We had a good relaxing morning boating & fishing on the lake. We caught a mess of fish & enjoyed a nice little boat ride around the lake before the water got too busy & rough. 

We got to the boat ramp before daylight
 & no one else was there yet.

  

We took a break from fishing & ate
 breakfast in the boat as the sun was
coming up. We had the bagel bread
from the farmer's market with
 peanut butter & some of the
strawberry jam that had I made.

This is what I fish with.
 A spinner or a jig.

This is what Kevin fishes with.
A fluke or he's apt to try anything
else that's different that he has in
the tackle box.

Kevin had this going on with his pole.
I'm glad that it was a laughing matter.
Me laughing from the back of the
boat more than him laughing
up in the front.

 

Exploring the underwater,
back in a shallow cove.

I made a tator tot casserole.

Kevin cooked fish fillets
for supper.

I picked some flowers to enjoy
while we ate supper out on
the porch.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

Happy 4th of July. Daughter & Grands
come over for a picnic & playing 
in the creek.