The Sky is Falling...Coming to a sky near you...

I read this article about three meteor showers that can be seen all over the world. So here's the info.

July 28-29 - The Delta Aquarids
Predawn, about 20 bright-yellow meteors occur per hour. Look for meteors to fan out east, north and west. **Not bloody likely I'll be up to see that one; Farmchick and Cowgirl may be up then but 5:30 is when the coffee starts here.

July 29-30 - The Capricornids
Known for producing brilliant fireballs. It's best to observe right after sunset (now we're talking.) If you can see the Milky Way, you'll probably be able to see this shower.

August 12-13 - Look toward the constellation Perseus (about halfway above the horizon in the northeast quadrant of the sky) in the late evening. Recline with your feet facing south and look straight up. The Perseids should appear over your left shoulder - you could see 60 meteors in an hour. I'll need a new lounge chair for that one JP :O)

Find a list of celestial happenings at http://stardate.org/nightsky/almanac/
You know what is really neat is to use night vision binoculars to look at stars. Wow, you can see so much more! Blessings from the holler yall!

Another day in the garden...

Yeehaw! We're finally getting corn from the garden. Does anybody need any basil? We've got lots. Oh, and I dug our ground potatoes today so that'll be part of our night meal along with some corn and sliced tomatoes. Yum, yum. We haven't harvested our tater tires yet but we're hoping to have lots for us and some to share with family and friends. We definitely need to get some to my brother because he was instrumental in getting us the tires. Thanks brother! I'm sorry about the pictures I've been posting lately - I'm sure it's operator error.

Other news...

YD's A Little Bit of Everything Place presented us with an award. For this award, I would have to first link it back to the person who gave me the award and then share 10 things about me that are true. Thank you YD's A Little Bit of Everything Place!

True stuff:

1) JP and Mrs. JP are saved by grace in our Lord Jesus Christ.
2) Mrs. JP's brother used to make her cry by whistling the Lassie Theme.
3) JP's brother stuck a car antenna in his ear to see if it'd come out the other side, when they were little. By the way, it didn't.
4) JP and Mrs. JP have 2 grandchildren, a boy who is almost 13 and a girl who is almost 6!
5) JP created a TV/movie rating just for Mrs. JP. I love that about him.
6) Mrs. JP likes old movies. Actually we both do. You know, black and white movies with actors/actresses that actually have talent.
7) JP makes the best bagels, cuban bread, lasagna, homemade sausage, smoked pork,...I could go on but you get the idea, he's a great cook.
8) We are both very, very, very, conservative. JP, did I put enough "very's"?
9) We both support our armed forces...support isn't a strong enough word...fiercely support, maybe better.
10) Mrs. JP is phobic of snakes. I don't even like to see them on TV (refer to #5)

Ok, I am suppose to pass it on to bloggers. Here you go. I know...You'd like to thank all the little people who made you what you are today, right?

Cowgirl's Country Life
Ordinary Days
TennZen Enlightenment, Southern Style
Sleeping Dog Bakery
The Lost Fart of Blogging

Just outside our door...

Today has been a truly blessed day in the holler. Nothing uncommon, but still, the things I'm privileged to see humbles me. God has given us a lovely place to live, and we are blessed beyond measure. I'm so thankful that JP is "off the road." He has a very stressful job now but at the end of the day he gets to come home to our little hide-a-way and enjoy the peace it offers. Back to today's events, I looked outside to see what the dogs were barking at and saw this group of turkeys sauntering along in the pasture with the cows.

Then I went outside to weed and after working on the flower bed a bit I stepped back and saw this little guy at my feet. I'm so glad I didn't step on him (I don't know if it's a girl or boy so let's go with him) because I would have come undone if I'd hurt him. JP can testify to my tender heart which sometimes gets me into all kinds of trouble. The pictures aren't great but you'll get the idea. Here he is at my feet.
The phone ringing called me inside and when I went back outside the little guy was gone. Then I heard this bluebird chattering it up at the youngun' in the back yard. So I got a picture of him sitting there receiving much instruction from one of his parents. They would fly over and then sit on either the bird feeder or power pole brace line (what's the name for that thing?) and encourage him. You can just see a blue dot in this picture.

This is the fly over.

Oh, as I walked out to the garden I found this big turkey feather. So cool.

At the close of this post I want to say "Thank you and I love you" to JP for working so hard and being just the best hubby a gal could want. If I started counting all of the ways God has blessed me it would take me forever. That's a great way to spend my days, don't you think? Blessings from the holler yall.

Birdtastic update: I later went outside to see if I could find Blueboy (yes, I named him) and sure enough I heard squawking coming from the trees along the "dog yard." So, I went in their area and started looking for him. I found him sitting beside the fence so I picked him up, ducked mom and sent him over the fence to try again. It's a good thing Charlie was the only one out with me because I can throw a stick and he'll be gone (which is what I did), if Scrappy, (local felon) had been out he'd be another one of her trophies. Whew, Blueboy dodged another bullet. You probably think that I do nothing all day. Well today I put some maters, took the trash to the local trash dumping place, did the floors and some gardening. Tomorrow's another day!

The Bird's Garden...

I love that the bird's plant their own garden each year. Now that's what I call helping out!

Daisy says "hello."

Scrappy has been assigned an escort due to her recent change in flight risk status. The weather here is glorious with highs in the low 80's and lows in the 60's. It feels like May!
Have a wonderful week.

