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It not bugs after all.

Category: A little of this and a little of that. | Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 1:52 am

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I just learned that what makes that neat pattern on our watermelons is a virus and not really a bug. It is carried by aphids from one plant to another. But It is called; Papaya ringspot virus. Oh well, we will be looking forward to see what neat designs we get next year. I think they are really interesting to see.

Last edited: Thu Nov 10, 2011 1:52 am

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Bug art work.

Category: A little of this and a little of that. | Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 11:42 pm

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As I had posted in the gallery. We have quite an interesting bug that loves to make some pretty neat designs on the outside of our watermelons. Not sure what the bug is. But it is welcome to my watermelons any time it has the urge to draw. Here is the pic again of the design it drew this year.


Bug art on watermelon. ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )





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Got your Goat.

Category: A little of this and a little of that. | Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 11:21 pm

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This past week I have been spending my time with these two cute little boys.


Patches and Gizmoe ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )

They are 4 month old Fainting goat wethers (geldings in horse talk). I use to raise Fainting goats and haven't had any around for 2yrs now. They are really sweet natured goats. They are like potato chips. You can't have just one or none. Since we sold all of our goats we have had an empty spot in our hearts. It seemed that when we were out and about we would see goats and crane our necks to see what they looked like. Or pull over to get a better look.
So we figured we better get two of our own and we wouldn't be running off the road to see others goats.
I am teaching them to walk on a lead. They are slowly getting the hang of it. But you end up playing drag a goat at first. I have small halters I use on them so I don't hurt their necks. I found that the walk ease dog head halters work great for these little guys.
I spent all last week revamping our two horse stalls back to being goat stalls. I also made a new small door in the one stall that opens to a small fenced in pasture area. The fence has one strand of electric around the top to keep critters from climbing over the 3ft fence and coming into the barn. I'll post some pic's of my barn renovation later. Well I hope you think these two guys are just to darn cute. One for each of the Grand boys to enjoy.



Last edited: Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:53 pm

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Our Mini vacation to Galena Illinois.

Category: A little of this and a little of that. | Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 1:34 pm

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Hi all: Here are a few pic's of our fun trip to the neat town of Galena along the Mississippi river we took on Aug. 27-29th. The weather was a bit warm but the scenery kept you ohhhing and ahhhhing. The town of Galena is very quaint with a lot of older brick buildings as you can see from the one photo I took of the still working fire station. The hills surrounding the area were spectacular. Almost looked like mountains but are just foot hills really.
We had not made reservations anywhere. So when we arrived around 2:30 in the afternoon we figured we should find a place to stay overnight. We had our little dog Tootsie with us so it had to be pet friendly.
3 hotels later and no rooms available I was wondering how far out of town we would have to go. One hotel gave us the phone number for a Resort named, Chestnut Mountain. I had saw it online when I was checking out pet friendly places we could stay. But figured that a Resort would be more expensive then a reg. hotel. So I said a little prayer and said that if this was the place we were suppose to stay they would have a room available.
So I called them and they said yes they had a pet friendly room available with two double beds. Just what we where looking for. Thank you Lord. Now for the cost of the room. When they said 119.00 I had to ask them to repeat it. We had checked with one other Resort that did have a room but they wanted 189.00 per night and a non-refundable 75.00 payment for the dog. NO WAY!
So I asked how far out of town they where. She said 8 miles and we were on our way. She tried to give me directions but lost me after the last turn here. So we plugged the address into our GPS and off we went. We drove on a pretty narrow country road. Up hill and down and finally saw the Chestnut Mountain Resort sign. With a sigh of relief we turned down the road and in a little bit saw this lodge slowly appear in front of us that looked like a Swiss Chalet.
Wow, the place was so nice. We checked in and were given two $10.00 meal vouchers to use for breakfast. They had two dinning areas. One was a casual dining area and the other a more formal one. We always opted for the casual. The food was great and the views were spectacular.
Once in our room I petted Tootsie and said thank you for getting us such a great place to stay. By that time is was 5:00pm. So we ate supper and took Toot's for a walk and looked at the wonderful view. The Lodge is a Ski lodge with 8 ski runs. They also have an Alpine sled that you can ride down to the bottom of the main ski hill and then you take the chair lift back up to the top.
So on Sunday after breakfast and a dog walk. We put Tootsie in the car and headed for the Alpine sled run.
Weeeeeee, went down the run and then headed over to the tour boat that took us out for an 1 1/2 hr. ride on the Mississippi river. Very relaxing and peaceful. Once back to the dock we headed to the chair lift and road up to the top and fetched Tootsie out of the car. It was time for another dog walk. We decided to stay one more night to go into Galena and see all the neat shoppes and old buildings. When we went to tell the desk clerk we were staying one more night she said that our cost would only be 89.00 for that night. Plus they once again gave us each a 10.00 dollar meal ticket for breakfast. So for both night we really only paid a total of 179.00 plus tax. What a blessing. We got in the car around 10:00 am and had a leisurely 4 1/2 drive back home. So here are just a few of the pic's I took of that beautiful place. If you ever want to go somewhere for a vacation get away I would recommend you go to Chestnut Mountain Resort.


