Happy 2nd Birthday Baby Lu

Nothing to say - NOT!

A friend asked me the other day why I haven't been blogging. My reply "I just didn't have anything to say". Now when did that ever happen to me I wonder. Thought maybe I should at least put up some kind of a post, and all of sudden I realized I had a LOT to say. There, that's the old me.

So here I go.

Got my computer fixed. YIPPEE!! Sad news, when it crashed I lost all my photos, probably should have taken it in the first time I started having trouble and they probably could have saved some of them - DANG. Good news is  that it has lots more memory and an upgrade so now I can play with my photos again. And I bought this little 99 cent app and look what I can do with it.

Isn't that just fun. It takes just a matter of minutes and I could make Cash's eyes blue and highlight that Nebraska hat. Here is another photo.

I  just got a tickle out of doing that. Impressed? Just 99 cents........I am. There are several very inexpensive apps for the Mac that can do great things.

While picking up my Mac I ended up bringing home a new couch. We really, really needed one - last time I bought a couch we sat on lawn chairs for almost a year as I gave my old set to my son and his family and then couldn't make up my mind on what I wanted. This time I just took what I saw when I saw something I liked. It's leather, has recliners because that is what Jeff wants and is oatmeal in color, soooooo it matches everything and anything.

Work was very busy with the deer season opening up. On Friday, the day before I worked from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m., not a big deal I put in lots of hours all summer but this time I was on my feet from the time I got to the Fort in the morning until 6 p.m. when we had to sign deer hunters up in the draw units. Tucker me out, well my feet anyway.

Also have been working hard on the Historical Dinner. My exciting news - Midwest Living Magazine will be there to do a feature story on it. Sad part - won't come out until 2012. So I really want to do a good job. Have a pointsetta/burlap theme going on.

Here is a photo of Austin's first buck. He almost made grand champion at deer camp 2011 but his dad ended up with a really nice deer, bigger and older than Austin's. But for an 11 year old this is a pretty nice 'starter' buck.

This is probably the neatest thing - a hand stitched quilt well let's see about 8 of them. The friend's place that all my guys going hunting at - we call it "Deer Camp" made each one of the fellows a quilt. I think that has to be the coolest 'warm' gift EVER! Babe, the lady who made these,  started working on them last year - not sure how she got them all done but she did. Here they are. 

Can you imagine, quilting eight quilts in less than a year and again I add they are hand quilted!! I am a wee bit envious, of the quilts and the ability to quilt like that.

Now with Thanksgiving in the air I am excited to say that all of my children and grandchildren will be home for the holiday. I can't wait to spend time with them and all of their families. Blessed - YES I am!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Check out my little Fiddle Player! I am so proud of Emma for taking up the violin and I hope she keeps it up. Emma went to a small concert out here at the Fort this summer. The band is new but I think will make it big some day. "Dyer Highway" a group of three siblings played for us on the parade ground. I understand why Emma became enthralled. The young fiddle playing lady (age 14) stood on the stage, a soft silky shirt that floated gently in the wind as she dipped and swayed to her music. It was like a feather gently teasing your senses. I guess it teased Emma so much that she went home and asked her mom if she could get lessons and sure enough her mama encouraged her to start.
This violin is just a little larger than her papa's hand and is not the smalled violin that is used for lessons. But it is about the cutest little instrument I have ever seen.
P.S. Please forgive the wild hairdo, she had been playing at full speed outside for hours with her cousins and I caught her just long enough to show me what she has learned.

Reasons to love fall!

WHY...why...why

Why do I have so many problems with blogger? Can anybody out there give me a hint? See my last post? Why do I have all that white area after I finished posting? Why after I download a photo I can not enlarge it unless I click and drag? Why when downloading a photo it always puts it at the top of the page even if my cursor is at the bottom of what I am writing and WHY can't I comment on many of the blogs.........it says to comment I need to check my profile and I check google and then I get this:
Your current account (debkennedy74@yahoo.com) does not have access to view this page. Click here to log out and change accounts.
I am so ready to quit blogging because of all of these frustrations. Anyone else have any of these problems?

Herman Hermits

I would really be amiss if I didn't blog about my chance to see my 'first love' in person. I could only have been all of 10 years old when I fell in love with Peter Noone, yes Herman of Herman and The Hermits. They were all the rage in the 60's and I was just another one of the groupies that loved to listen to "Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter" or "I'm Henry The Eighth I Am". My cousin lived with me at the time and although they weren't her favorite group she actually bought me one of their 78 records. She didn't seem to mind me listening over and over and over again to their music, so I think she liked them better than she admitted. It could have been that English accent that got me along with his wavy blonde hair. I'm thinking Justin Bieber may have stolen that hair do.

