Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing this 6th week of 2024? It's 51 degrees out this Saturday morning with a 60 percent chance of rain this evening about suppertime. We went on a good camping trip this week. We watched several beautiful sunrises & several beautiful sunsets. We saw lots of wildlife especially armadillos. Kevin enjoys being the camp cook therefore that makes my enjoyment of camping a lot greater. We camped in an area where cotton grows & spanish moss thrives. There were lots of pine trees that produce huge pinecones. We saw several things we'd not ever seen before while out exploring. Kevin did a little squirrel hunting, we both did some fishing. We didn't get any meat for the frying pan as we had hoped & kinda planned for. The fish had size limits that we didn't reach. We gave it several good attempts at catching a trophy size largemouth bass over 24 inches. The squirrels stayed hid while hunting but we saw several while out riding around site seeing. Today I'm working on putting away the camping stuff, but 1st, grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you about a few more of the things we did & saw while out camping, walk with me. 

We set up camp in the designated campground overlooking the lake. The camp
area was dispersed, if you need it you had to bring it. We brought wood along to
have a campfire or 2. We were too busy & ended up never even building up a fire
in the firepit, the little pile of rocks you see there.  It rained the 1st day, so the 
awning we added came in handy.

There were firebreaks all
over the place that made good
 walking trails.

 

We were surprised to discover that
there were flowers in bloom. I 
asked Siri & this is sweet smelling
Carolina Jessamine. It's vine stays
leafed out green all year long. These
pretty little yellow flowers were
everywhere out in the woods.

This is a place where paper comes from. It was interesting to see these 
longleaf pine trees in their different stages of growth.

The biggest bed of palmettos
we saw while out walking.

 

Kevin spied this lion's mane
mushroom. According to Siri,
it's edible. 

This sign was posted at all
the boat ramps & fishing docks.
We sited 5 gators sunning &
swimming out in the water while
fishing. We watched the gators
through binoculars & wasn't ever
close enough to get a picture, thank
goodness. Siri said gators
are not aggressive unless provoked.

  

Spanish moss hanging
in the trees. According to
Siri, the moss lives
off the air for it's food &
moisture not the trees.

This memorial was marked on the map, but it wasn't pinpointed to it's exact location. We wondered what it was all about. We came across the memorial one day while walking one of the firebreak trails. We saw several woodpeckers in the area during our visit & assumed they were the red-cockaded woodpeckers that this memorial tells about providing the habitat management for.

I spied this upside down carrot.
According to Siri, its 
called stinkhorn mushroom.
It's hollow on the inside.

  

I spied this different shape of 
stinkhorn mushroom. I didn't
attempt to smell these to see if
they stunk. I usually don't go around
smelling mushrooms anyways. I'm
always afraid I'll ingest some of
their poisonous spores if they were to
 have any.

Rose soaking up some sun
during a picnic.

 

Exploring the cypress knees.
According to Siri, the knee's 
purpose is to perhaps help the roots
get air due to their swampy habitat &
might help with erosion among
several other possible things. Seems it's 
really unknown what the knees purpose
really is for. 

Mickey & Mini hanging out
at camp in a tree that has
ferns going on it.

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

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia.  How you doing this 23rd week of 2023?  There were flower buds on the plants in the container by the fire pit, sure enough, it was balloon flowers.  The bloom looks like a balloon before the flower opens up. We had some more family celebration get togethers.  There were graduations & parties that included a little hula dancing & a flaming birthday cake.  Kevin bought us a camper & got some quail.  Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you how the garden is growing, come walk with me...

This property we moved to back in March, already
had the 4 large raised beds with a fence around
them.  We added some smaller beds & put the
mulch down.  The raised beds seem to dry out quick. 
There was a pump included in the garden stuff that
 draws water from the creek to use for watering.

We might get a few apples off this young
apple tree.

We've picked a few strawberries.

Onions in the front.  Carrots in the back.

        

There are several peppers growing.
We hope to get enough to make
a batch of stuffed peppers. The
plants are yellow looking & don't
look real healthy.

  

The blueberries are doing good.  We've picked
a lot.  We thought the birds would get the berries
but so far, nothing has bothered them.

Tomatoes, green beans on one side,
cucumbers on the other side
& okra down the middle.

The tame blackberries have
some blooms.

*  There was head start graduation, 8th grade graduations & high school graduations.  Then there were graduation parties.  Brother came from Texas for a visit & to see his Grand graduate. I probably mentioned before that it had been about 18 years since I had seen Brother in person.  I spent the night at Moma's house on the last night of Brother's stay. Moma had all 3 of us kids back home under one roof for a night, though we didn't fuss & fight or wet the bed like we did when we were kids.  I certainly enjoyed talking with Brother, getting his views about world events over a cup of coffee before he headed back to Texas.

Mine & Kevin's oldest Grand
graduated high school the next night.

Brother's oldest Grand graduated
high school one night.