Historic Mining town near Mineral Point, Wis ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )






Shake rag? ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )






Pendarvis Historic mining town. ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )






Galena, Illinois old fire station still operating. ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )






Part of Chestnut mountain lodge. ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )






My honey with lodge in background. ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )






Lodge ski store with lodge off to the left. ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )






View of Mississippi from top of one of the ski hills. ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )






Mississippi view from our room. ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )






Weee going down the Alpine sled run. ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )






Bottom of sled run with chair lift off to the right. ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )






Little tour boat waiting for us to board. ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )






View of Lodge as we rode up on the ski lift. ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )






Sunset view from our room. A beautiful end to a wonder trip.. ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )





Last edited: Sun Sep 04, 2011 9:31 pm

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Mullein. A power house of goodness.

Category: A little of this and a little of that. | Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 3:23 pm

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Mullein tea is one of the safest, and most effective herbal cough remedies. Mullein is an expectorant, and tonic for the lungs, mucous membranes,and glands. An infusion is good for colds, emphysema, asthma, hay fever, whooping cough or what they now call COPD. Put about 2 TB of dried leaves into a Quart jar. Pour boiling water over the leaves to top of jar and seal with a lid. Let stand for at least 4hrs or overnight. The longer you let it sit the stronger the infusion will be. Then take a piece of cloth like an old hankie or fabric with a tighter weave. Put it over another jar and strain the mullein infusion threw it to get all the fine hairs out of the infusion before drinking it. Then take 1/2 c. of mullein infusion and a 1/2 c. milk. Heat to drinking temp. and add honey to taste and drink. You can also us the dried leaves like loose tea and make a tea out of it my steeping it in boiling water for about 3 to 4 minutes. But be sure to strain out the fine hairs before drinking.
Laboratory tests have shown that it's anti-inflammatory, with antibiotic activity, and that it inhibits the tuberculosis bacillus. The indians smoked dried mullein and coltsfoot cigarettes for asthma and bronchitis, and indications are that it is very effective against those as well as bronchitis.
If you want for information the web is loaded with good info on this and many other plants that are considered weeds but are so beneficial for us. Now you know the rest of the story.

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More crazy weather for this week.

Category: A little of this and a little of that. | Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 12:32 pm

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Yesterday Aug. 29th we finally got some rain. If you can call it rain. It was more like fine mist which didn't amount to much. I have been watering like crazy. Our watermelons, cantaloupe, and pumpkins are at their growing peek. I can see that fall is just around the corner. All of our golden rod is in full bloom. We even have a few trees turning color.
Today Aug.3oth we have over cast skies which is great for working outside. Temp's in the 70's which is very nice. Thursday is suppose to be more humid but temp's in the higher 70's.
But Friday is going to be a cooker with very high humidity. It is suppose to be around 70 by 6:00am and then get up to 90 during the hottest part of the day. Ugh! I hate that kind of weather.
Then by Sunday it will only be 69 for a high temp. Ahhhhh more to my liking. Well I better get my day started and say bye for now.


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The best pollen you can eat.

Category: A little of this and a little of that. | Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 3:52 pm

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Did you know that cattail pollen is better for you than Bee pollen. Yup! It beats it in flavor, energy content, freshness, nutrients, and energy. To collect the pollen in it's rather short season. You will need a calm day and a paper bag. Just bend the flower heads into your bag and shake lightly. You can see the pollen on the outside of the brown cattail so you know when to harvest. You can add it to anything you are eating.

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Burdocks are yummy.

Category: A little of this and a little of that. | Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 1:00 pm

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Just dig up the root in spring, summer, or fall. It should be the first year plant growth when the leaves form a basil rosette. Otherwise the root will be to tough to eat. Clean with a good course clean scouring pad under running water. Cut in small pieces of about 1/4 or less to break up the fibers. Or us you thinnest blade on your food processor. You cook it the same way you would a potato. You can bake or boil it and if tender when poked with a fork it's done. It is a power house of vit's and mineral's. Enjoy! Ps: also digging up the root will keep you in great shape.

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