So we put in a new vent

for our stove.

We looked long and hard for a vent like the old one when hubby grew up in this house, but they are just not made any more.
So we bought a new vent to go with the new hood we're going to be putting in.

Hubby had to cut through the wall of the farmhouse, of course. I managed to save two pieces. The third fell between the walls.

The reason so many old houses survive so long? They are made with double walls. Double wood walls. Walls on the inside, and walls on the outside. When my brother came out to help us last time, he said he couldn't build a house like ours. The cost would be prohibitive.

I should have taken more pictures, but I was busy helping hubby. I did take a few though.

This is what 100+ year old cypress wood looks like. :-) The wider piece is from the outside. The narrow piece is from the inside.

They used tongue and groove back then. Stupidly, I forgot to take a picture of the 'tongued' wood;

But I do have a couple of pictures of the grooved inside wood.

Doesn't it look amazing? Very well cut, I'd say.

The outside is... lap board, I think it was called? The boards were placed bottom to top, each board overlapping the previous one.
They were ... sorry. Words don't come as easily as they used to. But here's how the outside boards were formed.

That looks pretty well done to me, even without modern routers.

Hope you all have a safe New Year's Eve, and a wonderful New Year. ♥

That's an old tree.

Remember this post here? Well, I went out to where we have the wood stored that we cut from that branch. I tried to count the rings.
I am sure I did not do it right, but the rings I did count?
Sixty-three. Sixty-three!
That branch was older than me!
I can only imagine how old the tree itself is.

On another note, when hubby was out doing whatever he was doing yesterday, he found something interesting.

Ignore all the stuff from fixing the gas line.. What I want you to see is that round thing. Looks like a stone donut.
Or it could be concrete or cement. (Don't ask me what the difference is, I just figure there must be one because hubby made a deal about it, haha. )

Still. No idea why or what it was used for. Just something curious.

Hope everyone is doing well, and that you all have a wonderful, blessed Holiday Season. ♥

A couple of days ago

when I was hanging my laundry in the crisp cold air; a HUGE flock of redwing blackbirds and starlings flew over my head. There were hundreds of the beasties.
It took me a moment to remember that I had my cell phone with me and by this time they had broken up into groups. One group was in the pecan tree by the garage; the other group in the pecan tree in the pasture.
So, I took a couple of short videos.

By the garage.



In the pasture.



We had a quiet, if quite cold, Thanksgiving.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

People miss the point.

They play President Kennedy's speech with no understanding of what he said or what he meant.

Not saying any more.
Have a blessed weekend. ♥

Next to last Wednesday of the month.

I was going to complain, but really, how can I when we are so blessed?
So instead, I will post a picture I took a few days ago.

This is the second Monarch butterfly I've found on the ground like this. It wasn't dead. I watched it slowly moving it's wings occasionally.
No milkweed around here for laying eggs on. Guess it was just stopping by.

Before we know it the year will be over! Hope you're all doing well. ♥

A few days ago

While I was out picking pecans, I took a few pictures. [Yes, I know, I'm slow with posting. ;-)]

A completely shelled pecan, with a tiny nibble? This is actually the second one I've found. Would a squirrel go to all this trouble and then not eat the pecan???

Sun dog. :-)

Sunset.

Have a blessed weekend. ♥

The flying rats. ;-)

Sorry for the quality of the video, I took it on my cell phone while picking pecans. Picked 205 pounds so far.
Have a blessed Sunday. ♥

Just a few photos to let you know I'm still here.

Sunset

Flying rats Starlings. Just a few of the hundreds that are around here right now. If I can remember how I did it, I'll try to post a video I made with my phone while picking pecans.

Not sure just what these are. Some sort of little wild daisy? There were little bees feeding on them, but I wasn't quick enough to be able to get a photo of them.

There are a lot of... mushroom colonies (?) like this around, where they just grow in a clump like this. Curious and no clue what it means.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Mushroom Monday

Let's see if blogger will be nice today.

It has really cooled off here. Hard to believe that just a few weeks ago we had to be careful of heat exhaustion. Now we wear jackets in the morning. 55 as I type this. Nice!

The pecans are starting to fall a little faster. I'll probably go get more after I hang the laundry out.

One thing I've noticed is a lot of mushrooms. Not just in the pasture, but in the yard, too.

All those mushrooms are actually a much brighter orange than they appear in the picture. I'm not sure why that is.

