Dreaming of More than a Walk with Wildlife

 The little to report is evident.  You know what's happening around the world if you're paying attention, and if you're reading this, you're paying attention to a lot more than most folks, so it's worthwhile mentioning the state of the daffodils in our yard and the dwarf irises.  They're blooming, the bright yellow daffodils and the purple dwarfs.  

Tomorrow is my first grand-child's birthday, and she's turning nine.  She's a bright child, devoted to her mother and father, learning still to love her little brother and her cousin.  We'll pay her a visit and offer a gift for her birthday.  

In other news, we took a good walk in the sunshine with a friend before the wind came up and brought another couple of cool nights and days this week.  

And I got the plumbing on the Roadtrek camper fixed, I think, so the grey water tank won't leak like it was.  I hope--not at all.  And I helped my Georgia brother-in-law in his search for a camper equivalent to mine.  

The wife and I keep considering a place to go this summer.  Apparently, Iceland is so popular that plane tickets to REK are sold out until June, even with the lava flowing and the volcanoes erupting.  And the Canadian border is still closed.  But Colorado is open, and other states will take us if we jump in the van and hit the road.  

My brother JP is back from his Mexican land voyage.  I was tempted to board a plan and join him there for a day or two and ride back with him.  But not this time.  

Still, the time will come for traveling again.  And I'll take it.  Meanwhile, here's a reminder of a drive we took when we spent some time in Ireland.  (Not our video.)  

Harvest Time

It's that time of the year when gardens are bursting with produce, especially tomatoes at our house, and the wife has been bravely facing the perils of harvesting into the darkening hours.  Just last night she made a haul that filled several cake pans, bowls, and soup pots.  Take a gander at that tomato harvest!  Peppers large and small are coming in, and the one big tomatio plant is threatening to take over the yard, with its long reach adorned with its fruit on the make.   

Raspberries galore

Peppers small and large

Tomato invasion

We were also able to score quite a haul of raspberries from a friend's garden while she was away (with permission, of course).  So now the wife has set herself a task of preserving this haul, using a borrowed juicer, our dandy stove, a kitchen, her pots and pans, and her many wily ways. 

All this while we're also into the first weeks of classes AND cleaning up a mess that our deadbeat renters made before they skipped out. 

Those raspberries, though, should put new life into both of us. 

Cosmic Reminder: You're Double-Lucky

January 11, 2012

Check the name of the blog:  it's a Horseshoe Seven, my grandfather's brand.  It's a symbol that calls upon two kinds of luck--the lucky horseshoe, the lucky seven.  So today, as we relish our first snow fall of the year, and the first snow fall of the winter, and a little of that good old South Dakota wind and cold, it's fitting that the day also bring something more.

And here it is, the seed catalog that says spring is not that far out, friends, and even as you're thinking that a spring break trip might be just the ticket, you'd better also be thinking about which tomato plants you're going to go with this summer.

Temporary Tomato Shelter

Tomato Yurt

Dire warnings were out last night for a hard freeze, which would have meant the end of the line for our gigantuan tomato, tomatillo, and pepper plants.  So, we took precautions, employing almost all sheets and blankets, pillow cases, painting tarps, and car covers.  Then, it didn't freeze, although it was 32 degrees when I came down in the dark this morning.  No worries tonight, so the temporary shelters will need to come down.  

We weren't the only ones prepping for a freeze.  A nippy drive around town in the convertible last evening (enjoying a TCBY "Waffle Cone Wednesday" treat) revealed others in town who weren't taking any risks with their tomatoes.

Last of the Summer Tomatoes

Five roma tomatoes are all that's left

The wife put together a great batch of chili today using the last of our summer's tomatoes, some sauce, and other goodies.  It's a nice way to remember what good it is to have a garden.

Getting Those Gourds to Shine

We took a bit more leisurely approach to our day today, after the activities of the past week, culminating in our prize-winning float and a trip last night to Sioux Falls to see Dave Eggers, the writer, and Valentino Achak Deng, the subject of Eggers' "autobiography" of him.  It was the highlight of the South Dakota Festival of Books.  

The wife zipped over to Winfred to her folks' place while yours truly spent some time grading papers, and she came back with this sign of fall--a collection of gourds that her dad found hidden in the cow lot.  A little veggie oil, and these things look ready for the hearth!

I also entertained some folks who knew our old house as children, when their grandmother, Christina Coppersmith (if I remember rightly) lived here back in the 1930's and 40's.  They brought some pictures and offered some comments on how the place has changed since they knew it.

She's Planning for the Future

What do jalapeño jelly, spaghetti sauce, homemade catsup, chili sauce, pasta sauce, rhubarb steak sauce, salsa, and pizza sauce have in common? They all sit in anticipation and expectation for our later enjoyment, courtesy of the wife who has been busy canning up a storm.

May Flowers in the Yard

Here's a quick walk around the house taking note of just some of the flowers now in bloom. Some are fading (lilacs) and some are just on the verge (snowball bush) and some are just right.

Preparing the New Garden

With school out, what are we to do except work on the house? Enjoy the outdoors! Play with software! What if you could do all three at once?

In other words, I continue to play with the time capture software on my computer. While I'm working! Wish I would have had it when I was moving all the sod LAST summer.