  

*  Grand & Girlfriend celebrated their graduation together with a family & friends feast of a meal get together hosted by their parents.  The 2 grads had no idea who the wrapped packages were from that were on the gift table.  Their anticipation grew.  Grand double & triple checked the gifts to see if he could figure out who they were from.  Each thought they had gotten a box of coffee as they opened their gift.  Girlfriend said she liked coffee.  Grand said he could probably start liking coffee.  A card inside revealed the packages were from me (& Kevin too). The box was filled with some of their favorite snacks, a blanket, candles, a travel mug, some cute graduation themed socks, a little money along with a bear hug.  I've been giving bear hugs to the Grands ever since they popped out of the womb, so the teeny tiny teddy bear with a card saying that it was a bear hug, was kind of sentimental to me.

I thought these little candy
boxes were adorable. 

  

Friend turned 12.  There were
burgers, bubbles & a lit
birthday cake.

*  There were 2 birthday celebrations.

Grand turned 16.  There was a
pool party & he got his drivers
license.

   

Getting our mountain exploring vehicle set up.  Kevin raised the camper 6 or 8
inches so it won't drag on rocks going through creeks & such.

Rose

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

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2023

Greetings from South Dakota! Kevin has been busy at the school fixing things & moving snow from around the school, around the house & around town.  I've been busy at the Post Office helping Santa get all the Christmas presents delivered. The mail didn’t move for days due to I-90 being closed due to a little dab of snow that was blowing around all over the midwest causing a blizzard. Snow around our place was 0 to 8 feet deep due to drifting.

The perfect gift for those (me) that
like to have picnics.

We had a restful Christmas Day at home due to the Sheriff saying to stay home. There were reports of black ice on the roads & no travel was advised along with wind gusts predicted of up to 65 mph making snow drifts.  A time or 2 the Sheriff put it like this “stay off the freaking roads”. We decided that was a good enough reason for us to just stay home instead of taking our camper out & going camping as we had originally planned. We had just came out of a blizzard that left traveling through families & truckers stranded in town for a couple nights. A shelter was set up in the Rec Center that accommodated about 40 people one night & about 60 people the next night. Santa was able to make it to the shelter for a quick little visit & give out goodies.

Our Christmas special cooking project was trying our hand at making an old-fashioned gingerbread cake to use up some molasses we had in the pantry.  Kevin remembers having a sweet bread when he was a boy, so he searched for a recipe online. The recipe he chose turned out pretty tasty with a serving of snow cream & chocolate syrup. We talked that we might make another cake using the same recipe someday soon to use up the rest of that molasses before it goes bad. 

We’ve done a lot of camping & exploring this year, going out every chance we got on the weekends & holidays.  In the spring & early summer we were able to have a few little campfires to roast hotdogs & make smores, then the weather turned too dry during the rest of the summer for lighting up.

Toney

We enjoyed having the Grandkids visit during the summer.  Austin, the oldest, is all set to graduate high school in the spring.  He is working at KFC & seems to like it pretty good.  He has a girlfriend & they have plans to move out on their own after graduation & take courses at a community college. The middle teen & tween boys are playing all the sports. The girls are doing cheerleading & dance.  The babies are growing so unbelievably fast.  We welcomed our 9th Grandbaby in October.  He was a little feller, weighing just under 5 pounds.  He had a little trouble at the very 1st wanting to start breathing & taking in oxygen, though he is healthy & fine now.  I went to North Carolina to be with the family & help out during the week of delivery & recovery.

Kevin got the garden all cleaned up just before the cold weather & snow set in. We were able to keep the deer out of the garden this season by putting up a netting fence around the entire garden area.  We planted a couple rows of sweet tators this year that produced a good crop.  We put the tators & onions downstairs where it’s dry & cooler.  They seem to be keeping good down there. We put the carrots in the crisper in the refrigerator & they are doing good in there. We like to make french fries with the carrots & sweet tators.  Mmmmmm!  We put squash & pumpkin in the freezer.  I made a couple pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving & we have a squash casserole recipe that is good

Kevin got a deer during hunting season. We ground most that meat for making sloppy joes & such. He took a shot at a deer with his bow to fill his archery tag but didn’t get it yet. Kevin did a little bird hunting too & brought in some doves, grouse & a rabbit or 2.  We went fishing quite a bit & have fish in the freezer that we’re still eating on. Kevin went on a little camping trip in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming & did some fishing over there. It seems a lot of our activities involves food of some sort.

                                                                                       

 We look forward to seeing what 2023 

has in store for us, Karen & Kevin.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how about you?

Fish & other June Happenings 2022

Hello there Adventurous Friends, greetings from South Dakoka.  How you doing?  We did a lot of camping, enjoyed a couple campfires & did some fishing.  This is Sentence a Day where I join others & write a little something about each of my days, wrote in one long drawn out sentence or 2. 

Celebrating the 1st - Mother nature gave us plenty of much needed spring rain for the garden & yard, we were able to have a campfire while camping, got the garden planted & a fence built to keep the deer out.

