Memorial Day Yardsale--$2

Okay, it was held on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. It was 93 degrees out and sweltering. Taking these pictures exhausted me, and sweat was pouring into my eyes. I would not have lasted long today if I were out having "fun."

The sale was in a church parking lot, about two acres of asphalt. It was soooo hot at 10 am last Saturday. The deal was--anything you could get in a bag was $2. The guy told us it could even be hanging out of the bag, he did not care.

First of all, let me tell you what I did not take a picture of just yet--a twin-sized 60/40, cotton/poly, Wamsutta white sheet that does not look washed or used. AND, I got a bread maker.

The breadmaker, sheet, and following items were $2.

red silk Bleu Bayou shirt lists for $23.99 on eBay

never opened book, fun read

Bottles are more brilliantly colored than show in picture.

Popcorn in the left bottle went to hens.

very small bag for granddaughter. 10"x8"

"My First Christmas" Sleeper

Look at the reindeer feet!

gift or resale

two tshirts for a rug, about size 8 and never worn

skirt for granddaughter has a tie string

 that I will replace with elastic for comfort

3 new Christmas napkins

skirt with cute ruffle that I will remove

put on a new top for granddaughter skirt 

assortment

White object--to make Jello eggs

Black object--a net like thing--shawl

Doll--I thought I had two

Cheese slicer

Assortment of utensils for others or picnics

I thought this was quite a haul for a flat $2. After this is when I found the multi tool in a parking lot. Remember, I also got a bread maker and a new fitted sheet.

Now, I am giving away some items I have to be able to justify bringing all this home.

Your turn

What good deals did you find this weekend or anytime? 

Found! Woo Hoo

Task Force

3 " long when closed

This was on the asphalt in a parking lot, all folded up as in the second picture. The little saw is very sharp. Ask me how I know. On the Internet, I found this tool priced $29.95.

Your turn

What have you found lately? Or, ever?



Laundry Tip: Refrigerate

You can buy this from eBay. ----->

I washed a load of clothes yesterday that I wanted to hang on the line for two reasons:
1) I don't dry socks and panties in the dryer
2) I wanted the deodorizing action of the sun.

Only the load of towels and a few other things would fit because I have one line, strung by me from the house to a pole near the fence.

Since it has been in the high 90s and with high humidity, I knew the load inside would sour/mold/mildew/smell musty. I remembered what we did with certain laundered pieces pre-ac, in Jackson, MS, in the early 1950s. We put things in the refrigerator, tightly wrapped. So, I did the same with the articles I had to hang today, about 1.5 gallons if we accounted for laundry by gallons.

You can dump it in a bowl and cover. You just don't want to add that moisture to your refrigerator, dry the clothing, or get odors in the clothing. Put it in a garbage bag, store bag, any perfectly clean container will work.

Now, to answer your burning question of why my mother refrigerated laundry~~

When a white shirt or another garment that needed starching and ironing did not get ironed after it was dampened, we had a method back then. Wash, starch, and line dry the shirt. When it was time to iron, just use a Coke bottle sprinkler and moisten the clothing. Let it sit in a wad in the refrigerator all wrapped up in plastic for a while so the moisture would sort of permeate the starched garment. Then, the heat of the iron would spread the moisture to the rest of the garment as you ironed.  If you had a few pieces or a lot that did not get ironed that day, we just put it in something and place in the refrigerator. Later in the day or the next day, the garment would still be moist and not "soured."

My mother had four children and a husband that made her life difficult beyond belief, so she did the best she could as far as finishing chores. Maybe you think she was slack in not doing all the ironing in one day. You have obviously never felt exhaustion like the mid-summer, scorching, humid South without ac and little rest from a man's relentless demands!

I ironed my first man's white shirt in this manner when I was seven-years-old because my mother was bedridden after have a midterm miscarriage. (That's the way they did it back then.) I was also washing every dish in the house, even the heavy cast iron. The shirt I ironed was probably hung on the line to dry by me. I had to jump to catch the clothesline with one hand while I held a piece of clothing in the other. Somehow, I never felt put-upon by all I did. I was not so willing to be helpful as a teen, but still did lots.

