Reece Matthew Cole

Two down one to go.....

I am so thankful today for my great nephew Reece Matthew Cole. I am impatiently waiting for pictures. Michael was very emotional on the phone and of course I was a ball baby!! I was so worried, being far a way and not being able to see Janice. I'm sure I will sleep well tonight! Ha Ha. Going to go to Okanogan tonight for the Junior High Mass Concert....it should be really good. Tomorrow night I will be preparing goodies for Nevelyn's shower and decorating at Kims on Saturday. We have a lot to celebrate and be thankful for.

I think I'm getting old....

Friday night was the Mother/Daughter volleyball game. I went and had a blast. I couldn't hardly move when I got home, but I did spike it once and the 8th grade girls were definately not ready for that!!!! They missed it and everyone had a good laugh....I was the shortest, fattest and maybe the oldest player on the parents team...so it was pretty funny. I thought I signed up for one game, but they played 6 games total...no wonder I couldn't move. Went to Royal City on Saturday for a double header baseball game. It was fun although we lost.....I enjoy watching all the church boys play ball. I did miss Manthy!!! We usually have good visits at ballgames. Church on Sunday and then clean house and go to Mom/Dad's to visit for the evening. Nevelyn came to visit at Gma's house and that was a treat for everyone!!! Oh....and Gideon/Brandi came too...Ha Ha

Planting Journal

Marty calls this my root garden
Garlic
The whole place looks like a war zone
Water plumbed to my wellhouse
Greenhouse
My future front yard sprinkler system
My propagation house or my wintering house is 10' x 16'
The first ducts in the plenum
Warm moist air goes in the plenum and heat is stored in the ground for nighttime
Garlic - I'm not expecting much with a spring planted crop. I have grown it before in the spring.



Momma goose
Chitting



Cool a dry spot

Water to the barn


The weather has been brutal for outside work. Rain showers keep rolling through, and the ground is saturated. It is raining with a dash of hail as I write.
The ground does drain much better now that the frost is gone out of it. Half a day of sun, and I can get back in it.

Progress on the greenhouse is slow. I had hoped to get it up and running by the end of the month, but I doubt I'll make it. It has been time to plant broccoli and cabbage in the greenhouse for a couple of weeks, but I'm just not ready. I can start my peppers anytime now too.

The week of March 20-27, 2011

• I got frost free water main pipe to: the barn, the west side lawn and gardens, the back property line, the new greenhouse, the potager, and the front yard.
• The geese have really kicked in setting. More than half of my hens are on clutches.
  

• Began on the greenhouse, got the posts in, and the subterranean heat system started.
• Started chitting my potatoes. Kim said she may have had potato scab when she grew potatoes here. I may have low PH which would contribute to potato scab. I have lots of worms, so my soil can't be that far off, if it is.
  
• Painted some plant labels for the potager
• Planted seeds

1. Sweet Pea - Old Spice Mix (Baker Seed)
2. Laurens Springer Grape Poppy - Papaver x Hybrid (Seedman)
3. Crimson Peony Poppy - Papaver paeniflorum (Seedman)
4. Giant Florist Pod Poppy - Papaver somniferum (Seedman)
5. Garlic - Inchellium, Nootka Rose, Early Italian Purple (Irish Eyes) (suppose to plant garlic in the fall, spring planting yields small heads, so I'm going to use my spring planted garlic as a seed source for fall planting.)

Pictures

I really need to learn how to post pictures on here. I can post on Facebook, but have never learned on blogger. What is it with the headaches? I know everyone else has been dealing with this and I thought I would get a way with not having it. Wrong....have had a headache for two days now. I've not been sleeping well either-don't know if its because I'm to fat or just worried and can't shut down my brain. What a dreary day it is today! Maybe thats why my mood is so gloomy. Sunshine heals the soul. Jord told Aubrea and Kiera that when they come back (after Manthy's baby) that it will be time to plant the garden. Eyes lit up and big smiles is what he got. The girls had a blast helping him last year. I've got to go get groceries tonight....now thats a depressing thought. Gloom and doom.....maybe I should just stop writing. On a brighter side....Happy Birthday to Laven...hope you have fun at your ScoobyDo Party!

Nevelyn's Shower

I mailed out invites to all the Oregon Sisters today. I know everyone has already been here, but I didn't want to leave anyone out and I wanted you to see the invitations. Her shower is April 2 at Kim's house at 2:00pm.....I will be posting it at the church. I've been dealing with teenage attitudes lately. I don't remember being so moody when I was a teenager. I wish my parents were here so I could ask them how they made it through without pulling their hair out. I just want to line up my two kids and hose them down with a pressure washer!!!! That would make me feel so good! Nothing from Janice yet.....just praying everything goes o.k.