Here is a picture of him now. He joked about looking like Nick Nolte, but really he does, he looks an awful like him. Below is the photo of Peter from the 60's - and if memory serves me right it was the photo on either the cover or back cover of my record. Sorry but it was a really long time ago and although I THINK I have the album somewhere I don't really know where. It is too bad because if I had taken it with me and had him sign it they said it would be worth about $300.00.


Herman and The Hermits and Davey Jones of The Monkeys were to perform in Deadwood, South Dakota this past Friday and my wonderful daughter bought me two tickets to attend their concert. One for myself and one for a friend, she even talked the friend into going. I didn't think anyone but myself would really want to attend and my friend really didn't remember the group - but she went. Now this friend is only one year younger than me, but for some reason, she just didn't remember Herman. Once they started playing she sang word for word along with the crowd and myself, so I know she knew their music just didn't really remember the group.

We made friends with the people in front of us, and well, to the side of us AND the back of us. We had a great time singing along with music and gabbing with the folks. I don't think there was more than a handful of people under the age of 50 except for those poor little children, whose parents drug them to it so we fit right in.

Now..................I just had to see him up close and get his signature so I bought one of his CD's and we waited in line to get him to sign it. And he did, I handed it to him, he signed it said "Thanks Miss" and THEN put his hand out to my friend and shook it and visited with her.......the unjustice of it all, she didn't even remember him! DANG, DANG, DANG. I thought she shouldn't wash her hand for the rest of her life - she thought I was an idiot!! It's ok - I got to see him, and it was all great. Had someone told me when I was a youngun' that I would have seen him in person I probably wouldn't have lived to see the day, I would have died from heart failure on the spot. Isn't life grand??

Happy 6th Birthday Jaxon.

Happy 6th Birthday Jaxon - Looks like you took a 'bite' out of turning six years old.

My newest Junk find!

Look what I found for a little bit of nothing!

I haven't brought it home yet but can't you imagine how much it will love sitting in my garden full of pumpkins or pineboughs for winter?

CAN'T WAIT TO GET HER HOME!

Linking to Beyond the Picket Fence

Pumpkin Patch

I love that time of day, just as the sun is setting.

And I love playing in the pumpkin patch with my little pumpkins.

My little pumpkin - Cash!

My Little Lucas Pumpkin!

AGH! Just a pumpkin in the patch...I love the orange and green.

My Mr. Jaxon Pumpkin who is turning 6 tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Jaxon!

Linking to Tootsie's Fertilizer Friday!

Happy 5th Birthday Emma Jean!

Where I live, love, work!

Linking to Savy Seasons

My Paint Pony

Raised on a farm 18 miles from town I had few friends, well actually no friends that lived nearby. That left me with animals as companions and I love animals. I especially love horses. My dad raised and raced Thoroughbreds as a hobby and he instilled the love of horses in me. I married, started a family, and there just wasn't much time to spend with horses, not to mention very little money and  having horses takes money. Then my dad passed away and we had to sell off all of his horses, from that point on I never got back on a horse. A back injury left me unable to ride even if I would have had the opportunity. Several years ago, when I was promoted to Superintendent for Game and Parks, my boss pretty much insisted I get back in the saddle..........so I did. Although rough on my back it only took one time sitting in the saddle and all my childhood memories of riding the pasture with my dad came back and I was hooked.

I went on several trail rides with groups that visit our park, riding a borrowed horse from my boss. Then a couple years ago my husband bought me a horse. A big ole sorrel mare who I fell in love with immediately. I said that "Nugget" would walk off a cliff for me if I asked her to. Nugget is about 17 hands tall, a big ole girl, and watching me get on her is - well a source of amusement for my co-workers. As much as I love Nugget I always wanted a paint pony, especially one that my grannies could ride. Last spring I GOT ONE! My husband bought me a 5-year old mare. Sugar was just green broke. Meaning you could get on her but she really didn't know what else to do, she wasn't a bucker thank goodness, but she also didn't know how to rein, stop, or go for that matter. My son started riding her and by the time summer rolled around the kids were able to get on and ride her. Then to give her more training I rode her for 3 days on a trail ride. Some grassland riding, some hills and butte riding and she was really getting the hang of it.



One one ride we crossed a small creek 17 times, we jumped it 11 times before we got the monkey to settle down and walk through it. The amazing thing was, I stayed on when she jumped. So here are a couple pictures of Sugar. She is kind of a flashy little thing, definitely a loving animal and is still a work in progress. But then so am I so I guess we make a good pair.

IT"S FALL!! BEST WISHES TO ALL!