Maybe they had steam irons back then, but we did not. I still prefer a dry iron and not one with holes in the plate! Plus, the picture is just all wrong...lol...it was a Coke bottle!

The next time it is mid-summer and it rains or you have clothes in the washer that will be "off" the next day, put them in a pot with lid...yes, I have done that or put them in a plastic bag and just stuff the bag on top of the upper shelf or the one with the most space.  Oh, I use a porcelain pot not cast iron.

Share your experience with refrigerating clothing, if you will
Did you ever starch and iron clothing, using the Coke bottle  and the shaker top to moisten for ironing. Did you refrigerate clothing when wet?

My Kitchen Attacked; I Fought Back!

Partial storage of rolls and bags

I have put up with this since 1977 and tonight decided to solve my problem. This is a set of double doors over my stove. It is right next to my shelf of shame that I sorted some time ago. Tonight, I tried to get something out and about 8 boxes fell on me! Not only did they fall on me, they knocked dishes off the counter and then everybody fled to recesses of the kitchen.

A before picture would have explained it better!  The truth is nearer to this has gotten worse since 1977 when I moved here. Back then, I had much fewer rolls or boxes of anything up there. Plus, the younger, more agile me could fight off the attacks and catch the rolls and boxes.

Oh, by the way, I use about 90% less foil and plastic bags than I did six years ago. However, when I find a coupon and a sale, I do stock up.

Can you see how this cavernous hole causes problems? Look at how tall the space is with no shelves or dividers. If I lay items down, the space is even more of a pain.

Now, for the rest of the story. . . .

full shelf and ugly solution

See the ugly box in the back on the right? It is slap dab full of foil, waxed paper, and parchment paper, plus a couple of boxes of plastic bags. Now, only so much can dive-bomb me as I make my selection. Actually, I am betting nothing else will fall! I will keep my eye out for a more aesthetically pleasing plastic container or a metal one as I make yard sale rounds.

When I opened the Heavy Duty Reynolds Wrap, I was horrified. I never buy that! But, I have it now. Now, I need to put it in the box for when I might need it and take out another regular box of foil.  I don't remember why I got freezer paper, probably for a pattern long ago.

Let me tell you what else was in that shelf on the back. There is an antique pink Christmas Sleigh. I collect sleighs. A bag of Easter grass from 35 years ago lives with the sleigh. Three boxes of 1-lb Gulf Wax had it's own space along with a metal tahini can with a plastic lid. I knew all this stuff lived back there. I see it all the time as I stuff the various boxes that usually want to lie crisscrossed every which way. No More!. Now, there is room for more things in the back of the cabinet...just kidding.

The grass is used every Easter for a display and stuck back in the same place. That way, I don't have to go into the Easter box if I don't want to. More and more, I don't want to. The sleigh did not get packed with Christmas decorations about five years ago, so has remained in the kitchen. The tahini can is for melting the wax. I put water in a skillet and put the can of wax in the skillet. That is when I made little tuna can stoves. Gulf Wax from yard sales is cheaper--usually a quarter and untouched.

Since my back has gotten worse and other injuries have occurred, having the Easter grass and my favorite sleigh close by has made my life easier. Unfortunately, not being able to control the boxes up there for the same reason has made my life more difficult. I had to get a stool to reach things Sunday night. This is the first time I have not been able to get things from the back of that shelf!

Usually, I call someone before I start climbing and tell the person if they have not heard from me in 20 minutes to call me then 911. So far, I have not fallen off anything. Tonight, I just was too frazzled from falling boxes to care.

So, my boxes are under control! I don't think I have ever had so many at once, so maybe that is the problem. Coupons abounded; I used less products! But, did you ever just get so frustrated with a situation that you took any solution and decided to be happy with it? That was my mental condition tonight.

I know I have seen large square plastic boxes in yard sales. But, they were of no interest. I wonder how many weeks it will take to stumble across another that is just a quarter. 

