The Little House that Love Built!

This post is for my Daddy Cecil's birthday on March 25th!

My mom and Daddy Cecil married when I was 4 years old. It would be untrue to say that we fell into a close relationship right away. I had been used to having my mom all to myself and Dad was often strict, something I was not used to. Our family had an adjustment period ahead!

           When I was nearly seven, Dad was lured to Caprock, New Mexico to work at a television transmitter. Caprock is an area far from civilization with tumbleweeds instead of trees. Three houses set not far from the tower, one for each of the work shifts. There were few children, no amusements, nothing but desert and a tall TV tower!
 

Once in New Mexico, our family had a lot of adjustments to make.  Mom had complications following a miscarriage. She was weak and unable to do much around the house. We had to keep the noise level down because Dad slept during the day then worked the night shift, after the station had signed off. He checked and maintained the equipment as well as cleaned the station.
 

 My 7th birthday was approaching. We were far from the conveniences of town and had little money with which to buy presents to celebrate. Since Dad had to remain at the transmitter each night even after he had completed all of his responsibilities, he came up with a plan; he started building a Barbie-sized dollhouse for my birthday!
 

A few years earlier, the tower had fallen on the former three shift houses and they had been bulldozed and piled into a dump. There was a bounty of dollhouse building materials at that dump!

           First Dad constructed 4 rectangular rooms from plywood scraps. He stacked them in pairs side by side. Each room was painted and had coordinating carpet or linoleum (again from the dump). The handcrafted furniture, complete with a kitchen, were all made to scale from wood scraps. Each detail was thought of such as drawers that opened complete  with handles , night stands with lamps that lit up, and a jewelry box full of necklaces to set on the dresser.  
 

On the walls of the rooms were pictures cut from my grandmother’s jigsaw puzzle boxes. Dad dug through our ragbag and mom’s material scraps where he chose material for hand-sewn mattresses, pillows, bedspreads, and tablecloths. Even the sofa was covered in fabric! He found coordinating scraps and made several outfits for each of my Barbie dolls. Ken even sported a tiny tie! My dollhouse was perfect! 
 

Over the years I spent countless hours playing with my Barbie dolls and their house. Later Dad even added a wooden car with an opening trunk much to my (and Ken's) thrill. When we finally moved back to civilization, I was the envy of my neighborhood friends!  
 

I regret that I do not have the original kitchen or car. Mom and Dad replaced them with more modern plastic ones as later gifts. My oldest daughter enjoyed my furniture and clothing with her own dolls when she was little! Since that time, all the clothes and remaining furniture have been tucked away in the attic awaiting an opportunity to be displayed and played with again! 
 

As a child, I often did not appreciate the sacrifices made on my behalf. I can now see that love was shown to me in various ways. This dollhouse is just one tangible example of how Dad planned and provided for me during the hard times as well as the good times! Thanks, Dad! I love you!

This is only a part of the doll house. There was also a pink room with bunk beds, a living room with a piano, couch, chair and a coffee table, and a full kitchen!


This is the blue bedroom minus some of its parts that didn't survive the years of play!

A hand-sewn teddy bear



Details of hand-sewn clothes for Barbie, Skipper and Tuttie

Details of some of the hand-sewn clothes for Ken

 See post for my Mom's birthday!

Sugar on the Floor, and Other Memories of Mother

In honor of my mother's birthday on February 20th, I wanted to publish a story I wrote a few years ago, but never got around to sharing...even with mother!

Happy birthday, Mom! I hope you enjoy this story. Things might not have happened exactly this way, but this is how I remember them!

___________________________________________

It was an accident, originally. I don’t even remember why my cousins and I got into the sugar. Maybe we just licked our fingers and stuck them in the jar for a quick treat. Anyway, whatever we were doing, some of the sugar spilled on the floor. What happened next is a bit fuzzy as it happened so long ago. I must have tried to scoot the sugar under the table and noticed how my leather-soled shoe glided over the sugar on the smooth linoleum surface.

I “accidentally” spilled a little more sugar and shuffled my feet in delight. My cousins followed suit. At some point we lost our inhibition, and soon had dumped nearly the entire jar of sugar on the floor! We went around and around the kitchen, ducking under the table, skating on the gritty surface in wild abandon!

This is my only memory of that kitchen. What a mess Mother must have had on her hands, but I don’t remember too much about that either. Later, Mother confided that she had peeked around the corner and saw the mayhem. Instead of rushing in to scold the lot of us, she watched in amusement, putting off the lecture we needed to keep our behavior in check. Mother was like that.

