Dee

We finally caved and turned the furnace on last night. High today in the 40's and with the rain it's just too cold and damp to hold off any longer. Some of our trees are still pretty but many are bare. The farmers are harvesting beans, when the weather holds, but when they plow up the field turning it black we have to know winter isn't too far off. I don't like winter!!!

We're used to hearing about the heartache of others but not knowing them personally we say a prayer, feel badly for them and go on with our daily lives. Last week we dealt with the heartache of DH's cousins daughter being killed in the shooting in Las Vegas, 2 friends of another cousin being hurt in the chaos of running away and then our 10 and 8 year old grandchildren in a lockdown situation (thankfully a hoax) in their school. I was ready for last week to be over and praying for a better next week. Then yesterday we got the news that my nephews brother in law lost his home in the Santa Rosa fire. They got out safely with their pets and the clothes they were wearing but lost everything else. All of a sudden it's like I'm waiting for the next shoe to drop. I don't like feeling this way but............

Yes, I let them cool completely before putting the 2 together and into the freezer. We got our waffle iron for a wedding gift 51 years ago and it still works great. It's also Teflon which surprises me since I can't remember having Teflon back then other than this waffle iron. It's not a Belgian iron, don't think they had those back then either. Its just a smallish round iron that works like a dream. Dh and I each ate 2 more waffles the next evening for supper and then I froze the rest with a total of 28 bags in the freezer. Dh will like that and hopefully they'll last awhile. He only eats them when I don't fix him breakfast. LOL

I just saw this post and went to Amazon to look at the book. I would love to read it so I'm going to check and see if our library can inter loan it. I doubt I'd ever follow what she/they do but it would be an interesting read.

Thanks everyone. I've heard of all the authors other than J.A. Konrath and I've read something by most. I'll check them out and see if I can find one I haven't read BUT I'm especially interested in Konrath snapshotmiki since I haven't heard of him. Thanks everyone. Would love to hear of more.

Nice to see I'm not alone on this new adventure of getting older. Yep, that what I try to view it as......a new adventure. Homey, you inspired me with your post. Today I cooked a pound of bacon and put it in the freezer after fixing DH a BLT for lunch. I cooked 3 dozen Hormel link sausages and put all but 3 in the freezer. For supper I quadrupled my recipe for waffles. We ate the 3 sausages with 2 waffles each and I put 13 bags of 2 in the freezer. There's still enough batter for at least 8-10 more bags but I got tired and put the rest in the fridge until tomorrow when we'll have them for lunch and I'll finish getting the rest cooked and bagged up for the freezer. Felt good to get that much done. Look at that, we can still accomplish things if we're inspired!

I'm reading this and that but haven't found a book in ages that has drawn me in to where I can't put it down. Any suggestions? I like mysteries, Tess Gerritsen (Rizzoli and Isles), James Patterson, etc. I loved the older Rita Mae Brown books, Diane Mott Davidson, you know just the easy murder mystery w/o all the gore. I love old west type books BUT not the ones with the gorgeous man and beautiful woman on the front cover. They're usually way too much love story and too little history. I enjoy 1800's in about any country. I like seeing how they lived, getting ideas and most of all wondering how they survived. My goodness they lived hard lives unless they were the wealthy but writers like Catherine Cookson showed the side of the average person, not the wealthy with servants, etc. Anyone with new ideas for me? Winters coming and I need a book to snuggle in with. Oh, and the bigger the book the better!

43* here this morning. Feels like it's time to switch from the air to heat since the house was only 66* BUT we know it will warm up this afternoon.

Last week here in Northern Iowa we were in the 90's. This week it's the 70's and lovely. Some farmer's have begun harvesting their soybeans and we hope to begin by the first of next week. Sometime in October we'll harvest the corn and then hopefully have everything safely stored for another year. The next season will be winter and I hate winter. Love the other 3 season but winter.....BAH! Here's a picture I took this morning of the sunrise with fog rising off the pasture. Have a great day everyone!

It all looks beautiful Homey. I did the same Jeepers. For days, like you said, they burned and hurt so badly. I learned a big lesson.

Ahhh, so nice to hear from others. I am still going and still doing just NOT like I used to. Today I've filled 23 green peppers with a hamburger/rice mixture to put in the freezer. Before cleaning up the mess I'll chunk up enough green peppers to fill a gallon bag or so to freeze to put on pizza, in roasts, etc. this winter BUT that will pretty well do any prepping for this day. Prepping 2 or 3 hours a day, a day or two a week is enough for me anymore, whereas, I used be working at something from morning till night, day after day, after day.

We're just getting started around here. "They" tell us to wait until after Mother's Day in Northern Iowa but most of us can't stand the wait and begin as soon as it warms up. We sometimes lose things and often have to cover things but after a brutal cold winter the suns warmth is too inviting to ignore. So, I've put out 5 tomato plants, 2 hills of cucumbers, a package of sugar snap peas, 1 green pepper plant and radishes. More will go out in a couple of weeks but it's been in the 70's off and on for a week and 82 yesterday so how could I not get started? I've also planted three 60' rows of flower seeds in front of the house. Cleome in the back, cosmos in the middle and zinnias in the front. All in purples and whites. I had plans to make it bright and colorful with all shade of colors but somewhere along the line I ended up with purples. I'm not quite sure when or why I changed but we'll hope it's pretty. What have you done?