The plastic shelf paper has been in place since 1977 and is still very clean, not torn anywhere, and just wrinkled on the front edge. I tell you, I am not a changer of things for something newer!  It is not a matter of saving money, but a matter of "I like it and it is still good."

Your turn

Did you ever feel like a burden has been lifted when you perform such a simple, long-needed fix like this? Share your story. I need to hear there are nuts like me. 

Chicken Tracks

Who has been on my porch?

When the hens leave gifts on the porch, I sprinkle diatomaceous earth (DE) to keep the flies away. DE helps eliminate odor, too. It dries the gift and makes it easy to sweep from the porch. Yes, I have a porch broom that never enters the house.

I didn't hear the hens, so they must have come up the steps to the back door when we were gone. Exbf told me the tracks were on the porch. Otherwise, I might never have noticed.

This is a color picture!  I suppose DE on concrete is not going to show up in technicolor.

About the chicken food

we ate tomatoes and ears of corn thrown out. The tomato had a place I cut off. It was large enough that exbf and I had two slices apiece, and there were two slices for his lunch tomorrow. The corn was shucked today. It was thrown out because two of the ears were sparsely filled with kernels of corn.  The other two were beautiful. However, the last 2 inches had little nubbins that barely looked like kernels and the cob was not filled out, sort of pointy.

So, along with free tomatoes and corn, I had already planned slaw, green beans (free), and chicken. That is four full meals and chicken left for sandwiches or pasta salad. Since I only had to buy the chicken and shredded cabbage, the whole four meals and two sandwiches cost me around $6.

Yes, we do eat chicken food in this house!

Exbf sat out back at the patio table this afternoon and went through two boxes of vegetable scraps. He put the shucks in compost, saved nub ends of corn that was cut for customers,  and brought in a tomato and the 4 ears of corn. I still have an ear to cook tomorrow. A box of cabbage leaves is waiting for the girls tomorrow. I just dump it all in the hens's pen and they go nuts.

I think it is a shame that grocers/marketers feel it is necessary to shuck, desilk, and cut off both ends of corn for customers. It is a shame that customers cannot do it themselves! I am always amused that stores cut the ends off corn and display it to entice customers. The ends on the corn does not offend me at all. But, three dozen or more ends were the girls' dinner tonight.

Your turn

Have you found chicken tracks on your porch? Wild animal tracks in your yard? Don't you love animal tracks?

Loving to Eat Poisonous Poke Salat

poke salat--over 6 feet tall
see the red stalk and stems?
don't eat those

In the South we eat a highly toxic green. It grows wild around the country and in edges of yards. You can find it along fence lines, on the banks of ditches, in untended places.

Poke Salat is so popular that most Southern states have Poke Salat Festivals. I missed the one nearest me, twenty-miles away, this last weekend.

The trick to eating this poison is to parboil it three times. Wash the leaves thoroughly. Fill a pot, bring water and greens to a boil. Boil for five minutes, drain off the water by pouring leaves in a colander, rinse the pot thoroughly, rinse the leaves you have drained. Rinse thoroughly. Repeat this process two more times. None of the water must remain in the pot, on the sides of the pot, or in the draining leaves.

Now, the poke sallet/salat is not poisonous once prepared correctly. Poke sallet can be eaten like any other greens we eat. The article says it should be parboiled (cooked and rinsed) twice. Mama said three, I think, but three is what I will stick with. Maybe she meant it had to be cooked and rinsed twice and could be eaten the third time. ???

about 18 inches tall

At the festivals, it is cooked a different way. The restaurants cook the greens in water and a bit of bacon grease and pour in beaten eggs, scrambling the whole mess of greens and eggs. It is delicious!

Last year, I lovingly tended a poke salat plant.  I felt silly afterwards! They have a distinctive red stalk, something easily recognizable! What was I thinking? All I saw was a volunteer!