* Thurs 2nd - Got groceries & gas, my name was drawn for a $10 in store grocery coupon, got a few things for Grand's visit, M&Ms to go in popcorn & mozzarella cheese sticks, Kevin got the sweet tator plants that he ordered, we planted them after supper.

* Fri 3rd - Kevin reseeded some seeds in the garden, mowed the yard & changed the oil in my car, I folded laundry & put it away, paid a couple bills & balanced the books, we cooked shrimp for supper then rode out to the lake to check out a camping spot.

Week 23

* Weekend 4th & 5th - Went to Friends moving sale, got toys, books & movies for the Grands, several blankets for picnics, a camo shirt for Kevin, spent almost all of the $20 bill I took to shop with, went camping out at the lake, built a campfire on the lakebed, roasted cheddar dogs & made smores, did a lot of fishing between the rains.

* Mon 6th - Got new tires put on my car, went to Club meeting, meal was at #3.

* Tues 7th - Planned Luau party for August when I go visit family in NC, ordered supplies & decorations to be sent to Sister, grass skirts, leis, ring toss game.

* Wed 8th - Read the newspaper, the school has several job openings, Summer in the Streets & the Fishing Derby are coming up in a couple of weeks.

* Thurs 9th - Got groceries & gas, gas was $5.299, packed us a picnic supper, we drove down to the Gulch to check out a camping spot & the lady slippers. 

(Previous year's lady slipper in bloom) - No good camping
spot in the Gulch for our camper & the slippers weren't blooming.

* Fri 10th - Went fishing out at the lake, Kevin caught 3 fish, I caught one, Kevin turned the gas heat off for the summer, I had turned off the baseboards last week.

Week 24

* Weekend 11th & 12th - Went camping up at the pond, did some cooking, reading, riding & walking, not as much walking now that it's snake season, Coworker had almost stepped on a rattlesnake during the week that was at the bottom of her steps, had a couple thunderstorms that produced hail, there was a tornado watch.

Found several areas to walk with
thinner shorter grass.

Seems one of our favorite camping
activities is eating.

                  

Rose seems to enjoying camping & exploring just
as much as we do, she often sniffs the flowers.

Happy Birthday to Grand Gracie.

* Mon 13th - Prepared for tornado weather, Kevin unhooked from the camper, we put all vehicles in the garage, I brought in the deck chairs, glad the storm missed us, halleluiah.

* Tues 14th - Made a pie for supper, tuna pie that is, have another shell to make a tomato pie when the matoes are ready in the garden.

* Wed 15th - Worked more hours covering for  Coworker having an allergic reaction to something, chilly & windy evening, did some reading & watching episodes of The is Us. 

* Thurs 16th - Got groceries & gas, gas was $5.539, cooked eggs & tators to make tator salad for weekend camping.

* Fri 17th - Finalized the camping menu, filled the water jugs, made ice blocks to put in the drinking water, did a little weed eating around the office, felt like my arms were going to fall off.

Week 25

* Weekend 18th, 19th & 20th - Went camping over in the buttes, the sunshine was hot, the clouds & rain were cold, made a sloppy joe shepard's pie with leftover sloppy joe mix.

* Tues 21st - Cleaned the bathroom, did some laundry, vacuumed, prepped for Grand's visit.

* Wed 22nd - Facetimed with Moma & Sister about our August Luau, cooked a pork roast in the crock pot, met Friends out at the lake for fishing, swimming & picnicking, Kevin & I had pulled pork sandwiches along with leftover tator salad from the weekend, Friends made smores & mountain pie sandwiches.

* Thurs 23rd - Went to Summer in the Streets, the clinic hosted the food for customer appreciation, we got hamburger plates with the extra root beer floats that were available.

* Fri 24th - Went grocery shopping up the road, got a carload.

Week 26

* Sat 25th - Spot cleaned the carpet here & there, wiped & dusted out my car, spot cleaned the seats, organized food for the Grands, Friend brought over firewood since they are moving & we're planning a hotdog roast a couple days after the 4th.

* Sun 26th - Stopped in Cabalas to get Kevin a pair of work shoes, picked up the Grands at the airport, went to the city park, ate the lunch I packed, toured the historic fish hatchery & feed the fish, too cold for tubing, got blizzards, a smoothie & a milkshake at DQ on the drive home.

Who knew feeding the fish at this age would be so much fun,
along with listening to each other's ringtones on our cell phones.

* Mon 27th - Basketball & wiffle ball for the Grands, Circus after supper, there was cotton candy, candy bars & snow cones, Kevin mowed, showers, popcorn & episodes of Camp Cretaceous before going to bed.

* Tues 28th - Grands up early for Strength & Agility at the gym, there was a selfie photo scavenger hunt, played a couple rounds of Boom Boom Balloon, baseball after supper, watched Hustle on Netflix.

* Wed 29th - Lake Day - swimming, fishing & a picnic, found some cactus in bloom, a thunderstorm came through, we sat in the car & waited for it to pass, there were several drops of rain.

* Thurs 30th - Grands up early for Strength & Agility, basketball in the evening, they had friends spend the night, tacos for supper.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how about you?