Alphabe-Thursday

X is for Xylography

The art of printing texts or illustrations, sometimes with color, from wood blocks.

My oldest daughter is an artist and this block print is a piece of her art work that we own. 

I will have to admit I did not know this before I searched the pages of a dictionary. I would just have called this a block print.   I was stumped on X this week.  The first two small dictionaries that I opened had about six words under the letter X.  My hubs had a larger dictionary that had two full pages.  So I read until I thought I found something I could post about that had meaning to me.   You should next stop over to Jenny Matlock's blog and check out the other participants for this weeks Alphabe-Thursday.  Only two more weeks to go so you will not want to miss the great info and pictures everyone has to share.


Thanks for stopping by!  Blessings!

Alphabe-Thursday

W is for Water Lily

I started taking pictures of the Water Lily we have growing in our front pond earlier this spring.  I wanted to be able to show you how it goes from almost nothing to something really beautiful.  And of course the very first picture I took I was thinking W for Alphabe-Thursday.   We have had a lot of storms this past couple of weeks so the newest picture I took today does not have any open flowers, just a couple of blooms.  But I did take pictures a couple of weeks ago with blooms.  The first picture was taken sometime in May and the last two I took this afternoon.

Thanks for coming by for a visit!  You should check out the other participants over at Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday meme.  There is always something new to learn, some great stories and wonderful pictures. 


I hope you are all having a great week.  Blessings to you!

Alphabe-Thursday

V is for Vegetable Garden

Hubs and I plant a large vegetable garden.  We use to garden in raised beds when we lived in the city and had more than enough to can our yearly salsa supply and other goodies.  When we moved into this home the previous owners had a very large garden quite a ways out on the back acres.  Hubs has decided to continue on in that garden.  I sometimes think it is his excuse to drive his large garden tractor every day after the weather clears up in the spring.  Quite a few of the Alpabe-Thursday participants were concerned that all of our tomato plants I showed on T week would be eaten by the animals who's tracks I also showed that week.  Never fear there is a very high fence surrounding our vegetable garden.

Hubs used this as a child when his parents had a garden.  It was his grandfathers before that.  He replaced the old wheel on it a couple of years ago and actually runs it between the rows to help with the weeding.  Not to worry this is not how we work up the ground for our garden, we have a garden tiller for that.  Last years garden was not very good.  We had so much rain in the spring we were not able to get it in until almost the first of June and then our summer was not hot enough for good growth.  It was disappointing after having such a great garden the first year we lived here.  If you would like to see what we are hoping for our garden to look like this year you can go to this previous post: Garden 2008.
I am linking up to Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday party.  If you would like to read some other posts by some spectacular participants I hope you will go over for a visit.

I will be out of town for a few days but I will check in with everyone as soon as I can.  Have a great end of week and weekend!  Thanks for coming by!  Blessings!

Feathered Lady Update

Good Morning all!  I thought I would quick share some pictures of the girls and how they are growing.  I have named quite a few of them and have some other names picked out but am waiting for some changes in some of their looks and personalities so I can tell them apart.

 This is Florence (Flo).  She is becoming quite the pet of the group.  If I squat down and talk to them when I let them out into their pen for the day she comes and visits me before starting her foraging.

Millie and Tillie.  Millie is almost as tame as Florence, Tillie not so much.  I call them the twins because they always stick together.  Millie likes a little petting but Tillie does not tolerate it.

Esther.  I named her first because there is only one black chick and I could tell her apart from the other chicks.  You would think since she has had a name for so long she would be friendly.  But no she is quite the snob.

Dorothy (Dottie).  Dottie is quite the brute.  She comes out of the hen house in a snoot every morning chasing all the other chicks around the yard.  Actually, I was telling Jayme at http://talefromthecoopkeeper.blogspot.com/  about Dottie's attitude and she suggested maybe Dottie could be a Fred.  Humm.  Hubs has been trying to name all my chickens Fred there may be one yet.

This is another chicken that is the same breed as Dottie, no name yet, they look a lot different.

Mary, Ethel and Helen.  One day I will determine who is who.  There are a couple of red hens and one more like Dottie that I have not named yet.  I am leaning toward Garnet and Lucy for the red hens but I am really somewhat stumped on Dottie's other two sisters. That is what is going on in the hen house.  If you have been following the feathered ladies lives I will try and give you an update every few weeks.  Thanks for stopping by!  Blessings!

Project Done

Instead of starting new project which I have a list in my head and on paper a mile long, I finally finished one that I started about a month ago yesterday afternoon.

I went to a class in May with my sewing friends and we all started one of these bags.  I am pretty happy with the way it turned out but I do not think I will be making another one.  We started with clothesline roping and jelly rolls.  You sew all the fabric strips end to end then you sew it around the clothesline ending up with a pile of cording.

You next zigzag this cording together to make the outside of the bag.  Here is where I ran into trouble because my machine has a self threading devise that hangs out the front of the machine and it is not removable.  So when I got to the area that you have to hold the bottom up next to the front to start up the sides it would keep the devise from moving  as it should and my zigzag would turn to a straight stitch.  I had to do a lot of ripping out and starting over to get it done and it is a little wavy which I believe is from that same problem.  But hey, I wanted to make one and I did not want to leave it unfinished.