A Little Story--poke salat thief
One day, I just happened to be standing at the picture window on the side of my house and could see a portion of the back fence and all the side fence. A man with a plastic bag was looking around, came to the fence, looked up and down the side fence and the back fence, all the while staying in the yard that is behind my neighbor next door. He could not see me. I thought he was up to no good, so I grabbed my cordless phone in order to call the police if necessary.

All of  sudden, he quickly stepped over the little, two-foot, decorative fence that is on ten feet of my property line. He hastily picked some poke in my yard, stuffing it into the plastic bag, rushing to pick more from the untended fence line. Then, in less than  a minute, he hurriedly retreated back to his side and strode to his house. I smiled because he was welcome to the poke salat in my yard.

Poke salat/sallet grows in my yard when it is not mowed correctly--all the way to the fence! Birds like the berries.  I leave the little bush so the birds can eat the berries and can poop the purple poop on my clothes and lawn furniture. Otherwise, it would not seem like summer.

Another story--my father cooks poke sallet/salat
Mama said that after they married and had moved to a little house in the country, Daddy brought home some poke sallet and proceeded to cook it. She warned him to drain and rinse the cooked greens. He refused, saying his mother never did that. They argued. He won. She refused to eat any. That made him angry. However, for the next three days he had the back-door-trots. She was laughing about this when I was a teen. When his gastrointestinal tract recovered, he vowed to never eat poke salat again. Mama said she had never seen anyone as ill as he was.

My poke
I noticed I had poke sallet over six feet tall. I let it grow just because. Exbf cannot get all cleaned up to the fence without using a weed eater. I am grateful he mows, so I don't ask that of him. I do get him to weed eat near the house and around my rocks and shrubs/trees. Now that I have taken the picture, I will cut it down, since it is going to seed.

Hungry people
Poke salat has fed people for decades in the South. Imagine having poke salat from the wild and eggs from the yard, both cooked together. Poke sallet is an early spring plant. So, I imagine people hungry for a bit of green were eager to find it. Eating blackberries, plums, and other food found commonly growing wild in rural areas meant people would not starve in the spring and summer until crops came in. Yes, people in the South were sometimes starving, but they survived, as did the poor in other parts of the country. We didn't have and don't have a monopoly on poverty or edible wild food. I am sure others know more than I about edible food growing wild.

There are people now that are not hungry or suffering in any way that love poke salat and will go out of their way to find it. One of my goals this year is to cook some poke from my back yard. I never ate it as a child. Daddy was probably afraid it would kill us kids. 

Have you ever heard of  the song, Poke Salad Annie? It is NOT polk; it's poke! Words are at the bottom of the post. Do you remember the song? 

soooo wrong. If I am wrong,
correct me, please.

POLK SALAD ANNIE (Words & Music : Tony Joe White)
Elvis Presley Tom Jones Tony Joe White

Some of you all never been down South too much...
I'm gonna tell you a little story, so you'll understand where I'm talking about
Down there we have a plant that grows out in the woods and the fields,
and it looks something like a turnip green.
Everybody calls it Polk salad. Now that's Polk salad.
Used to know a girl that lived down there
and she'd go out in the evenings to pick a mess of it...
Carry it home and cook it for supper, 'cause that's about all they had to eat,
But they did all right.
Down in Louisiana Where the alligators grow so mean
Lived a girl that I swear to the world
Made the alligators look tame
Polk salad Annie
'Gators got your granny
Everybody said it was a shame
For the mama was working on the chain-gang
What a mean, vicious woman
Everyday before suppertime
She'd go down by the truck patch
And pick her a mess of Polk salad
And carry it home in a tote sack
Polk salad Annie
'Gators got you granny
Everybody said it was a shame
'Cause the mama was working on the chain-gang
Whoo, how wretched, dispiteful, straight-razor totin' woman,
Lord have mercy.
Sock a little Polk salad to me
Yeah, you know what, yeah, yeah
Her daddy was a lazy and a no-count
Claimed he had a bad back
All her brothers were fit for
Was stealing watermelons out of my truck patch
For once Polk salad Annie
'Gators got your granny
Everybody said it was a shame
For the mama was working on the chain-gang
Sock a little Polk salad to me
You know I need a meal miss
You sock a little Hey, hey, hey, yeah, yeah
(Chic a bon, chic a bon, chic a bon bon bon bon
Chic a bon, chic a bon, chic a bon bon bon bon)
Sock a little Polk salad to me
You know I need a meal miss
Sock a little Polk salad to him
You know I need a meal
Chinc, chinc, chinc, chin, ling, ling ling

