Garden

On July 11, I posted about how great my garden was looking. Since then, I have been visited by one pesky rabbit. He nearly decimated my yellow wax beans, ate the top off of one of my pepper plants, ate several of my cucumber plants and even decided that he wanted to try butternut squash. GRRRRRRR
The garden now has a chicken wire fence around it. It makes it very difficult for me to cross over it to get inside, but as long as it keeps the rabbits out, I will make do. Of course, the cats aren't too happy as they were making one area of it their own unique potty........

Chimney Swifts.

As we live in the northern Midwest area, it gets cold in the winter. For almost all of our married life, we have used a wood stove for heating. I will have to say that this is the first year we have ever had Chimney Swifts in our chimney. They are cute little bug eaters like Swallows and Martins, but with wispy feathers on the tip ends of their wings.
This family consists of mom and pop and four little ones. The racket that comes out of the throats of these little one is unreal. They sound like bad windup toys. We can hear them from our second story windows, so we know when they are being fed, as the others watch in agony while one eats.
They had a disaster this past week. The nest fell and broke apart with the little ones and one of the adults in it. Fortunately, we have a clean out hole at the base of the chimney, allowing us, with gloves on, to rescue them. They were all a little stunned. My DH found an old planter bucket that had holes in the bottom. He filled it with some grass clippings and I gingerly placed babys and mother back into it. Eventually, mom flew off.
Then came the hard part. After securing the top with bent clothes hangers at each of three spots, my DH preceded to climb to the top of the chimney and put it into it, securing it with the bent hangars.
We waited for a long time, hoping that the adults would resume feeding them, as they don't respond well to hand feeding. And then, of course it rained that night and we could hear the windup toys for a could part of the evening. It made us sad thinking that they weren't going to make it.
God's grace is wonderful. By the next morning, I happened to see one of the adults fly into the chimney. They are being fed. Hooray!!!
As a reward, we were given the oportunity to see and hear two Pileated Woodpeckers in our oak tree just outside our door. The first that we had the opportunity to see and hear so close. Thank you, Maker.

My soaping business

I am looking into joining the Home Soap Makers Guild and buying its insurance. That will be an investment of over $5oo. I know that I need the insurance and the HSMG membership, but, am not sure if this investment is where I want to put my slowly, (very slowly) growing income. Then I need to become an LLC. There goes more money. Plus, I need to go to the county treasurer to get my dba for this business. I already have one for my antiques business. Decisions, decisions.
Did I mention that business is slow? I did quite well at a recent craft show, but, they are few and far between. My next scheduled show is October 24th. I don't do very many in the summer months, as I am far to busy with the rest of my life. Maybe this is where I am in error. I have a hard time dealing with excessive heat as it physically breaks me down. When I was younger, I developed heat stroke while working in the grape vinyards of our farm. "Suckering" the grape vines is hard work.
I have received two very expensive orders, recently, both in the $50-60 range. This also takes a toll on my budget, but, I know it is the price of doing business. A small profit would be nice, one of these days.

My sister's 55th

How do you plan for a party and surprise someone whose birthday is this Friday, the 17th of July? She has never had any kind of surprise party since she was a little kiddle. My older sister, who has so very many obligations pulling at her, has been very little help. My daughter, who has been ill for over a week, was supposed to be the organizing force in this venture. It is now in my hands and I have very little time to get this going. Too many situations are making it "un-cohesive". Just plod ahead, that's all I can do.

A Buzzard Ride

This is an original poem, by me, that I wrote over five years ago.

A Buzzard Ride

In the middle
Of a beautiful day,
My heart would soar
And would not lay.

I would mount upon
Those buzzard wings,
And see the world
And everything.

So, just to soar
Above the trees
Would bring me to
The point of free.

To ease the burdens
Of every day
I would soar and soar,
And would not lay.

These hazy, lazy days of summer spent watching the turkey buzzards soar above us are some of the most enjoyable times of my life.

Daughter

Of course, it always happens this way. When I think my daughter is just goofing off, something is really wrong. She has food allergies. Not nearly as many as I do, but significant ones to worry about. Total dairy and eggs are her harbingers of illness. This past week, she indulged in too much cheese (any cheese sets me off), anyway, this put her body in total stress. When this happens, she is susceptible to any bacterial or viral invasion. Which is what happened to her. This is why I hadn't heard from her. She could barely talk when I called Thursday night. After five minutes, that was all she could take......Poor kiddo. Sorry for thinking bad about you.

On a lighter note, my garden is beginning to look great! Cucumbers and tomatoes are forming and the yellow wax beans have blossoms. Pretty soon, I will be having to "deal" with them. I love it.

life in general

Helped my sister-in-law clean a big lake house, yesterday. She cleans two large houses, owned by millionaires, who come out to the lake once in a while for the summer and some other holidays. My whole house could totally fit in just the first floor of one of these three story monsters. I helped her by vacumming all three floors. The house has central vacume and a separate hose for each floor. This is an interesting idea, one that has to be installed at the time of the house construction. It is possible to retro-fit, but, not economical. It certainly is easier to vacume this way instead of "lugging" a heavy system around with you. Even though, I am a bit sore.