This is the fabric I lined the bag with.  I used the same fabric for the pockets and the straps. I think I am going to add a large snap to the inside so I can close it.   I am happy to have it finished because I want to take it on my little road trip I am taking later this week to visit my family.

Thanks for coming by!  Blessings!

Sunday Praise

Good Morning!  Have a great Sunday!

Alphabe-Thursday

Hi all!  Sorry I have been missing in action.  Oh you did not notice that I had?  Bummer, I really need to post a lot more often.  I did have some new posts all set up in my mind this week, and in my mind they have stayed.  I did not even think I would be able to post for Alphabe-Thursday because some ugly, not very nice person, usurped ( to seize and hold (as office, place, or powers) in possession by force or without right) my computer with adware/spyware.  So my computer has been to the local computer doctor this week and has came back just in time for Alphabe-Thursday.  So on a happier note:

U is for United States Postal Service

My week started off wonderfully when I came home from work and found two packages waiting for me.  When I first started blogging a little over a year ago my very first two blog friends were Happy Mrs C

http://happymrsc.blogspot.com/ and Debra at Common Ground http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/.  They have continued to be great blogging friends and I enjoy chatting with them as often as possible.  Mrs. C and I even try and e-mail each other once a week with news we like to share with each other and hope to meet in person one day soon.  So back to the packages.  I receive gifts from each of these awesome ladies this week and on the very same day!  And no it was not my birthday but it

sure felt like it.

 

The above picture is what came in the package from Mrs. C.  There was some scrapbooking goodies, a homemade hummingbird feeder, a squeaky toy for Ladybug, notepads, cute kitchen spreaders and even a knife from her hubs for my hubs.  And not to forget some awesome warming pillows with lavender in them.

The bug enjoying her new squeaky.

And these gifts came from Debra at Common Ground.  Not only do I enjoy visiting her blog Common Ground but I also go over to her bible study blog http://adayinthelife-commonground.blogspot.com/ as often as I can.  There is where I found my way back to studying the bible after a couple of years I had set it aside.  As you can see Debra sent me everything Scottie!
I have been very blessed this week by two awesome women and of course the United States Postal Service!
I know this is getting lengthy but I want to also show you another gift I won a few weeks ago.

I won this pattern with enough material to sew up this cinch sack from http://www.hookedonneedles.com/.
I feel like a putz because I took the picture and totally forgot to post about it.  Pink is a favorite color of my oldest daughter so I think I will probably make this bag for her.  I am linking up with Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday.

Even though I am linking up late again this week, you should take a hop and a skip over to check out what everyone else has linked up. I'm on my way over myself to catch up on my blogging friends!  Have a great week hope to catch up with you all soon!

Sunday Praise

This is a mighty song and video.  Gives us pause to think.
 

Alphabe-Thursday

Hi all!  This is going to be a quick and pretty short Alphabe-Thursday post.  Hubs even went out back to take a picture for me to post this week.  I did not even do all the homework myself.  I might have to settle for a lesser grade this week.  I have to be truthful a B would be fine I am not quite up to par.

T is for Tomato Plants

We put our garden in almost two weeks ago.  We can salsa every year so we put in a lot of tomatoes, bell peppers and many varieties of hot peppers.  These two rows are all tomatoes.

T is also for Tracks

These pictures I took myself.  I actually was hoping to get a few more different kinds but we have had a lot of rain the last few days so here are the two I was able to find.

Turkey Tracks

Deer Tracks

That is all I have this week.  I know it is kinda short after the bazillion pictures I posted last Thursday.  But I am sure if you pop over to Jenny Matlock's you will find a lot of great stuff from the other participants.

Blessing to all and thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Weekend, Some Planting and Various Random Things to Share

Hubs and I were both busy this weekend,  doing our own chores and helping each other with a few projects.  A couple of months ago hubs went to an auction and won a bid on this old tool tote full of clamps.

I talked him out of the tool tote and used it as a planter.

Hubs added this shelf to the side of the hen house for me.  I actually envisioned it much longer but it works at breaking up the side that does not have any windows and that is what I was asking for.  I might hang a couple more things on this side of the building before the end of the summer.  I'll keep my eyes opened for just the right things.

Another project hubs helped me with was to put these two pieces of re-bar into the ground so that I could build these tipsy pot towers.

If you would like to build some for yourself you can find the instructions here.
We dog sat for my mom-in-love's dog this weekend while she and father-in-love  took a trip to Texas to visit their daughter.  Meet Reggie:

I will say his favorite thing to do while he was here was to chase sticks and swim in the back pond.

He is some sort of cattle dog and he is older so he did not want to be bothered by our Bug.  This is where Ladybug spent a lot of time waiting because she will not jump in.

And this is what they looked like after drying out.

Along with quite a few other projects that I worked on I also went to a local flea market with my best-est friend Kris for a couple of hours.  Besides some Amish honey, cheese and chocolate peanut butter bars the only object I had to have was this egg basket.  If my chicken raising buddy Kim is reading, check it out!

In two or three more months I should be able to show it to you again filled with eggs!  All in all it was a busy and productive weekend which included giving thanks to God for the solders that have lost their lives for our freedom.  As always, thanks for coming by and many blessings!