Honey, I'm Home!

Yup. Home again. Have TONS of catching up to do. Will do it throughout the week if the hurricane doesn't knock the electricity or internet out.
Hope you all had a good weekend.
Only one pic. Me, my mom and 3 of my brothers.

Have a great week! Those of you on the East coast, stay safe and dry!

Today is my Mom's 77th birthday.

Tonight the brothers and I are taking her out to dinner. A place that I try to visit every time I come home. Whitlow's Forerunner Restaurant. They have really good perch and walleye dinner plates. I am really looking forward to that.

We just got home from going out to a club called the Eagles. She likes to go and have a few drinks and do something called 'pull tabs'. It's sort of like a slot machine, I guess; you buy a card and pull back the tabs and if you get a certain number of pictures, then you win money. Mom wasn't going to go, because I'm here and she pretty much just goes to get out of her apartment and have someone to talk to. Well, I told her I'd go with her. I mean, it's her birthday, I'll do it with her.
She spent roughly $25 on these pull tabs and won roughly $210 so I think she did pretty good  today. :)

That's about all I have to say. I'll do my best to catch up on blogs when I can. Slow connection here.
Hope you all have a great weekend! :)

A quick post before I leave.

I wanted to show you that crepe myrtle I talked about that was at the farm. Also, I realize that I was wrong in my last post. It was July of 2008 that was our first trip to the farm. Gosh it was HOT. 110 one day. That's why we moved trips back to May and the fall sometime. Well, that and the crawfish. ;)

So, here is one of the first pictures I took of the farm, when we arrived that summer.

I stood under the crepe myrtle to take this picture. That's where the kitchen is. You can see damage to the... eaves or whatever it's called, but that wasn't done by the crepe myrtle. When they re-roofed the house, that was all they did. They didn't fix anything else so we'll need to do all that and hope that we don't have to redo the roof again, too.

This is the base of the crepe myrtle. It was HUGE. It broke my heart to have to cut it down. I've not seen a crepe myrtle around here as big as this one was. I guestimate the oak trees at between 200 and 300 years. I could be wrong. Don't know if you can guess the age without killing it and I have no intention of doing that. Still, I think this was a grand old crepe myrtle.

Here, you can see some of why we had to cut it down. It must have been sick for a while because I don't think termites attack live trees. All that green behind it was the back yard that first summer. It had grown right up to the house. The neighbor mowed what he could, but when they re-roofed the house, they just tossed the wood, nails and tin in the yard and left it so he understandably stopped mowing.

Another shot of the termite damage.
We can't risk using the wood, either, because we don't want to chance termites around the house. Terminix treats it yearly.
At some point I'll replace the crepe myrtle, but it'll be the grand kids or great grand kids who see it grow that big.
Ah well. The cycle of life, right?
You all have a great weekend! I should be around again by Tuesday for sure. :)

Wordless Wednesday (April 2008)

Just a little post

Going out of town Thursday. Be back Tuesday. Think I said it already but I just wanted to say it again. :)

The kitchen had these great metal cabinets.

A full set. Not these little bits and pieces like you see on Craig's list and such. They looked like this:

There were some on the other side of the stove, too, as well as a small set by the kitchen door and in the laundry room. We had planned on getting them sanded and repainted. I mean they were metal. They don't really wear out, you know?

Now BIL had told us that one set of renters had taken all the fixtures out. You know, socket covers, lights and such. And he told us someone had taken the claw foot tub out of the bathroom.
The neighbor told us about someone trying to take the cow bowl. That's what I call it. It's really an old sugar cane bowl. And he laughed because the things are really heavy to begin with and they didn't know it was cemented to the ground. ;)
That explained the hole in the fence when we got there. They had backed their truck up to it to steal it. Money for scrap is a big theft problem anywhere.

To the right of the ladder, you can just barely see a pipe sticking up. There used to be a faucet there to drip water into the bowl to keep it fresh. My husband used to put his extra fishing minnows in it. Now that he's replaced the main water line to the house, we'll probably have to decide how to replace that line, too.

What no one knew though, what made me almost cry, and what still makes me angry, is that someone tore out all those metal cabinets. They're just gone. This is what greeted us when we went into the kitchen in 2008.