Hmmm? Poor=promiscuous

Your turn
Have you ever eaten poke sallet? Will you share your memories? Do you eat it now?

Illinois Steals and Destroys Bees and Research Showing Roundup Kills Bees

You can read the article and see for yourself.
Here is the background story on the beekeeper's experiments and day in court.

~~How I Lure Men~~

And, it is done, all but the mopping up. I am exhausted, can barely walk, and feel sooo sleeeepy. It has been a good afternoon, long afternoon. He is gone now.

WHAAAT??

NOT that! Silly goose.

I have seven bookcases. I managed to clean out a whole one, and parts of three others, where I can reach the books. Two years ago, I sold about 10 books to a used book store and gave away 790 for a total of 800 books that left my home. I had vowed to get rid of 10 books a day and gave out at 800 books.

The thrift store where I donated books had shelves of my books. I had really strange feelings of loss and violation of my space as I looked at them. I wanted to rescue them. I resisted. One time, I took in stacks of books, donated them, looked at the stack and asked if I could have one back. The woman readily agreed.

Mark likes books. He is only a few classes away from have a BA in English. Sooo, use what charms I have--books. He agreed to remove all the books from one bookcase and I would give him all books I did not want to pack.  There is 10 feet of shelf space plus the top of the bookcase he emptied. Plus, I stack books crosswise, laying them on the upright books. My other ploy to ease overcrowding is to slip some books behind the rows of books. I would say that added another 3 feet, making making 13 feet of books. Then, he carried and emptied a whole milk crate of books onto the table.

He put 12 or fifteen boxes of books in the car. A table full of books is staring at me! He might come back by, so I cannot take a much needed nap, just in case he will carry more books to the car for me. I cannot handle a large box of books, so sometimes there are only 6-8 very small books in a box.

Update: Some boxes had a dozen books because the smaller boxes would not hold larger books! I gave him 15 books. He put 18 boxes in my car.

Gee, I may have to up the ante and cook a meal for him....sheesh.

Your turn
Do you find that people help when there is a reward for them?  I cannot afford to pay for help, so this is as good as it gets in the "help" department.

Rebellion with Evil Eye and Wing Flapping

"Yes, this really is where I want to sleep!"

On Sunday evening, just before dusk, I heard thumping on the porch. As I went to look out the door, there was additional thumping. Above is where I found Louise, looking at me as if to say she were settled for the night, right where she wanted to be. "No chicken tossing."

As I turned to go inside, I saw Pepper jumping up on the banister that descends as the steps do. She landed, yelped, and soon she was sliding. She slid sideways down the banister/rail, wings frantically flapping the whole way. It was over soon but was quite impressive while she was in motion. Funny Pepper.

I lured them to their pen and shut the door. Chicken wrangling at dark is not my favorite thing to do.The iron railing looks rustier than it is!

Your turns
How are your hens doing? Acting up? Rebelling? Doing funny things?


Rhubarb Pie with Pat-a-pie Pastry and Recipes

red and richly priced--$3.99/lb

Rhubarb Pie is one of my absolute favorites. If you don't know what rhubarb looks like, I can tell you--it looks like red celery stalks. If you don't know what it tastes like I can tell you succinctly. If you like the sweet tartness of lemonade, that is the same taste of rhubarb--sweet and tart.

I would never defile rhubarb with strawberries or any other fruit. No, I would not use Jello, either in my rhubarb pie. A bit of sugar is all it needs!