Found this next one under a pecan tree. I should have taken a picture when I first saw it, but didn't have a camera with me. The next time I saw it, it looked like this:

Now it looks like this:

Just in time for Halloween, I guess.

I'll post more some other time. Don't want the post too big.

Have a great week!

Was going to do a post

But blogger is being a brat, so I'm not going to do much of one.

We have to vote tomorrow. Not saying anything more on that subject.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. ♥

It's pecan season again.

After all the green pecans that fell early, we are slowly finding 'ripe' pecans on the ground. Last we looked, the price was 45 cents a pound.
A couple days ago we had a really strange thunderstorm. Rain, lightning, but no thunder. How do you have a thunderstorm with no thunder? Was it a lightning storm? There wasn't that much lightning. The lack of thunder unnerved my hubby a bit, too.

The next morning we found this.

I was standing in that spot the day before collecting pecans.
The strange thing? That branch came from the other side of the tree!

Strange storm. As far we know there were no reports of tornadoes in the area.
Glad we planted those trees last year to replace this one.

Have a wonderful week!

Home again, home again, jiggety jig.

I think I mentioned we were going to North Carolina? Sorry if I forgot, but yes, we went to North Carolina. We were gone a week.
We needed to talk with the company that is renting out our other house. And of course we needed to see our boys. We had heard that our two youngest had lost their jobs; but we hadn't heard from them.

We took money from my husband's retirement account for the trip. Paid a penalty, but it was worth it. Found out our youngest boys are doing okay. They had not wanted to worry us. They did everything they could to make ends meet. Collected aluminum cans, scrap metal, and found a food bank. The rental agency worked with them to keep them in their apartment. The same agency handling our house for us. We are very grateful and I thank God for that. They didn't tell us everything, but they did explain that they didn't tell us because they knew I would worry.

They're right, too. But the middle son is going to college now. Between his Pell Grant, and the G.I. Bill, he said they are doing okay. The youngest boy is looking for work. We believe he has Aspergers. He does really well at jobs, and then loses them. I gave him some information and hopefully he will look into it as much as he can with no income.

We are very proud of all of our sons.

This is our oldest boy, our granddaughter through marriage, and our daughter-in-law.

He went with his wife when she went to England. While there, he got a job at Boots. Right before he left, he got his certification to be a pharmacy dispenser. He enjoyed the job so much that when they came back to America, he decided he wanted to become a Pharmacist. He did two years at the local Community College and won a full scholarship to Chapel Hill University, where he is taking classes to get his Pharmacy degree.
We are really proud of him.

Our other boys. The Iraq war vet on the left, and our youngest on the right.

They are sharing an apartment. Our veteran told us last year that he would 'take the youngest boy off our hands', to help him grow up. I know he didn't intend it to happen the way it did, but we are very proud of them for getting through a very tough time. I kind of wish they had told us though.

My thoughts are with those in the Midwest and the terrible snow storm last week.

Hope you have all been well. Will try to catch up. It's nice to be home again. Have a wonderful, blessed weekend!

The only spider I like

Spider Lily

They're blooming and I love seeing them because they just pop up over night!

We've been mowing like crazy. Trying to think of what needs to be done.
We're taking a trip tomorrow. Hubby's sister isn't well, so we're going to see her, then go on to NC, and check on the boys.
Be gone about a week.
May be a tropical depression to follow us. In other words lots of rain.
We'll see.
Hope you all will be safe, happy, and blessed. ♥

Here it is and September is almost over already

Funny that Blogger posted before I hit post....
Anyway.
Not had a lot to say, obviously. We're doing okay. Hubby is doing therapy three times a week. He switched to the VA for his shoulder therapy in addition to his back therapy. He likes it a lot better at the VA, so that is good. He got a TENS unit again. I think that's how you spell it.
He said it helps his back, so we're going to try using it at home when he doesn't do his therapy.

If we get our retirement pay the first of the month, he wants to go to North Carolina to see his brother and the boys. We are looking forward to it. It will probably be our last big trip, as he had to take a bit of money from his... retirement account, so we could make this trip. Hard to explain, but he can't do that again for like, 6 years; so that's why I say it will probably be our last trip. We've mostly adjusted to having money only once a month, haha. But, with all of what needs doing, we aren't saving much. As near as we can tell, we should get paid, but who knows with this disaster of a government.

We're thinking of leaving around the 4th of October and getting back about the 12th, more or less. Will be time for pecan season soon, so we want to be back before that.

