Wedding & other August Happenings

Greetings  

I sat in the porch swing on Daughter's front porch having my morning coffee as the sun came up & shinned though the trees in the mountains of North Carolina.  It's been a crazy exciting busy month in my neck of the woods - Vacation, Daughter's wedding, County Fair, garden vegetables & potty training a puppy.  

Daughter was the most beautiful bride I ever did see.

Happy Birthday!

Grandkids

The oldest celebrated his birthday with an ice cream cake that I made at his request per Daughter's recipe instructions.  The cake turned out good & Kevin requested I make this cake for him someday. Perhaps I can make it for our 35th wedding anniversary coming up next month. The Grands started back to school with 2 days of attendance & 3 days of distance learning. Here in our county school started back on their regular schedule.

Cooking

There was no cooking involved to make the ice cream cake - 2 boxes of ice cream sandwiches.  1 large container of cool whip.  1 large package of Oreo cookies.  1 or 2 containers of frosting.  This cake was 1/2 frosted with vanilla the other 1/2 chocolate.  One Grand don't like chocolate very much. Crumble/blender 1/2 the Oreos & mix in with cool whip.  I used 18 sandwiches, making 3 layers, putting 6 sandwiches in each layer. Between the 2 inside layers, put the cool whip mix.  Put back in freezer till time to serve.  Put frosting on top layer just before serving.  Crumble other 1/2 of Oreos to go on the top & around the bottom of serving dish to garnish.

I make this tator tot casserole once a year when we have lots of
 tommy-toe tomatoes out of the garden.

Okra cooking for supper.

Gardening

Growing started out slow at the beginning of the season then all of the sudden everything popped out producing.  We've had a dry spell so Kevin has been having to water. The deer have been helping themselves to the tomatoes & the bugs ate all the kale except for the 2 tiny leaves I was able to snatch & add to a salad.

The cantaloupes are small but tasty.

We cooked some beans & put a couple
 bags in the freezer.

Cleaning

I think I did more packing & unpacking than cleaning.  There is still extra cleaning for Covid having to be done at work, so I've not been in much of the mood to clean my own house other than tidy, do laundry & keep the dishes done up. I got back on my cleaning schedule for a week or so then it fizzled out. There has now been 2 cases of Covid in our county & both recovered without community spread.  We were the last county in the state of South Dakota to be affected be this virus.  The county has a population of approximately 1300 people spanning over a 2600 square mile radius.

Cleaning my car for our road trip ended with a Sunday afternoon drive 
having to get a new battery also a burger & milkshake.

Rose

Health & Weight Maintenance

I've got a new walking partner that gets me out of the house & walking more.  The Grands said their good-byes to Rose & I was able to bring her home with me.  I've been working to finish up her potty training - that has meant taking her outside every 20 minutes that she is awake & we're rambling around in the house. I went to the dentist & had a tooth worked on.  A sort of a temporary crown was put on the tooth (about 1/2 the cost of a permanent one) to see if it would take in attempts to save the tooth.  I have those way old back yonder type fillings that worked at the time but over the years better materials have been discovered & are now being used.  Those old fillings are breaking up, falling out & bringing parts of my teeth with them.   

Frugality, Savings & Spending

We've been cooking meals using garden stuff & meat from the freezer, therefore didn't need to do much shopping at the grocery store, though I did do our fall stock up of personal products such as shampoo & shaving cream, oil changes for our vehicles & a few can goods such as cream of chicken soup.  I ordered some new puzzles to get ready for the long nights of winter. I'm sure you've noticed the days getter shorter like I have.  I got Rose a soft bed for lounging in the living room & some other dog supplies.  I started my Christmas shopping & plan to mail out all my presents the week after Thanksgiving.

The bug hunters.

My favorite craft at the Fair.

Social & Community Service Activities

Kevin pitched horse shoes at the County Fair & came in 2nd place in his division.  I go to the Fair for the cinnamon buns. I noticed attendance & entries were down this year, probably cause of the you know what...Coronavirus.   We went to Lions Club meeting & helped with Bingo.

Other Activities

I watched The Grand Old Oprey live staring Vince Gill, EmmaLou Harris & Rodney Crowell.  Cabela's sent out an email advertising they were hosting a free show, so I thought why not give it a watch, so I did.   I also watched some shows on Netflix - Virgin River, Sweet Magnolia's & The Lost Husband.  I did some blog reading but not been in much of the book reading mood.  We got in a couple of 4-wheeler expeditions with all the other activities we had going on.  

View during picnic lunch.

A few more wedding pictures.

The wedding had a touch of a baseball theme.  They
were married over home plate.  See the batter's box.

Mother of the Bride photo shoot.

Wedding souvenirs. I had one of the peach pies. 
It was good.

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

Pirate & other end of July Happenings

Greetings

My birthday came & went without a hitch.  Thanks to all the birthday wishes & reminders that I'm now a year older than I was last month.  Kevin & I made our goal of camping every weekend in July.  We saw some pretty amazing things including a hawk carrying a snake that I didn't get a picture of because I was - thunderstruck.   Next, we'll be heading to Daughter's wedding & my routine will be changing when I bring home my Rose.