From the selection above, I chose 5 stalks, hoping there would be enough. I paid $5.51 for my selection. Yikes, using my Pinecone Research money, I could pay for it. Can you see why I am so desperate to find some rhubarb or seeds? Baker Seeds was out. They were too expensive anyway.

five stalks-$5.51 cents!

I washed all five stalks and cut them into 1/4 inch pieces. Recipe books say to cut them in 1/2 inch pieces. You can put the pieces in a pie, raw like an apple pie, but someone told me how to cook it when I first made one 40+ years ago, so I did. I wanted 4 cups of chopped rhubarb this time, but did not buy enough.

3.5 cups chopped rhubarb

Recipe I used from my head:
3.5 cups chopped rhubarb (should have been 4 cups)
less than 2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup water
glob of butter, maybe 2 inches off the stick, probably a little less

Put all this in a pan or pot and cook until is still a bit firm but almost mush. Then, eat a cup of the rhubarb with a glass of milk.

If you put the sugar over the raw, chopped rhubarb and let sit overnight, you could use 1/4 cup water. Don't let it scorch.

Here are a million gillion rhubarb pie recipes. The first one should be a good one, nearly like mine. The rhubarb is 4 cups and put in the pie raw. Follow the directions exactly about putting half the sugar flour mixture in the bottom of the crust and then some on the top of the fruit.
Okay, I have my mixture cooked up. The next step is to fortify myself for pie crust making. I suggest you do the same. I took one cup of the hot mixture with flour/sugar/butter and put it in a cereal bowl. Along with a glass of icy cold milk, take it to your favorite chair and eat slowly, savoring every bite, following bites by cold milk.

Back in the kitchen, I made a crust that requires no rolling. It was my son's favorite. I remember him asking when he was about three-years-old, "Do you have any more of the cookie left?" He ate the rhubarb pie and occasionally made faces over the too sweet rhubarb. Okay, maybe it was a little tart. But, we all liked it.

The crust recipe is from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook that my mother bought for me when I went off the college in 1964. Four students lived in a college-owned, single-family dwelling along with a dorm mother who as only 21.

Better Home and Gardens recipe

my ancient sifter--1966 model

the only one I have ever owned

There was no milk in the house, so I used water. I used a bit more sugar than the recipe called for. Somehow, there was not enough crust.

flour mixture ready to pat into pie pan

pat-a-pie crust is patted

It's not really pretty, but I don't care since my back was hurting so.

ugly but delicious pie

This was delicious, but so thin because I did not buy enough rhubarb. The next time I have rhubarb pie, I will either take out a bank loan or grow my own rhubarb. 

Usually, this is a decent looking pie. I am not sure what happened, but I believe I must have used self-rising flour years ago. There should have been more rhubarb, but at the exorbitant price, I would have had  $10 pie!  The cup of cooked rhubarb would have helped...lol. The rhubarb to crust ratio was too heavily weighted toward crust. I enjoyed every mouthful. Thankfully, exbf did not like the one taste he took!

I failed in the beauty contest for pies, but this is a winner for taste! Have you ever made this crust?

Your turn

Does anyone raise rhubarb? Do you like rhubarb pie? I am on a quest for rhubarb so I can have somenext year! Got any rhubarb stories? Baker Creek seeds is out of rhubarb seeds. Got any seeds you will sell?

Tossing Hens

waiting for me, Thelma (blond) and Louise (auburn)

Thelma is complaining!

When I came home this evening about 7:45, these two had opted to come roost near the door instead on going into their pen and jumping into their Rubbermaid homes. After I went in and put down my parcels, I came back and scolded them in a manner that made them think by the tone of my voice that I was being sweet. It is so hard to fuss.

Although they were hunkered down, turned in for the night, and ready to spend the night next to the door, I tossed them off the porch. It is a six foot drop. The flew and squawked. Then, the little rascals came right back up the steps, dodging my feet as I tried to block their progress, not taking the hint. Once more, I tossed them off the railing! I brought out some grape tomatoes that were shriveled and not appetizing to me, along with a flashlight. I tossed them off again. I led them with the flashlight, but they did not follow.