Can anyone tell me why sometimes when I download a picture I am able to select it and make the photo smaller, larger, full size and other times, like today when I can only select and drag to change the photo? I get so frustrated with this that I don't enjoy blogging at all. Please help!!

Photo taken from House TalkN
I don't always have something to blog about but so many others do and I just love looking at new blogs, well and old ones too. I add them to my favorites and when I have time I take a look at what is new with them. I found two today that I just fell in love with, mostly because they are so upbeat and full of fun and wonderful things that I love. Just click here to visit House TalkN and here to visit Life and Linda. Both sound like amazing women, full of life and not afraid of new adventures.

Late Summer Garden Walk

I love the late summer - early fall garden. The colors are so vivid. The one thing I don't like about the fall garden is the clean up -- YUCK! But for now I will just enjoy looking at the garden, there will be plenty of time to clean up the beds.

My little tower adds some height and gives a little support for the leggy plants.

I am amazed that my sweet potato vine made it through some very hot summer days - I kept forgetting to water it.

The asters and mums are just getting ready to bloom. The humming bird feeder saw just a few of these little feathered friends - or I missed seeing them because I was working from dawn to dusk.

My flower beds and gardens have lots of 'old flower art' in them and I love to play around with the camera and software.

I have a love hate relationship with the morning glories. They grow where I don't want them and won't grow where I do want them. They become a tangled mess on most everything and are hard to weed out, but there are always so cheery and beautiful. I think they are related to bind weed and I wonder why people buy seed packets of them in the store when they grow so abundantly. However they sure are good climbers and fillers.

I wonder how soon the first frost will be, our calendar says that my neck of the woods in NE the first hard frost is usually around Sept. 21 - guess we will see.

My fall favorites

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE FALL! I love the colors, the smells, the food, football, the late gardens....I just love it all. Good things have happened for me in the fall. My oldest son was born in Sept., my daughter got married in Oct., three of my seven grandchildren were born in fall. Life just seems to come together in the fall. My good friend hated fall, she would tell me it was like death to her, as the years have come and gone she now says she sees the beauty and life of fall through my eyes. Fall still isn't her favorite time of year. I can only influence so many I guess. Here are a few things I really, really love about fall. Please note that none of these first photos are mine, some are from Martha Stewart, some I pulled off the net that didn't show any authors, so sorry to those of you with the great photos.

Several years ago one of my good leaf peeping friends decided to go East to see the fall foliage. We flew out of Denver, Colorado with a few stops in between we made it to Burlington, Vermont. Coming from an area with few trees which are mostly pine trees I was in awe from the moment I saw the tips of the trees as we started to descend in the plane until we left to come home. It was so much fun, we rented a little bed and breakfast, a car and toured Vermont, New York, New Hampshire and Maine. We walked the paths through the most beautiful fall laden countryside. Took in some fall events, picked apples, took photos and collected leaves. We had some many news pressed in books that we had to buy more luggage to get it home. One of the funniest things I think I ever saw was my, small of structure friend, carrying a two foot felt stuffed ghost that we had bought at a craft fair, through the halls of one of the largest airports in the US. It wouldn't fit in the old or new luggage so she had to carry it on her lap. Needless to say we were stopped at all three airports on our way home and 'inspected'. This was the year following 911 so everyone was on their guard and I suppose we looked a little suspicious with our overload of leaves and memorabilia - made for a good laugh when we talk about our travels.

I not only love the fall colors but I love the fall garden and MUMS. I think they say 'fall' in the most beautiful way. I actually brought home a fall plant from Vermont. - I know I probably wasn't suppose to but no one said anything about it at the airports so home it came.

I have several varieties growing in my garden and every year I add more. I know they say toss them in the compost pile when you are done as they won't do anything the following year - but not so. Mine always come back and if I remember to clip their tips about the 4th of July, I get an awesome display of mums in my garden.

However the one thing I am really crazy about is pumpkins. I love to grow them, eat them, carve them, decorate with them and when I am done we take them to the fields and let the deer eat them. This little beauty taken from Martha Stewart is so pretty I am going to give it a try.

I love to photography the area around my little home town. This little area is so darn pretty but only in years with some moisture do I get to take a photo of it as the little dam is usually dry.

I love to carve those pumpkins and put them on display. Every year we have a BIG pumpkin cutting party and cut up tons of pumpkins. I invite the local elementary school to bring the younger grades over to the garden to pick pumpkins so they carve them at school.

I love to play in my pumpkin patch - even the neighbor's kitten loves to play in my pumpkin patch.

Oh FALL you are such a welcome time in my life. I hope you enjoyed a little walk through my fall thoughts!