There was more, but I was too shocked at the time to take more pictures. haha. A really poor counter job two sections that didn't even meet. Just Ugh. Those cabinets went to the scrap yard. Not even real wood. We did save some of it. I didn't want to, but I did.
We have figured out that the metal cabinets will be pretty much impossible to replace. Most listings we found were either already sold or for just a portion of what was in the kitchen before. So, we have decided since we can't make it how it was, we'll just have to make it how we want it. And he really wants granite counter tops. :)
I told him I'd like a small island, just a little lower than regular counter height, because he always says I can't cut a straight melon slice. Hey, I'm short. I shouldn't have to get the step stool to get a good grip on the darn things. ;)

There is still so much to tell, and so much to do both here and there. But I'll leave you with one thing I found while looking over all the trash in the garage that still needs to be hauled away.

This is all that's left of the metal cabinets in the house. I told hubby that I want to get it sandblasted and then paint it and we'll hang it in the laundry room.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

A few other interesting things.

It was one of the first houses in the area to have electricity. They had their own generator! I have seen no sign of there being one, or where it was, sadly. I wish it were still there. I know all the wiring in the house needs to be redone.
The house also had a tennis court in the front yard. Eva Lou talks about the teens gathering to play, haha. There is no sign of that, either. But then, most of the red brick that was the driveway is not there any more.
Rather, you can't see it any more. I think I mentioned earlier that we found it when hubby dug a trench for a new water line to the farm house. (Or maybe I just told the brother-in-law, haha) The old driveway is under about 6-8 inches of dirt! We're pretty sure it's mostly from settling, and flooding. The area has flooded a few times. We decided that it's too much work to dig them all up now. They tend to break anyway, so we'll just leave them for posterity or something.
There also used to be a bell on a tower behind the house. That is no longer there, either. We believe one of Eva Lou's brothers moved it at one time, and we thought we read or discovered at some point that it might have been melted down. Don't know for sure.
Did I mention that the house is built of cypress?
Anyway, since I lost my train of thought (derailed somehow ;) ), I figure I'll repost/post some pictures.

The farm house, as I first saw it.

The tree on the left, by the dining room, is no longer there. Most of the trees in front are no longer there, either. :( Only the magnolia tree in the corner of the fence is still there, and a small oak tree. I told hubby I would like to plant another tree to shade the dining room again. Especially since the big depression that was left when the tree was taken out, tends to trip me. :/

This next picture was taken in '96, at the family reunion; but it's pretty much how the house looked when we got there in '93 after I got out of the Air Force. We left in '94 when hubby got work here in North Carolina.

And this is how the house looked when his brother said we could buy it, in 2007.

Looks a little better, right? Well, there's lots more to be said, but laundry is calling and I have a lot of stuff to get done before Thursday. I'm taking a little trip but I won't say more about it right now because it's a surprise and I'm not sure who all reads my blog. ;)

Have a great week, all! :)

What I can remember

from the book, was interesting. I really need to get it back when we go again the end of October.
Anyway, this is not exact, but figuring from what Eva Lou wrote, the house was built about 1880. Very rough estimate. It was actually 3 complete houses built together, according to the book. I can't verify that, though I have tried to figure it out from the rooms and their locations. I mean 2 bedrooms, the living room and dining room all have doors onto the porch. And that would partially explain the door in the middle of the laundry room that goes to nowhere but a 3 foot drop or so. (The house is raised, as are many in Louisiana, to protect from termites and flood.

As Eva Lou's siblings moved out, the house was 'smallered'. One of the buildings was disassembled and rebuilt in the back yard, to become what I have always called the 'Out Building', hehe. In Eva Lou's time, it was the pantry, ironing room (irons were heated in the fireplace then), and I don't remember what else. My husband's family used the building to repair their farm equipment, back when they still owned a good bit of the property back then. Won't go into what happened to it all, but let's just say don't let whiskey go to your head when you're gambling.
When the house was 3 buildings, there were two full bedrooms upstairs. The stairs are gone now, and there's just a small 'attic' entryway you need a ladder to get to; but my husband has been up there and he said he can see how there could have been bedrooms there. I told him to make things easier for us, and just because, I'd like to put some stairs in the hallway that go upstairs again. I mean since the room is somewhat finished, and there is wiring and insulation that we want to do, stairs would be a lot simpler way to go than ladders and small openings.

