Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a time to reflect on those who have served in the military and a day to remember all the blood that has been shed to protect our flag. "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America..."

A time to honor our family that served. My Great Uncle Jupe, a proud Marine, who fought in WWII. My Great Great Grandfather Wodke, who fought in the Civil War. My Great Uncles who served during WWI. My Grandad who signed up to serve in WWI also.

My second cousin, Colter, who currently serves in the Army. Thank you for your service. My cousin Kenneth, who served in the Army. Thank you for all the sacrifices you and your family made to protect this country. My Dad, who served in the National Guard for 8 years. Thank you for your commitment to this country. My step cousin, Jeremy, who serves in the Navy.

My husband who has served in Iraq twice and will go again if called. Thank you for all the sacrifices you make to keep this country free and safe for Matthew and I to live in. We love you.

Thank you to all the boys that have served with my husband: Buckner, Jones, Tysor, Stiles, Scovil, Harden, Wilkerson, Pollom, Astin, Cannon, and Ressdorf to name a few. You are some of the bravest men I've ever met. And one more thanks to 2 men I grew up with that are gone now, Rip and Doc. Thanks for your service in WWII.

Thank you to all the men and women serving all over the world. "...One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Here is the link to a neat article I found about the Arlington ladies. And another that's a side show of women in uniform throughout the ages.

Joys

There are many joys in the world, if you just take the time to notice them and appreciate them. There is the joy of spinning things. The joy of parents and grandparents and small boys. And cowboys hats, let's not forget cowboy hats.

There is the joy of being able to go to a ridiculously over priced spa because your husband loved you enough to give you a gift card for there.

There is the joy of being able to take a moment to relax in quiet and do something for yourself. Just as taking care of your family is a joy.

There is the joy of a beautiful flower that decided to bloom 2 yrs after you planted it.

Yellow dogs are normally a joy, as long as they aren't in your garden or flower patch.

There is the joy of discovering a cool moth, even if it might be something you don't want in your garden.

Butterflies are always a joy in the garden.


What joys do you have in your life?

kinderGARDEN Thursday: week 7

This week Matthew and I tackled the family garden plot. Inside this fence is the family's 2 plots that were based off of square foot gardening. This is the site of my first gardening experiences and boy was it a wreck. It hasn't been gardened for probably quite a few years.

Matthew decided to help his Mom with the "labor."

"MaMaw, I have seeds on my hands."

The pumpkins have been planted.

Pumpkin sprout in the sun. Soon there will be tomatoes also planted in here and tended by Dad. The farmer that he is likes to raise tomatoes. (He hardly ever eats them, but they sure are yummy.)

The purple green beans.

Matthew helped to water the garden, now that the rains have left us and the sun is baking us.


He did a great job. I'm sure the garden is proud of him.


Tuesday I was in such a rush to get the Thursday post published and linked up, I totally forgot to link to The Inadvertent Farmer's week 6 post. Here is week 6 and week 7. At least I'm posting on the right day this week!

Very late kinderGARDEN Thursday-week 6

It's been a long week folks. We've been moving since last Sunday with only a day respite. Matthew is fried, I'm exhausted, and our garden has been on it's own for over a week. Probably 2 if anyone is counting. This is what the new house looked like Friday and still in a different arrangement.

Some of our plants at the new house on Friday. They didn't all arrive till Sunday night. I wanted to blog last week, but all I did was pack and move, pack and move, pack and move...

Every night I'd be so tired I'd just fall into bed and get up and do it again. (Phil was only able to help me move the furniture on Sunday so after that it was up to me and Matthew, so really just me.) After 6 solid days of it, I was so tired Friday night I started snapping at my sweet mom and son. After all, my parents were good enough to come to the new house every time so I could unload without the son playing in the street. Thursday I made 4 trips and went to work! So, I redeemed myself by buying the boy and Mamaw some chillers. All was forgiven. That's the power of fruit and icecream. Especially the icecream.

I guess this was Friday morning. We'd moved too much to stay at our house Thursday, but there was too much confusion at the new house to stay there, so we bunked with the Grandparents. What a ham.

And here he is on his new bed. He's liked his new room and bed so much that he has actually slept the whole night in his bed both nights we've stayed here. (Friday night we drove to Phil's. Got in at 10:15 pm and left around 1 pm on Sunday to go to 2 parties and move more.)

Back to gardening, the whole reason for the post. All pots of plants are here and accounted for. Some are on the front porch and some are behind the house. The lettuce got sortof leggy and may die. The cilantro sprouts may not be cilantro sprouts. Don't ask me how, I just don't remember planting that much. Most of the tomato plants are starting to grow bigger. The alpine strawberries and peppers I don't think are doing much. The beans look awesome. My coworkers beans have sprouted! I think that may be the biggest triumph this week. Well, now that I have internet again (missed it Saturday-this morning) I will be back more regularly and definitely on Thursday to do that newest kinderGARDEN post. Today's the last day of work for the school year! Gardening here I come!!! That is after I sort the house out...