I kept calling them all the way to the pen, their food call, "DeeLiiiLah." Pepper jumped down and could not find the tomatoes even with the light shining on them. Silly girl. Thelma and Louise were back on the railing!.

Now, it is getting darker, and my patience is wearing thin. I had the flashlight and tossed them off again. I grabbed a paper bag in the wagon and whacked them with it twice each. So, now it was good for herding them. They made a dozen attempts to get around me and the paper bag. I did not whack them again, just whacked my leg and the sound made them wary of me. Mind you, I did not hurt them. But, they are probably terrified of paper bags! 

I was in no mood to pick up hens against my bare arms. When I am wearing a coat or sweatshirt, I will hold them against me. I just did not want to have to change clothing and bathe, since I need to go out again. . Remember, I have allergies!

They followed the light I shone over their heads and to the pen. Once inside, I showed them the tomatoes with the light. They just were whining so pitifully. As I left, I heard them jumping into their boxes.

Your turn

Do you have chickens that forget where they sleep or decide to sleep elsewhere? Other than carrying them, what means do you have for getting them where they go? I really hated to whack them with the bag. That is the only time I have struck them except for when they were determined to eat glass. Neither whacks where enough to discourage or even cause minor pain. Do you have chicken rebellions that lead to chicken/hen tossing?

Rosy, A Pretty Post

   

18 jar lids and rings for $3!

These are last year's lids and rings, marked down to $1/6-pack. Even though I won't use these for canning, they will be pretty for storage or gifts. Plus, they are cheaper and more durable than the Ball plastic lids for storage. Parsimony strikes again.

My mulberries are several shades of rosy.

The hens eat them when they fall.

Free!

strawberry ice cream I had on Saturday

I finally found rhubarb in the grocery store!

exorbitant price

My apple I am going to eat right now,

lying upon a 10" napkin I made from a scrap

 that was here when I was in a

napkin-making frenzy.

napkin=free

Me=happy

My younger daughter loved Strawberry Shortcake.

1980 memories--32-year-old cup, Priceless 

I don't have to try hard to find lots of red or shades of rosy around here. Things are beginning to appear rosy about my house situation. Several things have fallen through or not materialized in the past three weeks. I have to keep the details close to the vest, but I am feeling very rosy right now.

Your turn

Do you find bits of red turn up without your really trying to gather it around you? I do. What is your favorite rosy thing? (rosy=any shade of red)

Bad Houseguests

Biodiversity is down. We consume more resources each year than can be replaced in a year. It takes 1.5 years to replace what we use in 1 year.  That's the bad news, and it just gets worse.
.
"We're emptying the fridge, we're not really taking care of the lawn, we're not weeding the flower beds and we're certainly not taking out the garbage," Loucks said.

Surprisingy, the US is fifth on the list of greedy resource users. You can read the whole article and find out at what rate biodiversity is falling. 

What do you think?
Is this new to most of us? The exact statistics were to me but not the concepts. Are you doing your part to stem the destruction of the only home we have? I ask myself: should I give up eating bananas and pineapple? Give up my cell phone? Quit driving as much as I do?

My Slingshot

NOT my slingshot
feeling like a fraud here

Several months ago, I came across a slingshot I made for students in a play. One student had written a play based on the short story, The Ransom of Red Chief.  Those were a trying few weeks in the classroom. I tried to help with the props. I made a slingshot without instruction. It worked. And, I cannot locate my slingshot!

I knew I could find a slingshot cut from  piece of wood with probably a jigsaw. But, Red Chief would not have had one of those. I found my own forked branch and used my bow saw on it.

All the students were amazed and gave me a new respect. The boys questioned me extensively about where I learned to make a slingshot. The girls were impressed that the old lady could do this. Well, first of all, I had used a slingshot before, probably begged my little brother to let me use his. My son may have had one. Since there are too many windows in close proximity in the neighborhood, it was probably confiscated and secured until we could get him to an open space. Have you ever made a slingshot?