Beautiful Annarchy! For us in Iowa we can let them grow until it gets hot. After that they lose a lot of their sweetness and tenderness. And yes, as Mt. Rider said, they'll split when they get too big. Pick that thing and get to eating. YUM!

They told me my colors would be better too. I thought they were nuts. I could see colors just fine. WRONG! LOL Colors were so sharp and vibrant after surgery that I was totally amazed. The original change must have come on so gradually I didn't realize it had even changed.

Wow, hope your DH is doing well. That's kind of a surgery to do I'd think. Did your cataract surgery go well? I had mine done over 20 years a go now and it was great! We've moved to a smaller place too. We put up a new house that's one story, no basement and no garage. Hope to get a garage in time but being retired and not having to get out I can usually stay home a couple of days and let the snow work it's way off the car. Like you doing much prepping in this smaller house is kind of tough. However the old house will stay empty so many things are still over there. I'm sure before next winter decisions will need to be made because I doubt DH is going to want to heat the old unheatable barn of a house.

Oh Jeepers, that's a hoot. LOL Thankfully he really is so young that you didn't have to question any of it!!!

What's been going on in all of your lives? How about at Mrs.S? I'm so happy to be remembered by some of you and hope to meet others along the way.

One of the first things ready here in Northern Iowa is rhubarb. Today I've been freezing bags, 2 cups per bag, and putting them in the freezer for winter eating. DH likes it cooked as a sauce on the stove and of course adding plenty of sugar. I'll also use it for rhubarb desserts. Yesterday I made rhubarb jam. Yummy and so easy. This recipe doubles, triples and I've even quadrupled it. Yesterday I made a double batch of strawberry and another double batch of black cherry. 6 cups rhubarb, chopped in 1/2 to 1" pieces 3 1/2 cups sugar 1/4 cup water Put the above ingredients in a sauce pan and cook on high until the sugar dissolves, 2-5 minutes. Lower heat and cook 10 minutes. Uncover and cook another 10-15 minutes until tender.. Remove from heat and stir in a small box of Jell-O. My recipe calls for strawberry but I've used other flavors too. Ladle into sterilized jars. Wipe rims and add sterilized flats and rings. Screw lids on tightly and turn upside down on a towel for 5 minutes and then stand right side up. If you prefer you can follow how to water bath in the Ball Blue Book Let cool overnight. In the morning remove the rings, wash jars with warm soapy water.and and store for delicious winter eating.

Have you read an Untamed Land by Laurine Snelling? It's a series I read for the first time years ago. I seldom reread a book but I read these again over the winter. It's about the Bjorklund family who leaves Norway in 1880 to homestead on the North Dakota prairie. There's love, joy, heartache and tragedy. All the things you need for a good read.. You can find it in Kindle, paperback, hardbound, audio or MP3. I checked mine out at my local library. With 1237 reviews it's received 4 1/2 stars.

Thanks for the welcome back ladies!

Nice to be thought of! I used to make breakfast burritos and freeze them years ago but I haven't for so long that I'd forgotten all about them. Grandchildren are the best! I have a 10 year old grandson and 8 year old granddaughter that live close enough to walk over. Then I have a 2 year old grandson at Lake Tahoe that I don't see very often. It does sound like you keep busy with your children. That's always a good thing!

Everyone I haven't been here for ages but I'm hoping to reconnect. Life has been busy but now seems to have settled down some.....thankfully!!! I've been reading a little and have seen Snowmom's recent post about Old Pine. Gee Snowmom, I hope things are working out. You will both be in my prayers! I haven't read a whole lot yet so am hoping others are doing well, that there are still people here who might remember me and to the new ones! A big to everyone!!! Dee

Iowa has or will be destroying 31,000,000 (yes that's million) chickens and turkeys.

When I called Amazon they told me I could go into the settings and change it which DDIL had already done before I got an answer. Yes, I do have the "one click" option and I still have to put in a password but I don't have a Kindle, I have a Samsung Galaxy tablet, so maybe that's the difference.

I posted this at Facebook and thought it should also be posted here. I was not aware of this with Amazon and I think the more that can learn of it the better We bought DS and DDIL a Kindle for Christmas. Tonight as they were trying it out they found ALL MY information on it. As DDIL and I talked on the phone she ordered something for $15.99 WITHOUT having to put in a password. Sure enough it showed up as purchased in my email account. I called Amazon to see what the deal was. Since I was having it sent to my house I didn't ...click on "gift". So, w/o clicking on the "gift" it was registered to me with all the information stored right in it. So, a word to the wise, ALWAYS click on gift if you're buying one for someone else or all your information, including all your books, will be on their Kindle. Another strange thing, on MY tablet I have to put in the password before ordering but they didn't....weird! Am I the only one that didn't know this about clicking on "gift"?