The way little boys roll

So today I was loading boxes into the back of the 4-Runner and Matthew had crawled in the backseat, to watch the process. When I came back with another box, I saw the boy with his pants down and he asked me to help him pull them up. What are they doing down in the first place I wanted to know. Well, I peed on the grass Mom...and there and there too. As I came around the side I could see the pipe rail looked like it had been sprinkled on, but it wasn't sprinkling. Yes, my son peed right out of the door of the car. Heaven help us all.

Lately Matthew has been coming up with very lively imaginary play with his stuffed animals and cars. One is the Mom, one the Dad, one the baby. And they talk and play and cry and get lost. He has more fun making up storylines. Sometimes he counts in the mirror and then says to go to timeout. Or pretends to cry. He's a real hambone. There is NEVER a dull moment here.

Pictures say it all

The journey has begun.

One of the wonderful birds that visit our yard every year. Have wonderful week everyone!

Chinook helicopter

Yesterday after work, Matthew and I took off for Phil's apartment. We were coming to see a Chinook land at a grade school. Here is Matthew and I goofing around waiting. Phil was one of the recruiter's in charge of helping with the event.

We could hear it before we saw it. The kids were screaming as soon as they heard it. When they spotted it they went nuts.

Descending.

Around this time the rush of air caught us and Matthew decided he wasn't so fond of helicopters after all.

It's down. Phil looking on as the crew does their thing.



The Chinook is in the house.

We were the first people to go up to it. Looking in at crew stowing helmets and such.

Matthew in the cockpit.



Matthew telling me he doesn't like the cockpit.

I'm such a good Army wife I salute my husband.



Matthew and I got to hand out flags to all the school kids and other kids that showed up. Here is a picture of Matthew giving a pair of twins flags.


We had so much fun! It was an absolute blast. Kids came up to shake hands with my husband and thank him for serving, 2 girls wanted his autograph, while others told him they liked his helicopter. It is something that I'm not going to forget for a long time and if Matthew doesn't remember I have about 20 pictures to remind him. In parting here is one of the videos I shot of the Army guys "allowing" the school kids to win at tug of war. Enjoy!

kinderGARDEN Thursday: week 5

There are now 36 families participating in the kinderGARDENS contest! Isn't that exciting? Here is week 5 post over at The Inadvertent Farmer. Most of them are families with little kids, but one participant is opening her garden to adult volunteers. Click here and here to see what she has to say. I think that's a great idea too. It's important to get "children" of all ages in the garden and learn how to be less reliant on our grocery stores. Just this past week lettuce was pulled from shelves for E coli problems. Story on that here. Last year or the year before, it was spinach being recalled. Much of our apple juice comes from China, Argentina, and Mexico. When Matthew was drinking alot of it, I could only find one brand that sold apple juice grown in the USA. Isn't that sad? What is wrong with a country that can't even grow it's own food? Ok, ok, I'll get off my soapbox (that isn't what you all come over for) but I really think it's food for thought. Makes a great case for being self-reliant.

On to our story, what we've been doing in the garden the past week. It's been an adventure this week. We had Scamp toss several pots around and destroyed some seedlings. They've been replanted and we are hoping for the best. To read about the damage more go here. Monday our idea got mentioned over at Not Dabbling in Normal. Please do go here and read about it just because I was THRILLED! Otherwise, we did what replanting was necessary and a tiny bit of watering and then it's been cold and rainy, so we just been kicking back our heels. Here is a few pictures of our sprouts that desperately want it to turn warm and sunny again.

The Iran pumpkins. 6 sprouts now, couldn't be more pleased. That's great sprouting for seeds that had a low germination rate and are now 5 yrs old.

The replanting of the Forellenschuss lettuce is sprouting.

One of the heirloom tomatoes.

One of the Royalty Purple Pod beans is sprouting.

Tuesday Matthew, Mom, and I got ditch iris. I didn't have time to plant it yesterday, when it wasn't raining, so Matthew and I ran out and got it planted today.

Matthew assisted me by pulling grass and handing me irises to plant. I did the back breaking digging.

We planted them by our barn between the 2 rose bushes I transplanted last yr. It ends up just being a big weed pit that Phil is scared to mow or weed eat for fear of hitting one of my plants. I'm hoping that this will turn into another beautiful flower garden. Anyone who has been to my house know I'm tucking flowers everywhere I see grass still standing after Phil mows. Now if we can just keep Scamp out of the garden, we'll be ok!

My coworker informed me this week that the purple green beans have been planted in their container and she is just waiting for them to sprout. She then said," if they ever do." I said, "Mine haven't yet, just be patient!" I'm hoping that they do well and it sparks something in that talented, creative family.

If you've missed our previous kinderGARDEN Thursdays here is the list:
Week 4
Week 3
Practice Run
Salsa Garden Planting List
Week 2
Post with Links to Week 1 and 2 on the Inadvertent Farmer's site

That should catch up everyone up. The posts have links to the contest and weekly updates that have other people linked to them. As usual it's not to late to join the fun. If you are family that doesn't have a blog, but wants to play along, let me know. If you send me photos and text about what you are doing, I'd be happy to post it for you. Happy gardening everyone!