We got a lot of rain Friday night. Four or five inches. Drained away surprisingly well. Rained earlier today, don't know if it will stay or not.
Had a little bit of cool Sunday and Monday morning, but not today.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

A little thank you

I want to thank Kathy, over at Moving on to the Past, for thinking of me when she gave me this award.

I hardly think I deserve it, but I do want to thank you, Kathy. :-)

Now, I'm supposed to tell you seven things about me that you don't know. Not sure what I haven't told you already. Not remembering as well as I used to, haha.
I believe I've told you everything of interest, and probably a lot of no interest to anyone. ;-)
Oh well, if you've heard these before...

1. Met my hubby at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Mississippi. Pretty sure I told you the rest.

2. I do NOT LIKE BUGS of any size or type. (I include bees, wasps, spiders, etcetera in this group. All types of creepy crawlies and fliers.)

3. My eyes are hazel, but they can look green or brown depending on the light or what I'm wearing.

4. I had toy dinosaurs and cowboys and Indians when I was little. Yes, I had dolls, too, but I didn't play with them. ;-)

5. I enjoyed building model airplanes, and schooners from the plastic kits.

6. I taught myself guitar, but was only acquired a basic skill.

7. I am pretty much enjoying retirement.

Now I'm supposed to give this to seven people who's blogs I like so they can do the same. I don't like putting people on the spot. (Should have made that number seven, I guess.) I think anyone who blogs every day deserves an award! I wouldn't want anyone to be upset if they didn't make my top seven.
The blogs I read most often will know who they are, because if I read, I comment, even if it's only a hug or a ♥. If I comment, I'm giving the award to you. :-)

Hope you all have a wonderful, safe week for the start of September! (Look at me. Start of September? We're already into week 2!) ♥

What is it with August?

I was in the pasture, putting hoses out to water pecan trees, both young and old.

Something is out there devastating our pecan crop. We're finding all kinds of green pecans on the ground.
Whole ones, ones with just a bite taken out, and some that have been obviously eaten out and are just little pieces.
Hubby is pretty sure they are squirrels, but green pecans?
It's really annoying. We're afraid we won't have a crop this year. :-(
Any ideas for what to do, other thank squirrel stew?

Back to the hoses. I had just set a sprinkler in an area where we have 3 young pecan trees and a couple of older ones.
I was walking back to the mower when I gave a low scream. You know, "Ah!", and jumped over.....
a SNAKE IN THE GRASS!



I think it was about 2 and a half to 3 feet long. Scared the bejeezus out of me, I'll tell you.

I took a look at it. Closer than I should have. It seemed.... dry? Like it was getting ready to molt, maybe. I thought it might be dead. I took this picture with my phone. I stupidly pushed at its tail with my shoe. It didn't move.
Lucky me.
Anyway, I'll tell you the same as I told my hubby. That was the end of my bravery. No, I did not take more pictures, and no, I did not look for the head.
First a stubborn gator, and now a snake.

I had a feeling, and he confirmed, that it was probably a cotton mouth. A poisonous snake.

After I turned on the sprinkler, and checked the other hoses, I went back to check the sprinkler coverage.
I didn't see the snake or where it might have gone.
Needless to say, I decided my time in the pasture was done for the day.

Besides, it was 90 some degrees and I was already sweating like a pig.

You all have a wonderful weekend! If you celebrate, have a safe Labor Day.
We'll be laying close to home. No money until next Tuesday.

I'm glad August is over. Come on fall! Take care! :-)

So. The new kid on the block.

You'd think with digs like these, (s)he'd stay put.



And certainly you wouldn't expect him to cross this road 2 times...



We get a lot of traffic at times. This road connects a major expressway, with another highway. One on each side of us. Big rigs usually go down the highway at a pretty good clip for a rural road.
It's in the process of being repaved, but they are taking their time.

But the new kid wanted to visit I guess, because this is what we saw when we were mowing a couple of days ago.




We chased him across the road into this culvert.



And he came back again.

(Okay, uploaded to YouTube...)


So, to make our point, hubby managed to rope him.



And we dragged him back to where he belonged.

He was not amused.



Don't know what he thought he was going to find in our pasture, but hopefully we made our point and have seen the last of him.


You all have a great day. Take care. ♥

Was going to tell you about the New Kid on the block

But, after mowing the pasture there were other problems to attend to.

Those of you with pantries, may or may not have had this problem before. I know I've read some bloggers post of it, but since this is my first time dealing with it, I have questions.

