My Mom and Dad's Garden

Potatoes are growing in pots. The plants are looking great and healthy.

I never did get my potatoes planted this year.

Their zucchini plants are really doing well. The leaves are huge and the stalks are straight and strong. They are getting enough 'fruit' from this plant. (I think there really are two plants.)

Their tomatoes are doing really well also. They are growing tall and are quite bushy. They still have lots of large green fruits on them. They are harvesting some red ones also. Should be a good year for the end of the season green tomato harvest! I like fried green toms just like my dad and my mom. I also love to dice the green ones up and cook them with diced squash, like my mom taught me how to cook. I don't have that many of my own greenies to cook with, but there are a few days left in the season, so maybe I still will get more greenies for myself.

This is a photo of one of my mom's beautiful planters that greet their guests at the front steps. Someday, I hope to have planter boxes like hers that can greet my guests.

All in all their gardens, veggie and flowers, are doing beautiful. Their home looks very inviting from the outside and everyone is welcome their.

Thanks for the photos!!!

Then The Winds Came...

Just like I said, the winds would not pass us by. So about 10 pm last night, it became real gusty outside. I don't think that anything blew away or was blown over, but boy did it blow. The pool cover was blown off, but small winds can do that now so that really was not strange. It blew for a couple of hours and then it shut off and we had a nice cool breeze for the rest of the night.

There was plenty of lightning over Tooele way, and it was spectacular. However, they took it all and we had no lightning when the winds hit us. We had a bit of rain and that is great, but even that was not enough to replenish the grounds, it just smelled good. I do not think that we have had any rain for a month or so, at least enough to call rain. Maybe just a few sprinkles once or twice. Ok, now my brain is reminding me of the hail storm a few weeks back that brought havoc to our garden. So, I will now leave this ranting in with all the corrections. This is me!

The End of Summer is Coming

Well it was supposed to hit 100 degrees today and be breezy. However, it was only in the low 90's and a very light wind, just enough to move the air a bit. So maybe the winds will hit tonight, I cannot believe that we will get away from a wind storm. It is just not likely, as wind loves us here.

Since Monday is Labor Day, we have a forecast for rain and the coolest day of the summer, 62 degrees. I don't know how close we will come to the forecast, but I hate the thought of cooling down and having to greet the cold days of winter in a few months.

I am glad that we don't have to plan our activities for the weekends only. We can take advantage of the good weather whenever it decides to show up. The kids are doing fine in the home school arena. One thing that Pilot has trouble with is getting his thoughts away from the distractions that home has for him. It is quite a bit like trying to work at home, and not letting the dishes, messes and other 'home' things distract you from getting your business work done. I have a feeling that we will be doing a bunch of field trips away when things get tough. The library should be a fine place to get some work done. I will be finding other places too. Maybe even my mom and dad's home. The park? I'll be researching this soon. They miss being with their friends everyday and not making new friends. As our neighborhood continues to grow, we should have more kids coming in their ages and that will help.

We finally got all the materials I know of from K12 and should be able to do the Lab stuff in Science we had to skip. Also Angel got her literature kit and now I will start both kids on literature. Literature should be fun and I hope we can make it that way.

Well life is great! See ya!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

Here is mom. The lights were really low in the Restaurant

(Ruby River) and so I feel lucky

the photos turned out as well as they did.

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Here are mom and dad (with Angel behind) after dinner. Dad wanted to go outside and have us all gather in front of them as he told us how SPECIAL and WONDERFUL mom is to him. He teared up a bit and we were all touched at the love he has for her and all of us.

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This is a photo from one end of the table. I can't find the photo from the other end. I actually can't find quite a few photos.  They were saved but I don't know where I saved them. They did not download from my phone to the computer, so I have got to research this.

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Here is Mom's complimentary Birthday dessert!!
It was a HUGE piece of Ice Cream

Cake. It was delicious too. She passed it around all 23 of us,

twice and we still left some for them to clean up!!

She was really shocked at the Hugeness of it!
I believe she was on the phone with

Boy #2 at the time they brought her the dessert.

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Here is a photo of mom talking to me(Girl #2). We were talking about the premium m&m's that Boy #3 gave her. They are triple chocolate I think.

I was telling her how I would be willing to keep them for her. She didn't want to burden me with such a big job of storing them for her, so I let her keep them!

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The whole dinner thing was really fun at Ruby River.

