Coyotes are really baby puppies....

I am not sure Koda bought that explanation for that ungodly noise heard while on our camping expedition.

Camping By The Pond

My daughter and I thought it would be a good night to set up the tent down by the pond so the boys could "camp out". Poppy helped us get the tent up and they were so excited at the thought of sleeping outside. We kept watching frogs jump into the water and I told them my "going froggin" story. I promised them that we would take our flashlights after dark and go down to the dock and shine the lights in the frogs eyes, which blinds them, and then you can reach down and pick them up. Nobody believes me that froglegs are wonderful. Tastes like chicken, I tell them all.

So just about dark we carried all the stuff we needed including lanterns and flashlights and pillows and sleeping bags and headed down to the tent. Rachel brought some story books to read and it was fun reading by lantern light. Then we turned out the lights and told "once upon a time" stories. Then the boys quoted the old "starlight, starbright poem and made wishes on the stars. Remember doing that as a kid?

The moon was full and bright tonight and the peepers were peeping. The boys questioned what every little noise was. We could even hear the race cars from town. Everything seems so loud when lying in a tent. Cows were mooing, you could hear the cars on the highway, frogs were croaking, peepers were peeping and best of all the moon was shining brightly down on us. And the gentle breeze after the sun went down made it just about perfect. If you haven't taken your sleeping bag and pitched it under the stars for a while, why not give it a try? It will take you back to a simpler time in life where it doesn't take a lot of money to have a good time!



Life is good on the 80 acre homestead.

Muleskinner Comes For Supper

The boy's Poppy  has a brother I'll call "Muleskinner" and he and his wife came over tonight for supper. We got a new grill because the bottom rusted out of our old one. So we cranked up the new one and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs.

I keep telling Muleskinner that he needs to start a blog of his own because he has done some very interesting things. He has built his own cabin in the woods, he has some mules with some interesting stories to go with them and he goes every year out to Western Kansas where not even a light shines and camps. I know there are others out there that would love to hear of his escapades. I'll keep working on him about the blog.

While he was at the house tonight, he took the bull horn off the wall and blew it. I told him I got it at a flea market and no telling whose lips have been on it, but no matter. The cutest thing was how my grand-kids responded to the noise. If you've ever heard one of those things blown, you know how very loud they are!!

My dad use to have one of them and blew them to call the dogs when he use to go coon hunting. I'm thinking that was its original purpose.

Is this too cute?

Iris and Oriental Poppies

Iris and Oriental Poppies are two of the flowers that I remember best from my growing up years. Old fashioned purple iris grew across the fence in the woods next to our property and as a little girl I was enraptured with their delicate, velvety softness. They seemed like the perfect flower to me.

Today, we have so many beautiful hybrids to enjoy, but many old homesteads still have the original iris blooming away.














Then there was the bright orange oriental poppies that seemed to bloom and be gone before you could really enjoy them. I brought some starts from my mom's poppies to the 80 acre homestead and they seemed to die out last year, but this year I have a few that have came up and bloomed again. The flowers almost look as if they are made from papermache. But, alas they only last a few days and the blooms fall apart after the first rain. I snapped a quick picture early this morning.

The lesson to be learned here is that it is very important to take time to "stop and smell the roses" as you travel through life. Which reminds me , I saw my roses are needing some dead limbs cut out of them. Better do that now before I forget about them. They too will soon be blooming. One year for Mother's Day, my son bought me a climbing rose and I think this will be it's most beautiful year. How I love my flowers!

Bird houses abound

Sit Down, Relax and Visit a Spell

I love company! And I have the perfect place for friends to come and enjoy the companionship of other good friends. So when I found this sign at a flea market I knew I must have it and the perfect place for it would be by my front door.




Nothing makes the day better than taking a short break for a Coke and a quick look see at your favorite country magazine. I promise myself that I will spend lots of time sitting in the cool of the patio and letting all my cares slip away!



I love to collect old , metal chairs. Think how many people have relaxed in these chairs in the past. Except they were probably sitting under a shade tree eating watermelon. I can picture it now...


Some day I may turn the 80 acre homestead into a Retreat Center  so others can come and relax and enjoy the solitude of the country.