Hubby had opened a bag of brown rice to fix some for dinner, and found bugs in it. While not happy, I told him I wasn't surprised because I've read of it happening.
Now while we are not really 'preppers' in any way other than we know we should have food and water stored in case of the zombie apocalypse hurricanes or power outages; we do stockpile some things. Dreamfields pasta is one. Hubby is diabetic. Not many stores carry more than one or two varieties if they carry any at all. So we tend to buy it by the case on the internet.
And short grain brown rice. We prefer the nutty flavor or the short grain rice, so we tend to buy several bags when we can find it. We eat a lot of rice. More so than potatoes.
It was one of the bags of rice with the offending bugs in it.
Now I've seen on TV, and read on blogs about storing stuff in five gallon buckets. And while we probably should buy the fancy storage bags, we don't. We do, however, store extra purchases in labeled five gallon buckets with the spin top lids.
My question is this. We had two other packages of rice in the bucket. One is a vacuum sealed bag of Basmati rice. The other is a normal package of short grain brown rice. I am relatively certain the vacuum sealed bag is not contaminated by this infestation, right? But what about the regular package of rice? We looked at it closely and don’t see any creepy crawlies in it, haha. Do you think it still be okay, too?

The offending bucket has been soaked in hot water with bleach; followed by a scrubbing with hot soapy water and a rinse with hot water.

Now for my second question. If any of you have wells that supply your own drinking water, have you ever had your water smell like sulpher? Our well is 300 feet deep. There is an aquifer under this part of central Louisiana that probably supplies our well. The water started smelling a few months ago. We’ve talked with the local Ag Extension office, and we've called a half dozen water offices, trying to find someone that can tell us something. Or test the water. Because it’s a private well, they won’t test it for us. They just said there is probably nothing to worry about.
Now, I don’t subscribe to gloom and doom per say, but there is a natural gas pipeline just more than a stone’s throw from our yard, and Louisiana started fracking last year. :-/
I suppose we’ll have to cough up the money to get our well tested; but I was wondering if there is something less expensive we might look into that someone could suggest?

Oh, and I should let you know there was no heat exhaustion today. I didn’t sweat much – probably because it was windy and humid; but I also felt okay after all the mowing. Tired, but good.
I'll tell you about the new kid in another post.

You all have a good evening and a happy Tuesday!

At my age you would think I'd know better

This is going to be a picture heavy post.
As you know, hubby had shoulder surgery a couple of weeks ago, so I've been trying to keep up with things. We don't have a big place, but it does take a while to get the mowing done. He's doing much better, thank you. It's getting harder to keep him from doing what he thinks he can do.

We do have a lot of trees, and they do provide shade. Here is the shadiest spot in the pasture (no, no animals there right now, but we still call it the pasture).



A shot of the canopy. ;-)



Lovely spot, isn't it? And yes, we need to do some trimming.

This is what you see when you exit. Lots and lots of sun.



We have lots of trees, and sporadic shade from them. And it does feel nice when you get in it.



But there is a lot of sun to mow under, too. ;-)




This is how the shade tree looks from the outside. You can see the Live Oaks are shorter than the pecan trees. :-)





I saw this little fellow(?) while I was mowing. It was in the shade too.



Can you see the little praying mantis? :-)

I should have used the umbrella contraption like I used here; but the tractor has a roll bar and I couldn't figure out how to mount the umbrella. I'll have to figure it out for next time, though, because it's only getting hotter this week; and I think I got a mild case of heat stroke today.
I felt fine while I was sitting on the tractor and mowing (though it was hot -- 100F, (37.8C)). I took short breaks. I had 2 bottles of water with me.
But when I finished and went in the house, I very nearly blacked out. My vision kept getting hazy and I was dizzy and weak. Couldn't move and my legs almost gave out, so I had no choice but to sit down. (A little background here: Until my 60th birthday, I didn't sweat. Finally, a few years after menopause I can sweat!) Anyway, I got the small fan off the counter and turned it on high. Then I called hubby and asked him to come into the kitchen so he could move the other fan so it would blow on me, too. No AC in the kitchen and I couldn't get up to go to the closest air conditioned room.
I asked him to give me some celery, and I really started feeling better while I was sitting there.

Suffice to say, I feel fine after some dinner and more to drink. But I really should have had the sense to come in out of the sun. It took two days to mow the pasture. Next time I'll take three.

You all have a wonderful, safe weekend. ♥