Mom and dad were great company and they seemed really happy and had a good time.

- - -

Everyone who could come who lives in

townish-to-them were there.

(Girl #2 and family, Girl #3 and family, Boy #2 and family except his daughter,

who had to work I think I heard, Boy #3 and his family except his Boy #1,

who was in Chicago with a church group.)

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It was really nice that so many were able to come and surround mom on her birthday. We missed all you guys, but we were glad that mom could talk to Boy #1 and Girl #1 during the time all the rest of us were together.

Home School Update

So just a note to update.  Home schooling is doing just fine.  We are still learning and so far it is going quite smoothly. 

If you want to keep up with our daily progress, check out our homeschooling blog.  This blog is a collection of my own personal (teacher) notes of our days.  If I keep a journal of our days, it will help me learn what works and doesn't work.  So bear with us as we learn and share our experiences with you.  Our home school Blog is at www.homesteadblogger.com/practicallyperfect.

Monday, The Beginning of a New Week

It sure is wonderful to walk out in the garden and pick a fresh, ripe tomato for your salad or sandwich.  And fresh zucchini for zucchini bread and stewed veggies for a side dish with dinner.  Our green peppers are also wonderful to pick and eat fresh.  I have not investigated the garlic yet, so I really don't know if it is bulbing or not.  I have a few other squash and melons, but they are not doing too wonderful yet.  They had a difficult start.  What is grand is that I have the garden boxes done, four of them.  So next year will be easy to get things planted early or on time.  I hope to plant many other things like radish, beans, lettuce, different varieties of tomatoes, etc.

The zucchini bread I made this morning turned out fine.  I think I am out of cocoa which I wanted to add to my batter and make it a chocolate bread.  Then I thought I would add some coconut, but I have run out of that too.  Oh well.  I guess it is time to restock the pantry. 

We have most of our school books now and so we should be able to get started for reals in the morning.  Pilot is going to the Junior High to do his percussion class in B2 tomorrow.  So I will work math with Angel.  We are hoping the schedule we have made will work out, but if it doesn't we can always adjust. 

Well that is all for now.

Angel Found a Baby Bird

OK, every time I looked at the Snake Blog, I felt like something was missing.  I finally figured it out.  Angel is afraid of snakes but she loves cats and birds.

The bird in her hand was found in the road.  She and Pilot were go carting and almost ran the baby bird over.  So Angel cups the bird up and brings it home.  She wanted to keep it, believe me it was so very cute.  I tried to teach her that even though it was small and cute, it was possibly carrying diseases that she would not want to catch.  But at least I got her to wash up very well after.

I have to admit that holding snakes is dangerous also. I suppose I am not a great example 'cuz I even grabbed that mink by the tail who was attacking our kitty several years ago.  That was not really smart, but I had to rescue the kitty, and I threw that thar' mink off my front porch.  He was not happy with me, but finally he left the area.  That is how the cat came to live in our house.  But now back to the bird.

The bird was really cute and had a very loud chirp.  I do not know what kind of bird it was.  Angel took the bird back to where she found it and set it in the grass at the side of the road.  She backed off and watched from a safe distance.  After a while, the mother bird found the baby and they walked away.  I hope it was a ground nester and the baby just wandered.  But I don't know for sure.  The mom did not seem upset to have Angels human smell on her chick.  So we hope the baby has survived.

So where we live we have baby birds as well as lots of other birds, we have snakes, we have voles and mice.  We also have skunks, raccoons, mink, deer, antelope, dogs, cats, fox and horses, oh, yes, we even have some cows.  It is really a great place to live.  Lots of different things happen around here and we can see a lot of nature from our own home.

Snake!!

So today while Angel was outside, she saw a snake in the grass. Needless to say, she was almost hysterical!! (It was funny to me. She is all girl when it comes to bugs, spiders and snakes.)

She ran into the house to get away from it and to tell me about it. So I ran out of the house to find it so I could catch it. She found it again and I chased it down and picked it up. Angel and her friend would not get near it at all. It was just a little one. It was 12" or so long and about the thickness of a Sharpie marker around the belly.

When I first picked up the snake, he (the snake) was quite unhappy about being caught. I can understand that and I was as gentle as I could be. In less than a minute, he calmed down and was very gentle himself. It was a cool experience. However, he sure left 'stink' on my hands. Soap and water took that off just fine.

