Hey, Everybody, I'm Back !

Well, we're about to see if Diane, the new hard drive and Demon Blogger are compatible and cooperating today. I don't have many of my pictures on this computer yet, so I stole...I mean, borrowed, some images from Yahoo for this post. What with working on setting up the new hard drive and doing some major overhauling here at home, I haven't had much time for blogging. I did get some closets cleaned out and got rid of A TON of stuff, but I still have my outside utility room to go through. I have saved boxes of school papers, awards, choir and band concert programs, cards, etc.........LOTS of etc. let me tell you! I've already gone through a lot of stuff from the inside closets, but I have more outside to go through and sort, keep and discard. There will be much discarding yet to do. I (make that Jessica) already threw out a pile of junk almost head high from the inside closets, and there's a lot more stuff in the outside utility room than there was in the closets......*Sigh*........Jessica and I planned a day to do all of the closets and the outside utility room, but the weather geeks were predicting rain that day, and it DID look like it might open up and pour down at any time, all day long, so we decided just to work on the inside that day. A lot of that stuff out there is pure-dee ol' junk, but some of it is good junk that I still want and use, so I didn't want to take a chance of it getting ruined. So now we have to try to plan a day to work on the outside utility room. I am sure glad we got the closets done. Thanks to Jessica it only took about 5 hours. If I had done it all myself, it would have literally taken 2 days, and I would probably be down for a couple of days with my arthritis.


I want to take just a moment to remember my Mama's birthday today. She would have been 77 years old today. I miss her every day, and I can't wait to see her again.

I love you, Mama. Happy birthday.

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I mentioned to a blogger friend that I would try to get some pictures of the countryside here, and some of the fields and just the general area. I haven't had a chance to do that yet, but as I was riding in the car today, I was looking out the window along the railroad, and I noticed all the wildflowers and blooming weeds. I thought some of you might be interested in seeing some of our common wildflowers and weeds.

Bitterweed, there to the left, is called that because it has a caustic, bitter smell, but also because when milk cows eat it, it makes their milk bitter to drink. If you ever smell it, you'll never forget it. It smells kind of like a really strong marigold, if that makes sense to anyone besides me.

Another one we see quite a lot of on the railroad is mullein, there to the right. This picture doesn't do it justice, because it often gets even taller, and it has bright yellow blooms all along that flower spike. The leaves have fine down on them, soft and hairy. It used to be used for medicinal purposes years ago, but I have no idea what in particular it was used to treat.

The one to the left is thistle. It is a stickery weed, about 2-3 feet high, and it is a fairly recent newcomer to this area. It is a nuisance weed, and very difficult to kill once it gets established. Birds like finches and cardinals love the seeds, though. It's pretty, but painful to tangle with.

That's joepye weed to the right. There are some cultivated varieties, but it grows wild here. This one has a reddish tint, but the true purple ones are my favorites. They get really tall, too, about 3-5 feet.

Those are wild asters there to the left. They range in color from deep purple to all shades of pink. I remember taking Mama a many a bouquet of wild asters, dandelions, bitterweed, and the next two wildflowers.

The pretty yellow one to the right is evening primrose. It grows low on the ground, and it grows wild in fence rows and the edges of fields, pastures and such.

The pink one to the left is Missouri Primrose, one of my very favorite wildflowers, and it was also one of my Mama's favorites. The picture doesn't really do it justice. In the early morning light a group of these is breathtaking, and they like bad, infertile ground. These are often seen in burned off areas, or around old houses and barns. They are very delicate, but at the same time very hardy once established.

Another common wildflower is Queen Anne's Lace, or as we call it in my family, chigger weed. It grows all along the roadsides here, in great drifting clouds of white.

And for my last weed 0' the day, elderberries grow with wild abandon along the railroad and fencerows. They have creamy white flower clusters, a lot like Queen Anne's Lace, and then the purple-black berries follow in late summer and fall. I have several recipes for elderberries, but I have never picked any to make jelly or anything with them so far. I do want to try them, though.


Okay, I think I've bored everyone enough for this post. Hopefully I will have something more interesting to post next time. I'm still working on getting my digital camera to work on this computer, but maybe that will be resolved by the next time I post.

Wishing everyone a great rest of the week! :-)