My DH is on the road to day. He drives for several car dealerships in the area. Any time they need to pick up or deliver vehicles, he is available. He is on call. He does have the option of refusing based on other needs of his, but, he does not refuse very often. Usually, while he is away, I get my formulating accomplished. Funny thing, though, I am just not in the mood right now. Too many other items to deal with. Although, I just got an order of peppermint and spearmint essential oils delivered. I plan on making some foot scrubs and other products. I need to advertise my products more, finallize my products list for publication, make some more hand and body lotions and creams, and re-establish my business plan. But first, I have to mow the yard, clean an out building, check the garden, and try to figure out if I still have a daughter that is talking to me.

Haven't heard from my daughter and son-in-law since last Friday night. This is unusual because one or the other usually calls every 3 or 4 days. They must be busy......RIGHT!!!!! Busy at playing computer games in their spare time.....Boy, could I go off on a rant about that.....But, I'll be nice. Today, anyway!!

our nation, my business

To continue my rant in the same mode I was in at the time is impossible. Too many things have happened in my life. My family is No. 1. In that vain, although I am still a bothered and loyal member of this America, and I am afraid for our constitution and what will happen to it, I realize that I am one individual who is, at the present time, very involved in securing a better financial future for me and mine, and I must calm down. But, I will answer the call of rebellion if need be!!!

Phone calls asking for more product & literature regarding it is always a good thing. I am on the verge of "ramping" up my business, silverpalacesoaps.artfire.com, as well as my craft shows. Personal word of mouth in this small town is a very intriguing and compelling "thing". A friend of mine works at a local Speedway gas station situated near a major highway. She is a talker and what she had been doing is "talking up" my products. She has had a very serious skin condition and my products seem to work for her. And, she loves to tell the world. For which, I am extremely thankful. Ergo, I have to work harder to supply those new customers.......Such a way to retire! NOT!!!!!

Our nation

Another 4th of July celebration is over. One wonders how many people actually understand what it means. The special sacrifices made by our founding fathers, in all aspects of their lives, make the whining people who did not use common sense in managing their finances, pitiful. These men, and by extension, their families sacrificed their lives and their fortunes, not by the whims of financial institutions, but, by their questing for a nation where they were entirely free. Colonial rule by England was harsh and distant. Their was no one to actually take their grievances to. Communication with a distant government took up to one year.

Does this sound familiar? Our Federal government may only be in Washington, D.C., but their responses to our pleas seem to take months, years, decades?????!!!! Our state governments are no better. One wonders whether our votes are merely leaves cast into a stream, soon seen floating away or sinking. Our elected officials are not responsive to our needs, merely to their pocketbooks. "We have the best government money can buy!" is a personal quote from my husband.

It does not matter whether we vote Democrat or Republican. These two parties have become blended in a mishmash where it is difficult to tell them apart. And, conservatism is not something that the moneyed Republicans even have a clue about. They are so out of touch with the common ordinary American and can't understand why their plans don't seem to work or become acceptable to those of us in the "hinterland".

More of this rant to follow!

thoughts

Married life is always the roughest during the first year. Got a call from my daughter, who has been married less than a year complaining about some actions that her husband did. Granted, that which he did showed that he wasn't using his head, but, by the same token, she should have some understanding of what it is like to live with the guy by now!!

Ok! Sorry for the rant, but, it is frustratingly difficult to stay out of your children's business, especially when you think that you can settle an issue. I know that I would not have appreciated my mother or mother-in-law butting into our busines, so I will stay out.

The weather here is very cool for July, so far, especially when we had 90+ degrees last week. The garden is doing fine. I need to do some more weeding, but, have a craft show on Saturday and probably won't get to it until Sunday afternoon, if then!

We have four very nice out side cats. Three spayed females and one male. There is another young male that is hanging around, Too bad, boy! They're fixed. Thank heavens. We made the decision a long time ago that in order for me to have cats, then they must be spayed. They're more endearing when they don't have kittens to worry about. This young male is the cutest cat. He is fluffy, black with white feet, a white bib and white whiskers. Says to self "No, we don't need any more cats"....but, he's so cute.We have several out building that they shelter in during the winter, and they are fed twice daily. They are well taken care of. We used to have dogs, also, but, they have past on and we have not looked for any others. Every once in awhile, there will be a cute pit bull on tv and my heart yearns for another like the one I had over 10 years ago. I still miss her.

No more for tonight. Too many thoughts entering my mind that the world doesn't need to know about, S