I was probably the only child in known history that was actually encouraged to jump on the bed! Sometimes Mother would say to me, ‘Why don’t you go jump on the bed?’ Delighted, I would take off my shoes, crawl up in my stocking feet and jump to my heart's content. Sometimes I landed on my feet, other times my bottom. I tried to touch the ceiling; I watched myself in the mirror. I didn’t know that I was given permission to do what other children had to sneak to do!

Another time I was playing with my cousin in our tire swing. I didn’t really like the swing because black rubber came off on my clothes, but I wanted to play with my cousin, and she wanted to swing. This day a little mud had collected in the rut made by our feet under the swing. In my cousin’s absence, this mud would have placed the swing off-limits, but my cousin felt no such restrictions. I noticed how she dragged her feet as she swung through the mud, making a spray come up. I thought, “If we add more water there will be more of a spray.” Well, we did add more water and were soon swinging through the mud, spraying it up in the air, on the tree, on the shed, on our clothes, and in our hair. It was great!!! Unnoticed, Mother watched from the kitchen window, being still so as not break the spell.

 These snapshots might lead you to think Mother indulged and spoiled me. Although she was a free spirit, a tomboy from childhood, that was not her underlying intention. I was born with scoliosis and problems with my hips and feet. It was not so severe as to be detected at birth, but when that magical age of walking arrived, I didn’t walk. I tried, but my feet turned in and my knees knocked together causing me to fall. Mother took me to specialists who fitted me with corrective shoes and taught her the exercises needed to strengthen my legs and stretch my tendons.

Instead of feeling sorry for me and shielding me from the world, Mother recognized that I needed opportunities for physical and emotional development. To create these opportunities, she drew on her naturally fun-loving personality. Rejecting many of the world’s self-imposed boundaries, Mother creatively encouraged the joys of activities such as jumping on the bed. Using wise discernment, she recognized and prolonged valuable moments of fun and play knowing there was always time for scolding and lectures. If playmates were lacking, Mother was there for games of dress-up or hide-and-seek. Mother was my first best friend.

Now that my children are grown, sitting and contemplating my past is a luxury I am beginning to appreciate. Even though I parented in a different way, much more structured yet not necessarily superior, my children were blessed with their own time with my mother. She took them walking through puddles, arrowhead hunting, bone collecting, and rock hounding. I am glad that they, along with me, were able to have those experiences and memories of Mother’s playful, fun spirit!  




Mom and Me circa 1963


 See post for my Dad's birthday!

One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato....PIE!

With the first couple of freezing nights, my garden season has all but come to an end. One of the last big harvests I brought in was my sweet potatoes!

I planted sweet potatoes last spring in a plastic garbage can in which we had drilled several drain holes. Didn't do much with them over the summer, just gave them a drink when I watered the rest of the garden. Today I dug up about over 6 pounds of potatoes!

Here is the garbage can. I wrapped it in an old piece of tin for aesthetic reasons!

Upon request of my husband, I made a sweet potato pie! Thanks to my oldest daughter for a yummy, gluten-free crust. I followed the recipe and used white sugar, but next time I may try honey.  If you use honey, leave a comment telling about your experience!

Here is a modification of the recipe I got from allrecipes.com:

1. 1 uncooked pie crust
2. 1 pound sweet potatoes
3. 1/2 c of sugar
4. 1/4 t cinnamon
5. 1/4 t nutmeg
6. 1/2 t vanilla
7. 1 egg
8. 1/2 c milk
9. 1/4 c soften butter

Boil potatoes in skins until soft (fork will easily go to the center). Rinse in cold water and hand peel (the peels come off easily!). Mix  3-5 together in a small bowl. Whip eggs, then add milk and butter. Mix all ingredients with the mashed sweet potatoes. Pour mixture into the pie shell.

(Keep in mind that you are using natural ingredients that are not pre-measured in a can. The mixture will be thin, but might need to be slightly adjusted according to your taste and the amount of sweet potatoes you end up with after taking the skins off and cutting out any eyes.)

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean. I usually check around 30 minutes to make sure the crust is not browning too much. If it is, shield it with a thin strip of foil.

Surprise Fall Garden

This spring and summer my garden was remarkably unremarkable! I only had a few tomatoes (except the cherry tomatoes which seem to produce no matter the conditions!). Most plants only yielded a handful of produce. By midsummer, I stopped watering all but the peppers, cherry tomatoes, one watermelon plant, and the zucchini. I mostly watered these to keep them blooming for the bees.