At a festival last fall, there was a "booth" where cans were erected on a fence towards the woods with slingshots and rocks for all to try. I had to elbow a few kids and give some others the evil eye to get a turn. I suddenly went deaf when they whined to their mothers about wanting a turn "noooow." Next year, I will carry my own slingshot. That will show them. And, I won't have to share. Maybe I will practice and get a little respect. Shooting a rock three feet from the can repeatedly and missing did nothing for my street cred.  Maybe I could carry my own can--a #10 can, an easier target.

Reading a prepper site gave me new thoughts. The slingshot can be a stealth weapon. Do you plant to kill rabbits or hit people with your slingshot? Hmmm, and when I don't come near the mark with my stealth weapon, what then? I am not a prepper and cannot shoot straight with this thing.  Soooo.... Maybe a little practice is in order, you know, prepping for knocking cans off a post. Have you ever used a slingshot? Successfully?

Today, I came across an article on a blog about how to make a slingshot. Getting rubber tubing from the hardware store and using dental floss to secure the tubing is not exactly helpful. If you are a prepper, you will wonder what to do when the tubing store closes or you run out of dental floss. No, I am not going to reference the blog after I have roundly criticized materials and technique.

What materials did you use for your slingshot? Rubber tubing is okay, but I expected more ingenuity.

However, when I went to the shelf where my slingshot lived, it was not there. And, I had written this post! The unfit forked branch was on the shelf, still. It is very strong, not likely to break, but I used a more aesthetically pleasing branch for my first and only slingshot.

All the high school students in my class begged me to make a slingshot for them. It did not seem like a good idea to bring weapons to school for kids to fling rocks into each other and glass windows. My career would have been short-lived due to a lack of common sense.

For the slingshot-not-found, I used a piece of leather for the rock pocket and used some sort of band for the stretchy part. Maybe I used twine to lash it all together. When I find my slingshot, I will post a picture. Kids long ago used inner tubes from tires for the stretchy band.

Yes, I am a girly girl who can make a slingshot!

Your turn
Have you ever owned or do you now own a slingshot? Have you made a slingshot? Of what did you make it? If you are or are not a prepper, is this part of your weaponry? Are you accurate enough to hit a rabbit or the noggin of a person?

Strawberry Festival

Yum!

two huge freezers and lots of gears!

Main event

Three on a String

This group formed about 41 years ago. I have been attending their events for at least 35. They are a musical comedy group. Go here to see a snippet of the show. This is not our venue. Oh, the guy in the beginning is telling a pretty girl how to play a harmonica/French harp. They play at the Blooming Festival and other places around here. I have never seen them any other place.

Can you see wearing these around a festival that includes a craft show, farmer's market, and a music and food venue? Not me!

My favorite place

Thanks you Bo Benton and those who love him.

There were about a dozen of these around the park where the craft show was held.

Bluegrass band before the main event

spontaneous buck dancing...I can do this...could do this.

And, we have tractors.

Now for the Craft Show

poufs

For wreaths on the door, on funeral caskets, on graves.

They were so colorful.

 another pouf

and another pouf

There were lots of booths of the same things as in all craft shows. So, I took pictures of the unusual thing. Besides, I did not walk to all the booths because of pain.

On To The Farmer's Market

Pecans on upper and lower tier, potatoes and greens and seedlings for sale

Beauregard sweet potatoes, the best variety

kudzu blossom jelly and pretty eggs

This is only a small bit of what was there. I just could not walk much. Then, I went back and left my camera card, so I could not take many pictures.

Update: Go here for definition of buck dancing and flat footing.Barb, I looked at the flat-footing videos and was thinking there were more kicks. The link explains that what I thought was true.

Update on update: I put the wrong link and have corrected it now. Here is Emmy Lou Harris buckdancing. More buck dancing at the Opry. Here, the father dances best.

Your turn

Do you have a Strawberry Festival in town? Have you ever seen Three on a String? Can you buck dance? If you live in a small town or large and have festivals? Have you had kudzu blossom jelly? YUM!