It's strange how Eva Lou wrote that the house was a 'mecca to kinsfolk and friends', because that's what a lot of hubby's family has said about the place; and that is the only thing I can think that drew me to it, out of the blue, as well.

To close this post, I'm going to see if blogger will be nice and let me upload a couple of pictures.
The first is how I remember the house, when my hubby first took me there.
The second is a section of the 'out building', with hubby's grandmother and her beloved chickens - which we hope to have, among other poultry types, when we retire there. :)

A little history

I thought maybe I'd do a (hopefully) short post about the farmhouse that I talk about. I know several of the people I follow like history as much as I do (I wanted to be an archaeologist when I was 7) so I thought I'd talk about it just a little bit today.
I first saw the property back in... 1973, before I married hubby, when he took me to my first (and only) Mardi Gras and from there we went for me to meet his family, or them me, haha.
I fell in love with it, but never thought it would be ours.
In 1993 after I got out of the Air Force, we lived there for a year. It had been either vacant or had many renters on and off, since his mother had come to live with us in about 1980. She passed away in '86 or '87. I don't remember exactly. (I told them years ago I thought I had Alzheimer's but they told me I was too young, so I just try to have a lot habits and make a lot of notes.)
Anyway, the point of this post was that in 1994 while my husband was out installing satellite dishes, a car pulled into the driveway. I went out to see what they needed and it turned out to be an elderly lady and her daughter. The lady's family had lived in the house long before my husband's family had lived there. She also grew up in it, as did my husband. When she lived there it had been called Delmar Plantation, and it was hundreds of acres then, not the roughly 6 it is now.
She was happy to see the house was still there and that people were living in it.
And I was really glad to have met her and sorry my husband wasn't there. He would have loved to talk with her. He can talk to anyone, unlike me who has to get to know someone before I'm comfortable with them.
She wrote a book about her life, just a small private printing, but my brother-in-law and we both have copies; and the chapters that she lived in that farmhouse were, of course, the most interesting to me.
I'll try to remember to post more later, and hopefully when we go back in October, I'll take some more pictures to help illustrate the story further.

Happy Thursday, everyone!

The week is going by quickly once again!

So I have a crepe myrtle outside my kitchen window. My oldest boy got it for me several years ago and I managed to not kill it. ;) I was researching different kinds, because there used to be a huge crepe myrtle by the farm house; but we had to cut down what was left of it because it was mostly a termite mound. :(
Anyway, I found out that the one we have here is a 'Candy Cane' crepe myrtle, for the pink and white flowers it has.
I was doing dishes earlier and looked out the window just in time to catch a humming bird flying around! That surprised me, because until today I had never seen anything but wasps or bees around it. It was a nice surprise. :)
We're having to take out some other crepe myrtles on the farm, because they are right up against the driveway and we've already had to replace the drip rail on our travel trailer. Even though the cattle gap needs to be dug out again, there is still a bit of a dip to either side, so getting the trailer in and out can be a little tricky sometimes. ;)

We have thunder. Only time will tell if we get rain with it. I know some of you still need a bit of rain.

Okay, so that was really rambly, haha. Mostly I just wanted to say it was nice to see that hummingbird at the crepe myrtle. An unexpected little pleasure. :)

Blessings to all! ♥

Another week down

No fish today. Weird. Nice day. Breeze. Water's still way high though. And muddy. Not even the pin fish were biting today.
Oh well. Hubby is frying up bean sprouts, bell peppers, vidalia onions and yukon gold potatoes. I think I'd like to grow those at the farm some day. We'll see.

Hope you're all having a Blessed Sunday. Have a great week!

TGIF!