October came along and we experienced the wettest October on record in the central Texas area! My garden unexpectedly sprang to life! Even plants that hadn't been watered in a month seemed to leaf out and flower. Without any effort on my part I had an official fall garden!

The greens came back with a fury: arugula, spinach, collards, turnip, kale and amaranth. Large green globes of pumpkins began forming. Zucchini and butternut squash took off. Bountiful pepper plants with large weighty peppers crowded each other. Even a green bean vine produced several green beans (which became crunchy garden snacks since you can't really do much with 3-4 green beans at a time!)

The biggest surprise of all was a cantaloupe! You see, I didn't plant cantaloupe last spring! It must have been a seed from my compost pile that sat dormant from last year's garden. But there hangs a perfect cantaloupe, waiting for a few sunny days to develop its golden hue.

After talking to my daughter-in-law in Colorado, it began to dawn on me how blessed I was to be here in central Texas. She told me that it was 20 degrees there. They have experienced freezes for a few weeks already. Here it is November and we have yet to have a freeze. I wouldn't trade this long gardening season for all the mountains in Colorado --  I am often able to plant at the end of March and harvest up until Thanksgiving. One year it never did freeze and I had tomatoes throughout the entire winter!

Next time we suffer through a summer heat wave and I have all but given up on my struggling garden, I'll remember the spark of hope planted by this year's unplanned fall garden and hang in there a little longer. Who knows what my next fall surprise might be?



Deuteronomy 32: 1-4

"1 Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 2 Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. 3 I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! 4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he."


Psalm 37:1-9

"1 Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; 2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. 3 Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. 7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. 8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil. 9 For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land."^""

Beeladee: Bee Problems!

This year has been full of ups and downs with my bees!

I started the year with a new hive and a lot of hope! I picked up my first package of bees and installed them without a hitch! I waited on pins and needles until the suggested time that I open my hive to make sure the queen was out of her cage! She was...now I had to hold back my enthusiasm not to over check and stress the hive. I sat and watched and fretted like a mother hen!

The hive's behavior was a bit odd from the start. Comb was quickly drawn out, but I didn't see any laying going on. Often the bees would come out and fly in a cloud and settle on the outside of the hive as though they were bearding! The season was still early and the temperature pleasant, not conditions where bearding usually takes place! Just what was going on?

Well, swarming was going on! I went out to check my hive one evening after work only to find an empty hive box! It was nearly dark. If I were going to find them I would have to hurry. I couldn't afford to replace the entire package (at $140 a pop!) My husband joined me and we started the search! Looking at the tops of trees against a darkening sky, Mark finally spotted the swarm. It hadn't gone too far from the hive. We quickly suited up. My husband banged the branch against the plastic storage box I had grabbed from the garage. I popped the box on the ground to knock the bees to the bottom, and we repeated the process. Finally we cut the end of the branch and put it in the box with the last blob of bees still attached. Hopefully in this crawling, flying mass of bees was the unharmed queen! We put the stoppers back in the hive to close off the exit and replaced the bees, closing the hive up for the night.

Once again I had to resist the urge to open the hive. It was getting a bit warmer and I worried the bees would get too hot. I had a Boardman feeder inside with water for the bees. I could see through the observation window that they had clustered together again on the wax comb. Their clustering behavior gave me hope that the queen was back in the hive. After a couple of days I opened the hive again, inspected the comb, and found the queen!

Time went on and I still found no brood. The swarming behavior continued. I started to carefully document the time frame of the events and take supporting pictures. I called the company I had bought the package from, sent my evidence and they agreed to replace the entire package since the population had really started to decline!

Most of the few remaining bees swarmed again. This time I didn't find them. The queen didn't swarm with them. She and her attendants were still in the hive. We picked up the new package, removed the old queen, and put in the new bees and queen. I hoped the two hives would meld since the pheromone level of the old queen must have been low to non-existent. Once again I closed the hive and began to wait for the new queen to emerge from her cage. This time I closed up the bottom more fully to give them a "snug, homey" feel!

It took this queen several days to get out of her cage! I finally helped by removing the end cork. Once out. She moved to the already-available comb. I watched through the observation window and saw that once again the bees clustered around her on the comb...a good sign. After waiting a couple of weeks for the queen to establish herself, I went in for an inspection. I could see no eggs or brood but the bees seemed happy to stay and did not exhibit the same swarming behavior. Maybe the queen needed a little more time. A week later I opened the hive again to see very sketchy brood pattern on 2 or three combs. Things did not improve. Before long this queen stopped laying all-together! I was quite beside myself!

