Fabulous Friday!

At least I don't think it's Saturday already, like last week! 

66 degrees out at 1:24 PM, in Leavenworth County, Kansas. 

Sunny, but not horribly so.  

We are supposed to get rain for four days next week, and how I will welcome it.  The earth is still dry and there are still cracks in the yard, but not as bad as before.  I want to see the ponds here fill right up, and all my seeds get soaked in. 

I watered last night! 

More gardening this morning, are you sick of it yet? 

I can only hoist 1 cubic foot of dirt in a bag, and my dirt of choice is Miracle Gro Garden Soil, but I did use some Vigoro that Keith got me, and liked it.  There is Grass Pad soil on most of his potato bed. 

It's on sale this week at Home Depot, so last night, Keith made a run and got me 20 bags of soil.  I have already used them, and realize that I need probably 100 to do the job right. 

I'm taking some money out of savings, and just going back and forth tomorrow until I'm stocked up. 

Picturesque picture of the henspa last night when I sat down for a moment at sunset. 

This pretty girl joined me... she is very afraid of gunshots, though half Brittany and half Golden Retriever, and all Brave Dog.  Someone down the road appeared to be doing target practice, and she came over to join me for some comfort. 

Here is another of my "make-arounds".  The bag of Baccto peat moss is VERY heavy, and hard for Keith to move.. we usually just shove them off the back of the truck.  I scoop it out into a bucket, and pour it on the garden from there. 

Creeping Charlie is blooming this week, with tiny little blue flowers.  I don't mind it in the yard, we lost so much grass last year that anything green is pleasing to me. 

My senior assistants looked for some shade to wait in. 

 While the junior assistant was doing some exploring under the deck. 

I was being chattered at constantly by the red-winged blackbirds. 

There's my crocheted dishcloth made by my sister, still hanging in the tree.  We are clueless as to how it got there! 

Here is where I interject that the red-wings are pushing me beyond patience.  They do not eat chicken feed like the starlings, but instead, are inhaling my expensive back yard blend like candy.  They descend on the feeder in hundreds... and then fly off when you lean out the door to say "Blackbirds!".  They hover nearby, to come back again.  The thing is, the other smaller birds are not getting much, except those that venture onto the deck to eat out of the feeder I still have there. 

It's still early days of spring, and all the animals need help. 

Here's Command Central this morning, with it's lineup of empty sacks, half used bale of Baccto, the trusty yard cart, my Homer Bucket, and tools you can only see handles of.  My obelisk is there too, I'm moving it to the other bed and growing something up it this season. 

 This is the bed upon which I worked.  The half in the front is full of tiny perennials coming up, so once they are up and doing okay, I'll fill in with fresh peat moss and dirt around them, scratching it in  

I used the last of the cottonseed in this bed. 

And this, my friends, is a book I received in a drawing at Dorothy Adamek's blog 

Ink Dots 

Dorothy lives in Australia, where they are just headed into fall... but oh, my, she is so worth reading. 

I have had some emails back and forth with Rita Gerlach, the author of this book, who lives in Maryland. 

She wrote me that she loves to write historical fiction about the places around where she lives, because there is so much history there, so I can't wait to delve into this book.  With four days of rain next week, I'll surely have some time to sit down and sink my teeth in it. 

Thanks Dorothy, and many thanks, Rita! 

Tomorrow morning, I'll be here: 

Oooops  Sorry, Paiton's head was cut off by her dad when he snapped this picture.  The two little grands have their first soccer game tomorrow, and it should be fun.  Then 12 year old grandson Jacob has his first game of the season at noon, just after them, so I'll be soccer-grandmom for a while.  

Tonight, Keith and I are going to dinner in celebration of ten years of wedded bliss today! 

We were married in Arlington, Texas, while Keith was still on active duty...and now ten years later, here we are "back to the land".  

What a ride! 

I'm a lucky girl, and we are so blessed to have each other. 

That's it from the tired gardener at Calamity Acres. 

An Anniversary

Today we celebrated our 8th anniversary as a married couple.

You see, we were both married before... me, very early on, when I was just a young pup out of high school, and divorced soon after having two little boys.  For 34 years I assumed I would never marry again, and was a happy single.  I worked several jobs at a time, and had my own little place with my own little dogs and cats and chickens, and the care of someone else's horses.   Then I answered an ad and met a lonely Army officer stationed one county away from me at Fort Leavenworth.

We married after several years aquaintance, because, you see, I was so much older than he.  It didn't seem to matter, though, and 8 years ago today, we married at his second-to-the-last duty station in Texas.  Or rather, we married on the second floor of a tennis club, surrounded by church members and brought together by a wonderful preacher who reminded everyone what marriage was about.  My sister stood up for me, and my oldest son and family came, but my mother, who had wanted to see me happily married for many years, was too infirm to travel.  How I wish she could have been there!

We had a peaceful day today, I took the day off because of some medical tests, and Keith had a light day at the office.  Late this afternoon, we went to Olive Garden to eat.  Tonight, we worked on the new chickenhouse (okay, Keith did most of the work) and I am now baking a cake for a friend at work tomorrow.  It was a peaceful anniversary. 

I forgot to put my wedding rings back on after the tests, so I am sure the waitress thought the married man was having a fling!

P.S. The little flock got most of my spaghetti and tomatos, and they loved it.

P.P.S.

I am trying out a new header... what do you think?

Farmgirldigitaldesigns did it, and isn't it great?

A 6th Anniversary

Today we celebrated our 6th anniversary. Our marriage occurred while Keith was still on active duty, in his small church in Texas. Some of our relatives were able to come down and join us on that happy day. In the evening, we took Brandon and Chris, my oldest grandson, to play miniature golf, and we jokingly thought of doing it again today. Since it was blustery and cold, we decided to opt for lunch inside at Granite City Brewery instead.

We had a peaceful afternoon after the grands went home, starting with lunch, followed by a nap. Doing chores in the evening bluster together was nice.

Six years ago, we had no idea we would be settled on our own little piece of paradise. We are truly blessed, living within our means, happy with our animal friends and delighted at Brandon's progress in life. I only hope all our friends are as lucky as we!