Category: Farm Life & Home

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Season’s Greetings From The Family Homestead

My parents were adamant about sending out Christmas cards to many friends and every family member that they ever had the pleasure of meeting and knowing. Last year I didn’t get a chance to send any cards out, for many a reasons. But this year I plan on sending out as many as I possibly can that I can read legibly on my mother’s handwritten Christmas card list. I discovered it a few months back in a dresser drawer that I was cleaning out and was pleased to read over it.

Since the place has many pine trees adorning it, I thought it fitting to sent the Pinecone photo Christmas cards that I found online with the photo of the old house that I uploaded and will have imprinted on the front of it. I think the folks that will be receiving them will appreciate.

Christmas will be here soon enough, I have my work cut out for me, there are over 50 names and addresses on that list!

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Mom’s Chipped Beef on Toast

As a kid, we were required to eat breakfast every morning before leaving the house. Even if it meant being late for school. However, if we were tardy we did get in trouble. Mother would often rise early and cook a hearty breakfast for the entire family. One of my favorites was her creamed chipped beef on toast, with a side of scrambled or fried eggs. I can’t help but think of Mother every time I enjoy creamed chipped beef for my breakfast.

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Daylight Savings Time Ends at 2:00 a.m.

Tonight is a night that I look forward to all year long, each and every year. At 2:00 a.m. we are all supposed to set our clocks back one hour and to let Daylight Savings Time end for the year 2015. This is not my favorite “holiday” life is so much better when it stays lighter out for longer periods of time.

Right in the middle of summer is actually stays light until after 9:00 p.m., which is so awesome. Since I spend so much of my time outside in the yard and the garden that time of the year and I tend to wait for the sun to go down and it becomes dark to to in the house to start to fix,cook, and eat dinner, some of the summer time my dinners aren’t until almost 11 o’clock, sometimes midnight!

Anyway, don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour tonight folks.

a great question
Gotta Love This
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Hamburger Helper, Today’s Kitchen Staple

Honest to God, I don’t know what I’d do if not for all of the varieties of Hamburger Helper, there most be over 20 different variations of this good, cheap and easy product. I’m grateful that they now offer them for use with Chicken and Tuna, and are all good tasting. Just recently I noticed they have an Asian variety on the shelve. I just haven’t decided if I want to try it or not.

I’ve never enjoyed cooking, on occasion I do feel the urge, but cooking for one has gotten old, years ago and I find myself just doing the bare minimum in an effort to fuel my body and keep my self alive. So Hamburger Helper has kept my belly full and happy and I really don’t know what I would do without it at this point. It’s not like I can just drive down the street to pick up fast food, which is the case for a good majority of bachelor’s, the closest fast food joint is over a 45 minute drive from home, too far a drive, a waste of perfectly good gasoline as far as I’m concerned, and with the gas prices once again on the rise every trip into town is costing more and more.

thank god for hamburger helper
So Many To Pick From

 

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Oh My Aching Back

There is an issue with the old bed and mattress that I have had to sleep on since coming back home to the farm. My aching back is telling me that I need to plunge ahead and purchase a new set, in an effort to save my health. There is too much to do around here, I’ve been taking Aleve day and night, it helps a little, but this nagging back ache has got to go, and soon.

Since I don’t live close to any sizable town to drive into and shop around for the perfect bed and mattress set, I will take advantage of the Internet and seriously start looking into buying a complete new one for the Master Bedroom, in which I am currently residing in.

There isn’t a shortage of companies that are offering beds online, these days, I’ve been looking all morning while watching the Inauguration on the television. I really like what I see at Silentnight.co.uk, the Silent Night Company is a household name in the U.K.

I’ll have to make a decision soon once and for all. A good night’s sleep is a key factor on what goes on in the daytime.

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Birdhouses and Feeders

My parents used to love putting up birdhouses, they really enjoyed finding interesting birdhouses and feeders here and there and the back part of the yard is filled with numerous varieties of them that are still hanging about. Some are really old and in bad shape, so I’ve been contemplating taking some of those down and trashing them and looking for some new ones to replace them with that would fill in the gaps that will be left.

My father made some of them that are out there himself and I hate to toss any of those out, guess I’ll have to take all things in consideration when I take on this task. Dad was a very handy man and made so many things that I have to decide upon what to do with at some point, not a cheerful chore to even to think about.

This one is my all time favorite. I have no clue where he came up with this one, but it has always fascinated me. I don’t know if he made it or if he bought it or was given to him. Too bad I’ll never know the story behind it.

multi housing
My All Time Favorite
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Chili Dogs

It’s so hot and humid out there and I have been working up an appetite. I thought I had something in the kitchen to fix for lunch, but nothing looked good. I ended up driving out to Sonic and getting two chili dogs with tater tots. Their coffee is pretty good, too.

The thing about Sonic is that you get a foot long hot dog and a nice thick chili sauce on top. But if you want anything else, you have to be sure and ask for it when you place the order. I like cheese and chopped onions on mine, so that’s what I ask for. Every once in a while it’s nice to add some chopped jalapenos on there, too!

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My Fender Kurt Cobain Mustang

Okay, I have gone ahead and submitted my order for the fender kurt cobain mustang. It has taken a couple of weeks to decide which one to actual commit to purchasing such an extreme gift to myself, but what’s done is done. Considering I really feel the need to play the  guitar, at the end of the day I think I made a good choice.

Now all I have to do is waiting for it to arrive at the post office. They won’t deliver any packages to my mailbox since I live pretty far out in the boonies and the mailbox is almost a 1/4 drive down the driveway and who know who could grab it and drive away with it. So it doesn’t bother me to have to drive to the post office to pick up any packages, it’s only about four miles down the road and the Post Master is a good friend of the family. It’s always good to catch up with what is going on with everyone in town. If something is going on you can bet the Post Master will know before most people.

all that and a bag of chips
Fender Kurt Cobain
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Raincoats, a Necessity

A good quality warm raincoat is what I’m currently looking for now that I have spent the last few months out in the wet and cold every morning, afternoon and night doing what needs to be done around the farm and all of the out buildings. The Internet is making this necessary search so much easier, I really like not having to drive town to town, for hours on end, looking for the best possible deal and fit, just sitting by the fire, keeping warm and dry, with my laptop, looking online is definitely the way to go for me.

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Insects

I hate black flies, wasps, yellow jackets, horse flies, ticks, fleas, hornets, and mosquitoes. I spend a fortune on insect killing sprays to get rid of as many of them as I can. I don’t like how the mosquitoes come out during the twilight hours and cut short the outdoor fun. I enjoy sitting outside in the cool of the evening. But the mosquitoes usually drive me inside fairly quickly.

They used to be simply annoying, but now that I’ve learned that they spread the West Nile Virus, I don’t want to risk getting sick from them. I’d really love to buy one of those mosquito trap machines that attract the mosquitoes and keeps them from getting to you. That would make life in our yard much more enjoyable, and extend the amount of time I spend outside.