Buffalo herd raised domestically, though graze on thousands
of acres as if they roamed wild.

Grandkids

One of the Grands went to the beach with his friend.  He gave captions about his adventure to go along with his pictures for me to share.  He does a little writing himself & also makes videos.

Explored the ocean.

The beach has been fun and Florida has so much to do! We’ve done so much so far into the week and we still have so much left! Because of the coronavirus we couldn’t do a lot of the things we wanted to do but we were able to do some fun things, maybe next year if I go with Friend to Florida again we can do all the things we couldn’t do this trip!

Did some site seeing.

* What different food did you try?

I tried manyyy new foods. Mahi Mahi & Salman. Shrimp, different types like blackend & grilled.

* What was your favorite thing to do?

This whole trip or during parasailing.

Did this.

We went parasailing as you can see and it’s more relaxing than the adrenaline rush I thought it would be. It was very calm and quiet and me and Friend's Dad just looked at everything we could see around us. It was very cool and we felt weightless as we were up there. We also got soaking wet from it! It was lots of fun though and I hope I get to do again soon!

Cooking

Tried some different recipes using squash.

Squash pizza

Stuffed squash

Gardening

We got several good hard heavy rains one that included wind & hail. The watering tubs filled up almost full too.  Some of the sunflowers fell over & Kevin staked them back up.  We have gotten an abundance of squash - zucchini & yellow long neck.  The squash are still coming on.

Before the wind knocked them down.

Passing down traditions - Grands picking tomatoes
from their raised bed garden.  

Cleaning

Organized some in the pantry while putting away canned goods.  Threw out old ice cream cones & taco shells that had been leftover from last year's Grand's visit.  Planned for several meals to use up items that needed to be used up, such as - what to do with a 1/2 bag of mini marshmallows?  Bake them on top of sweet tators, of course.  Scheduled with Daughter wedding menus & activities in the areas that involve me & Kevin in her upcoming nuptials.

Bride & Groom

Sitting on the hillside watching the sun go down. 

 

Health & Weight Maintenance

I've been making more of an effort to do more walking.  I need to make more of an effort to be more mindful to stop eating sooner, before I get too full.  Also not to eat snacks after supper & most of the time I don't, but sometimes I do, like making those brownies the other evening while it was raining to get them used up.

Walked way way... out the road & back.

Prairie coneflower

Frugality, Savings & Spending

We've been eating vegies out of the garden & meats out of the freezer, so didn't do much grocery shopping. I sent Daughter a little money to help with wedding foods & groceries while I'm there visiting = coffee & popcorn & smash burgers!

Lots of butterflies on the thistles.  Noticed black spots on top &
white spots on the bottom.

Social & Community Service Activities

Went to Lions Club meeting.  Supper's main course was Swedish meatballs & mashed tators.  I should not have, but I did have a small 2nd helping.  Discussion was about hosting the annual pancake breakfast coming up during the town's Labor Day weekend festivities & then a horseshoe pitching & golf tournament the weekend after Labor Day.  After the meeting the men played cards & cheated. Oppps! I meant chatted.  The women cleaned up the kitchen & chatted.

Shared squash with coworkers & friends &
their friends & family & neighbors.

Other Activities

Kevin & I watched Win a Wilderness on Netflix.  6 British couples competed to win a homestead in Alaska.  We also started watching Alone.  This series takes place in the Artic.  Kevin likes those survival type shows.  I finished reading the Little House book I was reading & started the 8th book in the series These Happy Golden Years.

Looking off below the road.

Rose

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

Haircuts & other mid July Happenings

Greetings

It's my birthday!  Kevin & I got our fall haircuts.  We usually get our cuts in August, though we both had started looking a little or maybe a lot ragged around the edges.  Also,  Daughter's wedding is less than a month away & this gives our fresh cuts time to grow out from that naked feeling, I'm sure you probably know what I'm talking about & I need to look good for my mother-of-the-bride photo shoot.  After the 4th of July, feels like fall to me.  Fallish things start happening even though we have some of our hottest temperatures yet to endure.  We've got harvest from the garden & already done some canning & freezing.  Golden rods have started blooming & the fall bugs are chirping.  Kids are getting ready for back-to-school & football practice has started.

Had to wear our shades cause it was so windy. Rode right at 100 miles
 round trip during a camping adventure.  We packed everything we
needed for camping on the side by side & headed out from home.

Grandkids

                         

Cooking

I made a couple of peach cakes.  I made 1 then had leftover peaches, so I made a 2nd one. The 2nd one was not as full of peaches & stuck to the pan a bit but it was good enough.  I used frozen peaches instead of fresh ones called for in the recipe & they worked fine.  I got the idea from another blog I read The Occasional Nomads.  Pineapple upside down cake is one of my favorites & didn't know peach upside down cake was a thing.  Thank you, Laura, for the idea.

Upside down peach cake recipe

Gardening

We got 1/2 inch of rain.  Picked lots of squash & several cherry tomatoes.  Little pumpkins are growing.  Kevin waters just about every evening.  The rain water collected in tubs has all been used up.