Scrappy goes walk-a-bout...

JP and I discussed what we should call this post. My vote was "WANTED...ALIVE!!"

Yesterday, our dear little felon decided to give me a couple hundred more gray hairs. I let the dogs in and was on the computer for a while (1st mistake was I didn't count dogs as they came in) then started to get ready to go into town. No Scrappy! I double checked her hiding places inside, still no Scrappy. I went outside and found where she had pulled some wire away from the bottom of a shed that is in our "dog yard" which was her escape route. I jumped in the truck and started looking for her, going up and down our road, talking to two neighbors and asking them to look out for her. Approximately 45 min- 1 hr. went by and still no Scrappy. So I called JP and I was totally freaking out! Just ask him. My dear hubby jumps in his car (50 miles away) and comes home to help with the search. Meanwhile, I'm still driving up and down our road and the crossroads nearby hoping she hadn't gone to the interstate (we don't have an exit here but we can see the highway.) Oh, JP was going to go one exit farther than usual to make sure he didn't see her on the interstate. Sooooooo,,,I made another trip down our road and went by a nearby dairy farm, turned around to come back, when I got back to the corner of our road there she was. She was soaked (probably from running in the creek), and waging her little nub of a tail. I jumped out and got her - it was one of those moments where I could have kissed her and killed her at the same time. So I called JP just as he had made it to his exit, he came by the house and then went back to work. I heard that there was talk at JP's workplace of what a scrappycam would've looked like as she made her way under the building to the front yard and realized "I'm outta here"!
This is the guilty party.
So, this isn't over, I have to fix this area so she can't get out again because she will try. I put up chicken wire along the base of the building securing it at the building and at ground level. We've got a stalach 13 (probably not spelled right but you know the Hogan's Heros place) look going on (all but razor wire and I thought about that!) Even now, she's sitting at the door plotting her next escape. Bad girl!!!


Addendum from JP: It wouldn't be so bad if we thought she could find her way back, but when she gets out, she runs so far, so fast, that she has no idea where she is when she slows down. She almost wound up sleeping with the coyotes last night...

Eatin' Good in this Neighborhood...

Last weekend we smoked some beef ribs and bacon wrapped corn. It was so good with the fresh tomato, mozzarella and basil salad.

Scrappy took a nap.
We were talking about the pictures we have of her and most of them are of her sleeping. That's because she's so good at it. First of all, she thinks she owns the place, and second, she only has two speeds (wide open and off.)
Wide Open.
Off!

Let in snow, let it snow, let it snow...

No, it's not Christmas in July. I just thought I'd post some pictures of the only big snow we had last winter. It's been hot here so I'm thinking cool thoughts. Stay cool and enoy your weekend. Blessings from the holler.

Sweet and oh so easy!...

I made this wonderful pear tart a while back and meant to post the recipe. It so easy, fast and turns out delicious. Of course, any fruit you like could be used. I think if I were using fresh I'd add a little more sugar but with this basic pastry canvas you could use whatever you like. Oh, I didn't need all of the butter it calls for. FYI,,enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup raw sugar (regular can be substituted)
  
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
• 1/2 stick butter, melted
• 2 (15 1/4-ounce) cans pear halves, keeping stem end attached, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon together. Lay puff pastry sheet on a work surface brush with melted butter and sprinkle with half the cinnamon sugar. Cut into 6 even pieces. Fan the pear slices over the puff pastry, using 1/2 a pear for each puff pastry square. Sprinkle tops of pear tarts with remaining cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake until pastry is golden and cooked through, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove from tart from oven, sprinkle with cheese and bake until cheese melts, 5 minutes more.

Look! Awww it's so cute!....

Our very first tomato, picked today and will be eaten tonight!

I thought I'd post a few photos of our garden. I guess it's doing well for our first garden. We have a baby watermelon.
The tater tires will be ready for harvest soon.
Aside from an episode of blossom end rot the tomatoes are doing great. I've learned that there is a use for women's hose and it's cutting them up in strips to use for staking the tomato plants. It's amazing, when I wear them all I have to do is look at them sideways and they run, but get them outside in the garden and I have to use scissors.
Today my neighbor came over and told me that my popcorn would do better if I weeded it! It's okay, she can say those things and somehow I took it well. If JP had told me that I may have gotten a bit of a tude. Anyway, I weeded and put down straw now I hope she's happy. It does look better but I'm looking for yield here.
Before.

After!!
All in all, things are going along just great in the holler. JP enjoyed his long weekend by making 4 dozen bagels, 8 loaves of cuban bread, spagetti sauce and fresh pasta. Hey, if I'd reversed those first two you could sing it like the 12 days of Christmas song! Great, now I've got that song in my head...come on and sing along. On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me....
So, how does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockle shells and little maids all in a row? I better stop now,,,blessings from the holler!

Words of Wisdom...

I like this little picture posted behind my faithful African Violet. It reminds me to do all things with love. Even the routine things take on new meaning if the focus isn't on the task itself but how grateful I am to have the health to do it or how I can bless others by doing this task. "Life can be so daily," that's what a friend of mine says. She is right and in those "daily" things we can find joy if we do them with love. God's Word says it so it is definitely true!

Let all that you do be done in love. I Corinthians 16:14

Blessings from the holler to you and yours.