I decided to not wait any longer and allow this package to decline or swarm. I ordered a queen from a different company. I picked her up at the post office the next week. Once again I had to find the old queen and remove her (a task I hate as I don't like to kill anything, especially a queen!). I put the new cage in and started the long wait once again!

To make a long story short...she made it out and is thriving! I have fed this bunch sugar water since they had such a late start and many of the flowers were past blooming or had succumb to the summer heat. This queen has a good strong brood pattern. The hive is very docile and I'm able to work the bees without gloves on most occasions. I hope the get enough pollen and honey stored to make it through the winter!

Bearding behavior before swarming

Bees brushed from comb, no brood!

Bees that were left after the swarm



New package of bees

  

 

"Waggle" dance 

 

 

 

Queen laying

I Digress.....

Nothing can humble a woman like swim suit shopping! 

I put this task off as long as possible covering my poor-fitting suit with a black cover-up, never daring to take it off. This year I decided I should at least make an effort to get something cute, comfortable, yet not too revealing. 

Once at the store I started going through the racks of various suits. Soon I was joined by two other women. We chorused the same sentiment of how disheartening this experience was while holding up various suits to ridicule! Ah, comrades in misery!

Finally armed with three bottoms and 7 or 8 tops, I trudged to the dressing room. Squeezing into the first bottom and I stood back to assess the results and, after an initial shock, discovered the size on the bottom was smaller than the size on the hanger, whew! Since none of these bottoms fit like I wanted, I decided to try on tops instead.

It was at this time an epic battled ensued as I wrestled into the first top. A full 2 or 3 minutes later I gazed into the full-length, 3 way mirror....and boy was I a sight to behold! There stood a grandmotherly lady with disheveled hair jammed into an extremely tight suit, lumps and bumps everywhere but where they should be! It was horrifying! 

Next  I tried to remove the top over my head only to find it stuck in a roll under my arms! I decided I had to pull it down in order to get it off. That worked a little better. I was able to witness the ultimate stretch of the fabric as it slid over my hips on the way down! 

I tried a few more of the first batch of tops without much better luck. They all covered me in various ways, none of them attractively ! I spent 5 minutes getting dressed to go out and begin round two. 

This time I gathered larger bottoms and tops, even one big swim dress!  I marched back to the dressing room determined to try on every suit in the store until I found something that worked!

Round two went a little better. The suits were bigger and I had learned some techniques of tug-of-war! I walked out of that dressing room with a tank top and swim shorts and my head held high! 

Overall I was in that store 2 hours trying on swim suits! Tired, yet victorious, I walked out with a bag in my hand and a smile on my face! I wondered if the other two women I met had had the fortitude to see the task through to the end or if they left defeated, destined to wear shorts and a tee shirt to the coast! 

Victory!

  

 

There's No Place Like Home

Our home is my favorite place to be! Whenever I get time off from work, I want to spend it at home. There is so much to do there that I enjoy!

On weekends or during the summer I love to get up early and sit in my pajamas, enjoying a cup of coffee. Often one of our cats will climb onto my lap or lay at my feet and take another snooze. With blinds open to initial darkness, dawn slowly illuminates the valley. Whether draped in fog, frost, snow, rain, or sunshine, each view is equally welcome!

Morning Fog

Mornings and evenings are perfect for a walk. Sometimes it is down our long driveway, other times out in the open field, there is always something new to see: a monarch chrysalis, killdeer, jackrabbits, bunny rabbits, deer, an undiscovered fossil, barrel cactus, roadrunners, ring tail cats, coyotes, a fox, various songbirds etc. I always look forward to what awaits!

Monarch Chrysalis

Watering and tending my garden brings much satisfaction. Knowing the food I harvest is pesticide free and grown from non-GMO seeds is important to me. I snip here, tie off there, even squash now and again to keep everything in order.

My Garden

Every day when I first go outside or come home from work, I go to my hive and watch my honey bees! As I work in the garden or go for a walk, their busy buzzing is a pleasant accompaniment. I never tire of watching worker bees as they visit each blossom foraging for nectar.

Honey Bees on Late-season Figs

We are far enough out from the city that we have decently-dark skies at night. Lying in the back of the truck, or sometimes just out on the warm driveway, I thrill at the sight of meteorites streaking across the heavens! I still enjoy the slow and steady reflection of satellites as they crisscross the sky. If we've had enough rain, the frogs' serenade is loud and sometimes accompanied by coyote howls as they call to each other through the fields.

Moon and Venus

Home has a special place in my heart as I'm sure it does in the hearts of many. As Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz, there's no place like home!