Kevin cooked the fish & I cooked the squash. Some with cheese &
some without. Kevin doesn't care for cheddar cheese much. A
friend shared the recipe on Facebook. Thank you,
Darrell Laura.  Look, I nailed it!

Cleaning

I got the Legos took apart, put back snug in their boxes & stored for safe keeping till the next Grand's visit.  Did some laundry.  With just the 2 of us, I do laundry about every other week. I could do laundry every week, though I wait till I have full loads in order to conserve on utilities a smidgen.  I cleaned the bathroom & gave the tub a good scrub.  I've stuck to my cleaning schedule about everyday.  The daily check off list I made for myself has helped keep me reminded to get things done.  

Bee balm blooms looks like little fireworks.

 

Health & Weight Maintenance

Been eating lots of vegetables from out of the garden & by lots, I mean squash....baked squash, fried squash, squash on the grill, zucchini muffins...

Walked around the rocks, under the trees, through the
wildflowers then back to camp.

Frugality, Savings & Spending

I cut Kevin's hair, hung laundry on the cloths line in the basement to dry & used warm up dish washing water to water flowers.  Opened windows in the early morning, late evening & during the night to cool the inside of the house.  Used the air conditioner sparingly = If hot, turned it on.  If comfortable enough, did not turn it on.  Vehicle insurance was due, so paid that.  

Staycation - camping every weekend in July.

Social & Community Service Activities

We had a nice surprise visit with one of Kevin's previous coworkers.  Cody, so good to see you.  Helped set up for Lions club bingo & donated some vegies out of the garden as a prize.

Shared vegetables out of the garden with coworkers & friends.  Made
zucchini muffins & shared at work for my birthday snack.

Other Activities

Read some more chapters in the Little House book I'm reading.  I watched tv in the evenings.  Started watching Ozark, but just could not get into it.

Bird watching while camping.

Doves don't make much of a nest.

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

Legos & other beginning of July Happenings

Greetings

It's my birthday month.  

Red, white & blue flowers on the 4th of July.

Grandkids

The Grands have been taking good care of my Rose.  I'll be getting her next month, if the Grands are able to part with her. 

6 of the 7 Grands & my Rose on the 4th of July.  

They love those bomb pops.

Cooking

Kevin cooked ribs in the crockpot to get them good & tender, then seared them on the grill.  We ate on the ribs for several days.....ribs & eggs for breakfast....rib sandwiches for lunch....

The camp cook warming up leftover ribs for supper.  We had a salad 

along with pork & beans with the ribs.  We gotta have our pork & 

beans when camping.

Gardening

Kevin was tickled to see 1 inch of rain measurement in the rain gage.  He brought in the 1st vegetables of the season, zucchini squash.

Taking my daily walk ending with a stroll through the garden rows.

Tomatoes, carrots & squash growing here.

Zucchini fries for supper.

Cleaning

Washed up sheets & blankets.  Worked on taking apart Legos & putting the pieces back in their boxes, so the creations can be built again & again & again.  My goal was to take apart 1 Lego set each day.

I have acquired quite a few Lego sets though the years that help 

entertain the Grands when they are in the Lego building age 

stage.  The basketball was much easier to put away.

Health & Weight Maintenance

I've been walking most everyday, trying to watch portion sizes & stop eating when full.  I'm trying to remember to eat an apple for morning snack & eat something green with supper, though with the Grands visiting & going camping, I kinda forgot about the apple & green thing. I took an apple to eat on the drive to our camping spot but couldn't find it when I was ready to eat it.  When we got back home, there the apple was in the driveway where, I guess, I had dropped it.  I have a dentist appointment scheduled to have a chipped tooth crowned in hopes that the crown will save the tooth.

4 walks on the 4th of July while camping.  Look at me - 

wearing my fireworks shirt on the 4th of July. Festive!

Frugality, Savings & Spending

July is planned to be our "camping in a different location every weekend" month.  We use mostly reusable dinnerware & containers & reusable everything when camping.  Kevin's little camp stove had stopped working back last fall.  He was able to order a $5 part & fix the stove himself instead of having to buy a new one.  Kevin has had that camp stove about 40 years, he said.

Having my morning coffee while warming by the campfire in the early 

morning, quietly watching to see if a deer or moose or elk or big foot 

or bear (no, not a bear) walks into the grass opening down there.

Social & Community Service Activities

Had a fun group video snapchat with Daughter & a couple of her friends. We were in 3 different states, spanning more than 1,500 miles.  Kevin & I went to Lions Club meeting with supper provided.  We have a pancake breakfast coming up on Labor Day weekend along with a horse shoe pitching & golf tournament.

Daughter's wedding dress fitting.

It is spectacular to have a friend with your

same name & then they give you something.

Other Activities

I renewed my subscription to Netflix.  Grands got me stated back to watching The Office again, so I went back & started watching from episode 1.  Some other shows I continued watching from before - Gilmore Girls, New Girl, Grace & Frankie & a couple of new ones I took a peek at - Schitts Creek & Hoarders.  I read a few more chapters in my Little House book series.

Saw moose & elk during camping outing of driving around site seeing &

scouting out possible places to go fishing next time.

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