Happy Birthday Gideon

I'm laughing because I was at Gideon/Brandi's this morning and totally forgot it was his birthday. Anyway, Happy Birthday!!! Great weekend! Loved having Cynthia and the girls here, I was a little sad this morning to see them go. The girls have grown up especially Aubrea....she is so open and affectionate. Enjoyed church and the ministry and so thankful we live where we do. Sunday after church, Jord said we needed to visit Uncle Greg/Aunt Phyllis, so off we go. Had a nice visit with them and then onto Gid/Brandi's to check in on the sweet little niece (we hadn't seen her in a week) and then to Jerry/Audrey's for a short visit and some yummy texas sheetcake. We then went home and Mom/Dad came by to visit and to tell Cynthia bye. Jord is off to Wenatchee today buying supplies for his greenhouse. He ordered the lumber to be delivered this week. So,I'm thinking I won't see my husband until maybe next October????? Just kidding. Janice sent me an updated picture of her....all I can say is WOW....it is definately time!!!!

Picnic

Last night was the Spring Concert for Junior/Highschool Band. It was really good...the kids just keep getting better. The school better hang onto Mr. McBride, he's an excellent teacher. Cynthia and the girls came down to the park today to have lunch with me. I just love their smiles....it covers their whole face. It was a little chilly, but so much better than rain or snow. Creston turns 16 today!!!! Kind of scares me a little bit....time slips away. I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he said I didn't need to make him a cake. So, I'm thinking....what kind of cake do I want???? I guess if he isn't going to choose than I can bake my favorite!!!

Disgruntled

We got home last night at 8:00. Not very happy about two volleyball matches being scheduled on Wednesday nights. I told Mr. Blackburn about it....he doesn't care....this is Kat's last year in junior high. I know with only having one gym, its hard to get everything scheduled without hitting a Wednesday. When I was in school, Wednesday were off limits for activities (probably because Mr. Roys went to church on Wed also). Anyway, so we missed church. Tonight is the junior high/highschool concert and I am looking forward to that. Both bands received Superior ratings from the judges at contest, so it should be a great concert. I haven't held my new little niece in 4 days!!!! I think I may run up there on my lunch break today. Nothing from Janice yet......I'm sure she is more anxious than I am. Pray, pray, pray, thats all we can do.

Time Change

This spring forward one hour really messes me up. I didn't sleep well at all last night....I kept waking up looking at the clock, then looking at the phone waiting for it to ring that something was finally happening in Oklahoma. But....no such luck. I will be so thankful when all the babies are born. Long, enjoyable weekend. Saturday I grabbed Karley and we went to watch Kat and Irish play volleyball in Manson. It was a lot of fun....I'm sure Karley thought her Aunt was a little weird...but I really enjoyed her!. I started calulating how many hours I was at home this weekend (not counting sleeping time) and from Friday to Sunday night----it was a whopping 5 hours...no wonder I'm tired today. The house didn't get cleaned, the laundry is still in the livingroom....sheets didn't get changed. Oh well, it will all be there waiting for me. So great to see all my Oregon sisters this weekend...now we are waiting for Cynthia and the girls....Whoo Hoo!!!!

Sweet Baby Nevelyn

Sweet....sweet...sweet....what more can you say. We are all so thankful for the little bundle of cuteness! It made Jord and I remember times when our kids were small. Time goes by so fast.....now I'm lucky to get a quick hug from my kids. Is there a STOP button we can push so time doesn't go so fast! We got to talking about how Jord packed Gideon around when Gid was a baby.....now Gideon is a Daddy. Makes us feel so old. Kat's team won their first volleyball game last night. I've never been one to watch volleyball, but the crowd last night was pretty involved and it made it fun. Creston/Rylan/Lance/Dakota are practicing baseball.....I can't wait to see all the boys together on the same team....it should be alot of fun to watch.

Baby Shower

I'm going to talk to Brandi today, but the only free Saturday we have is April 2nd for the baby shower. We have baseball/volleyball the 19th/26th of March. We could have it on March 25th which is a Friday night....I will let everyone know today for sure if April 2nd/March 25th works for Brandi/Gideon, in case any of you Oregonians want to be at the shower. More to come......

Where is Spring????