I held onto it for about 5 mins and was just about to let it go, when Hubby and Pilot came home. Pilot was a good sport and he held the snake. I assured him it was safe and that it was not large enough to bite him. So he held it about 3 or 4 mins and then he let it go.

Shari

Our First Field Trip

Today we went to the Hill Aerospace Museum at Hill Air Force Base in Northern Utah. We all had a good time. Even Angel who really did not want to go. But she found some of the stuff interesting. She is going to do a report on Amelia Erhart because she likes her and it relates to the field trip. DreamPilot has to do a report also, but I am not sure what his topic will be on.

As we were there, there were quite a few F-16's flying around and it was fun to see them. We occassionally get to see them here at home, but mostly we get the Apache and Blackhawk Helicopters. We love them too.

Here are a few photos from the museum.

Angel is standing in front of an Atomic bomb.

Angel and DreamPilot are the pilots of their fighter jets.

Above right one of the first flight simulators that was ever built.

Above left is a photo of the ID papers that an airman would carry. One booklet was titled, "If you are captured, these are your rights", hopefully their captor would read the book and know the POW's rights. This was a serious booklet, but we chuckled because not all is fair in war and the airmen hopefully were well trained in how to deal with captivity.

We really had a nice time in the museum and seeing all those aircraft. I understand the importance of our freedom here in America. I am thankful for those men and women who fought and supported the war efforts via the aircraft usage we learned more about at the museum. We got to chat with a few veteran aviators from earlier conflicts and thank them for their service and for the freedoms we have today because they were willing to sacrifice their time for the rest of us.

Shari

Basement Work Center Update

This is our new reading area in our basement. We have a comfortable couch, carpet, soft sheeted walls, and no permanent lights as of yet. However, it is where I love working now, as it is quiet and out of the main flow of our houselife and traffic.

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This shows where the kids desks are. They can be divided with a sheet curtain. It still needs a little work and I may change it from white to a darker sheet. The white sheet can be seen through and I am sure the kids will distract each other if I don't find a better blocker. I have plenty of dark material and sheets to try, so it is on my punch list. It is not a high priority item today or even this week.

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This is a nice round table I have had for at least 20 years. It has moved with me all over the place. It may have been a library table at one time. Right now it is at the bottom of the stairs by the kids desks. I have not decided whether to bring in my outside folding chairs (padded and once belonged in a church- I got them from DI and now wished I had gotten 8 instead of 4) to put them around the table. I hope the table will hide some of the over lapping areas of carpet, well not really hide, but keep us from possibly tripping on the edges.

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Here is another view of the table and the sofa cell. We made a bookshelf from wood boards and empty MonaVie boxes. I like the innovation and recycling aspects. Once the ceiling gets sheeted, I think the basement spaces will feel very warm and cozy.

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Here is a better look at the innovated shelving. The wall curtain in the middle needs a little adjusting, a pipe at the ceiling is in the way. But I can make it a little smoother.

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Here is the door to our fruit room. We fitted the wall sheet along the edges to completely wrap the insulation and then we hung a sheet by shower curtain rings and put it on a pvc rod. Now we can slide the curtain open, get in the storage room and then slide the curtain shut when we are done. It makes the room appear doorless. I like the fact that there is not a door there breaking up the wall. It is like having a secret room. My goal has always been to have a hidden door for that room so I had to hide it in the temporary construction as well.

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Here shows the storage room with the curtain pulled. Looks good, we think!

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Here is a photo from the other basement room. You can see the sheets on the other side of the framed wall. I plan on making a curtain wall door for the door opening between the Work Center and the other half of the basement. But that too can wait a while.

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So, the walls are all covered now. Next is doing the ceiling. Hubby put in the extra lights in the desk area. We still need to run electricity to the sofa area. I want some ceiling lights and a couple of outlets in the sofa area. It would be fun to run electricity to the cubby space under the stairs for a cozy reading hideaway.

We have temporary power to the desks, so we still need to run an outlet to the framed wall between the two rooms. I am guessing we need three to four circuits to wire the whole basement, so we will run the basic wires and then have an electrician put in the circuits and wire the box.

We might have to get some heat in the main room by tapping into the hvac ducting like we did in the old house. That worked great. So we will have to see. The basement here might be just fine just the way it is.

I do need to get the white bookshelves out of storage and get them down here for storage and organization. That will help a lot. Each child can have a whole unit and that help them have what they need at their fingertips.

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Shari