Happy Friday, everyone! Not much going on here. Will try fishing again tomorrow. (Always. ;))
Then a small local flea market. Got to get an oil filter for the Yanmar tractor before we take it back to the farm in October. Did the blades while we were there in May. Don't know what else it needs for a tune-up since it's diesel. Guess he will figure it out.
Not sure what other trouble we'll get into, but I hope you all have a great, blessed weekend! :)

Fat Lip

That's what I expect I will have by tonight. A fat lip. I was getting a box with some of my extra canning supplies out of the closet and it whomped me right in the mouth.
Tooth cut my lip. *pouts*
*sigh*
Thought perhaps I should give you an update on that pickle canning disaster. I suppose since it was my first try at canning anything, I should properly call it an exercise. Yes. A learning exercise.
Well, I guess they turned out okay.  I put a jar in the fridge for several days, thinking perhaps that cold pickles would be better than room temperature, and then opened today. They seem to be sort of okay. I mean they tasted like pickles...
I let hubby try some the end of last month and he said they were salty. I expected that and considered tossing the whole batch, but left them sit till today - which is very nearly as long as I read somewhere that they needed to sit after canning.
I had way more pickle stuff than pickle juice. Hard to figure out how to divide that stuff - not to mention messy. Ah well. Live and learn. :)

Post for you, Chris, with Spider. :)

Just thought you'd like to see your cat, Chris, :)

She really likes the little water thing Bob got me for my birthday. I like it, too, but Spider obviously likes it more. ;)
Was good to hear from you this morning. :)

Hot weekend

The humidity was pretty bad. Not as hot as it has been, but it felt like it with the humidity.
No fish to speak of. Little bluegill and something they call pin fish here, and that was it. Nothing to eat. At least not for people. Hubby fed a couple small ones to the gator by tossing them on the bank and then as they flipped to get back into the water, the gator would grab them.

He thinks by doing it that way, the gator won't associate food with people. I hope he's right.
They're also doing something on the other side of the road/bridge. Don't know what but the water was extremely dirty Saturday morning because of it. Between that and the heat, the bigger fish just weren't biting.
I expect the school of shad or whatever had a lot to do with it, too. There were hundreds of them in the creek.

Have a good Monday and a great week! :)

TGIF!

Happy Friday everyone. Haven't written much. Not much to say. No one wants to hear about laundry and ironing. ;)
I'm watching a gardening show on the local PBS channel. Well, one of them. Interesting. Explained how to grow coneflowers as an annual. I expect my brother already knew this information, but my memory is such that it's good to have this reminder now and then. Of course I didn't know it to begin with..

Just keep the flowers cut off for a year. No flowers = more roots = annual flowers. Or so they said...
Or is that perennial. I am hopeless. I can never remember all these garden terms. (o.0)
And you can use old hose for covering the handles of buckets.
Yes, I have that little to post about. ;)
I think we're going fishing tomorrow morning before it gets too hot.

That's about all I can think of. You all have a great weekend! :)

Small rant, sorry.

It pisses me off that Vietnam is happening all over again. We didn't go into Vietnam with the intention of winning, and we didn't go into Iraq or Afghanistan with the intention of winning.
The purpose of the military it to break things and kill people. IF you don't want them to do that, then DON'T PUT THEM IN HARMS WAY TO DIE.
Sorry.
Rant over.

Weekend

So since it's been cooler, cooler being low 90s instead of 100s, we went fishing yesterday and today. You remember the alligator I told you about here, we hadn't seen him since then, but yesterday and today we saw him both days.

Well, yesterday he attacked the hubby's bobber and got an arm tangled in the fishing line. It let us get a good look at him, and his teeth, from the safety of that little pier we fish on. Turns out the hook was only caught on a scale or something because between the two of them, the gator swam off and my hubby got hook, line, and bobber back safely.

But, we were both so surprised, neither of us thought to take pictures. Today, he was there again. And while he didn't attack the bobber, he did definitely show an interest in it being in his territory.

And I did take a couple pics, but all I had was my phone, so I'm sorry for the quality of the pics. It was really gray out, so I used picasa to make the pictures a little clearer.

It poured shortly after I took the pictures, which is why they were so dark.
And naturally, I've named him Wally. ;)

We think the reason he particularly likes my husband's rig is the green/yellow bobber that rattles. My husband is using a 6 foot Ugly Stick, Medium Light Action. And no, I don't know for certain it's a he, but that's what I'm calling him. ;)

We only caught 2 keepers yesterday, fish wise, haha, but we fried them up with the fish we had frozen over the last month and it made a tasty meal for 3 with some leftovers for today or tomorrow. Today we only caught one keeper - with lots of little ones - so we let him go to catch again another day.

Hope you all have a wonderful, blessed week! :)