I had two grumbling teenage boys in my car this morning on the way to school. They were not impressed that it was snowing again!!! "We only had two days on the field and now this!!!" Maybe they will have to learn how to play baseball in the snow? That actually sounds kind of fun, except I doubt there would be any parents watching due to the cold. Kat got selected to play on a 16U Fastpitch tourney team this summer. They pick girls on this side of the mountains (Cheney, Wilbur, Chelan, Eastmont, Brewster) We agreed to let her do it this year and see how it goes. We were definately concerned about the expense of travel, equipment, uniforms etc. So, I thought I would send out requests for sponsors. So far.....Blue Water Sanitation sent $500 and the Tretwolds also sent money. Pretty exciting....I won't have to pay for dues, uniforms, cleats, helmet and athletic sweats. Jord has been getting seeds in every week.....he's like a kid in a candy store....organizing his seed box, counting how many varities....I guess if you are going to have a habit, you might as well be able to eat it. Did I mention that its SNOWING AGAIN!!!

Seed buying season

Most of my seeds have arrived. I'm still waiting on my Burrell, and Sandhill Preservation order. Seed packets keep getting smaller and more expensive. Some of my winter squash only have 10 seeds. No sense in buying a pack of seeds if you only need a couple of plants. I should have extras to share.

I've not got my greenhouse up yet. It is just going to be a temporary structure. My peat pots have arrived. If you need 2" or 3" peat pots for starts, I've got plenty. Let me know what your interested in. I have a bunch of cantaloupe, and watermelon varieties. If you need seeds for a couple of hills, I'm sure I have enough to share.

• Beans Thai #3 (may have some extra seed)
• Broccoli Shumway’s Hybrid Blend
• Brussel Sprouts Long Island Improved
• Cabbage Golden Acre
• Cabbage Purple Acre
• Cabbage Tete Noire
• Cucumbers (may have seeds for a few extra hills)
• Eggplant Pingtung Long
• Ground Cherry (Jung’s sent a trial packet)
• Leek Bleu of Solaise
• Melons (Will have a seeds for a few extra hills)
• Onions (Possibly a few starts if your interested)
  
• Parsley Gigante D’Italia
• Pepper Ancho Mexican
• Pepper California Wonder
• Pepper Catarina
• Pepper Cayenne Long Slim
• Pepper Espanhola
• Pepper Gourmet Rainbow Hybrid (may have a few)
• Pepper Jalapeño Craig’s Grande
• Pepper Mulato
• Pepper New Mexico 6-4L
• Pepper Sandia
• Pepper Serrano
• Summer Squash (Probably some extras, depending on Sandhill's seed count)
• Tomatillo Large Green
• Tomato Anna Russian
• Tomato Beefsteak
• Tomato Better Boy
• Tomato Boxcar Willy
• Tomato Celebrity
• Tomato Cuostralee
• Tomato Fantastic
• Tomato Hughs
• Tomato Kellog’s Breakfast
• Tomato Large Pink Bulgarian
• Tomato Large Red Cherry
• Tomato Omar’s Lebanese
• Tomato Orange Strawberry
• Tomato Pineapple
• Tomato Striped Roman
• Tomato Super Sioux
• Tomato Yellow Pear
• Tomato Zogola

P.S. Mom's order goes to the top of the list.

Surprise Dinner

I went home last night and fixed dinner. Creston comes in the kitchen...."what's for dinner?" It's a surprise....he frowns. Kat comes in the kitchen...."what's for dinner?" It's a surprise....she frowns. They could see hamburger on the counter and probably was thinking I was making taco's. I whipped together a Tator Tot Casserole, something I haven't made since I worked at Harmony House. I was just in the mood for it. I called everyone that dinner was ready....Jord looked at it....wrinkled his nose. What's wrong with it??? Nothing he said....its just the most fattening thing you could make. True....it is full of fat and calories....but it was so good!!! Jord and the kids all thought it was good and I thought it was something different for a change. I get tired of cooking the same things...and in the winter its not like your cabinets are full of groceries that you can create something different, so you end up eating the same thing week after week. I'm ready for fresh vegetables out of the garden......it's going to be awhile.

Snow

I am not a happy camper this morning. Woke up to more snow!!! I'm about done with the snow....it was great for the first 2 months, but now it can just go away. Jord and I are getting cabin fever. We were dreaming last night of warm water, beaches and palm trees......yes...it was a dream.....we can't even make it to Eugene! Ha! It was nice seeing Emma for the short time we seen her, it made me miss all the rest of the Oregon family. Creston is disappointed that baseball can't start because of the snow. Last night, Lance came over for dinner and the boys headed to the barn to throw and hit balls. The barn has been a great distraction for us this winter.....it has definately been used. I got to see tons of my family at the funeral. Some I hadn't seen since my mothers funeral. People/kids change in 10 years. There was a great turnout and my kids were a little overwhelmed with meeting all of the cousins. We were some of the last to leave the dinner, I wanted to make sure I visited each of my aunts/uncles....who knows when I will get the opportunity again. Lots of laughter remembering childhood times with my cousins and remembering stories of my parents. Good times.