Happy Halloween ~ Photos from the Pumpkin Carving Party

 Each year we have a pumpkin carving party. 

Hot Apple Cider

Smore's 

and 

more!

 This year we had a perfect October day to carve outside.

We had the bon fire going. 

Leaves falling and sunshine.

 The 2019 Pumpkin Line Up

 Boo! 

Some made scary pumpkin faces.

 One tried to make an owl.

 And one made who they are cheering for in the World Series.

Trick or Treat

That is a BIG Pumpkin

I work at Daybreak twice a week. Daybreak is an adult daycare for those with dementia. We have guest speakers come in each week. This week we got to meet Dan who is a Wisconsin Giant Pumpkin Grower. Dan was so much fun to talk to, he really is passionate about giant pumpkins.

He carved the above pumpkins with a knife. No special tools, just a simple knife.

 Dan's love for growing pumpkins started when a co worker gave out some BIG pumpkin seeds to several co workers and asked if they would try and grow them. Dan was inspired. 

Dan became a member of the Wisconsin Giant Pumpkin Growers

This year he took top price at the Altoona weigh off with his pumpkin weighing 1615 pounds. 

I liked his shirt. It said Wisconsin Giant Pumpkin Growers .. Heavy Hitters.

 

Each April he starts his pumpkin seeds. He cares for his pumpkins each day. Watering, feeding and checking for pests. He has to place a sheet on the pumpkin during sunny days, so the pumpkin does not get sunburn. On cool evenings he has to put blankets on his pumpkins to keep them cozy. 

I loved this about Dan, each spring he has his grandkids pick out a pumpkin plant to help care for. It becomes a project for them.  If their pumpkin wins at weigh  off he will give them an additional prize.

Dan gave me some seeds. Did you know Giant Pumpkin Seeds can cost $10.00 a seed. 

My son Atticus was excited to give growing a giant pumpkin a try. And just the other day I was starting to brain storm what new plant will we try in 2020? We know the answer, a giant pumpkin.

We are going to give the other two seeds to my dad. 

I am thinking our 2020 Pumpkin Carving party is going to get real interesting. 

Oh and that reminds me. Dan's grandkids go pumpkin swimming. On Halloween he will cut open the pumpkin and the grandkids will pull out all the seeds and inside of the pumpkin. He shared that they just love it. He will save the seed from the pumpkins to give away or use to grow next season. 

On the bag it reads 1023 that is the pounds of the pumpkin that this seed came from.

Growing Peanuts in Wisconsin

 We have yet to have a kill frost. We did have a snowfall.

 After several weeks of wet weather, we had a beautiful day to get out and finish some harvesting in the garden.

 October 20 we decided to dig the peanut plant up and just see how many peanuts we have.

  

Each garden season we pick a new plant to try. My husband wanted to try a peanut plant. 

The tag on the peanut plant said a peanut for every flower on the plant.

 We have got peanuts!

  

 We hung the peanut plant to dry in our garden shed. After the peanuts dry, we will harvest them.

What next?

Maybe boiled peanuts?  

 

Did you try a new plant this garden season?

How did  your new plant do for you?

Dreaming up what to plant in 2020?

We have tossed out horseradish, different types of cabbage and maybe try another peanut plant.

Our first hard frost is to come this evening and continue to get cold as the week moves into November. Did I say "November"?  Goodness, the holiday season will be here.

♥

 

 

Pumpkin Party

We went pumpkin shopping and got this entire loot of pumpkins for $17.00!

 It is a tradition that we started long when our boys were little. We have a pumpkin carving party.

We each, the four of us, get to carve a pumpkin, sometimes two.

After carving the pumpkins we roast the seeds. We already carved a pumpkin for Marv. I roasted up the seeds and tried something new, cinnamon and sugar. YUM!

Recipe

Fresh pumpkin seeds

Olive oil

Cinnamon and Sugar

Preheat you oven to 300° 

Toss your pumpkin seeds 

your olive oil .. cinnamon and sugar all together.

Spread on to a cookie sheet.

Bake, stirring a few times, until crunchy and golden brown.

About 30 to 45 minutes.

Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Car Show

 This summer we attended our local Car Show. The highlight was a co worker  and friend of my husband had a car at the show. Adding to the fun, my husband has been helping design parts for the car.

 As you can see the car still needs some parts. It is a fun hobby for my husband's friend Brian to hunt for the parts needed to complete the car.

 Below is my husband Jeremy, Brain and his sweetheart Deb.

Deb has the the dark colored car. Brain has the red car.

Let us peek at a few more of the fun cars at the show.

You never know what you might see at a car show!

 I thought this was a fun idea on how to set up your car for show and tell.

And our favorite car! We just loved this Volkswagen.

Do you have a favorite old time car or new car?

I would not mind taking this Mustang for a spin!

One of my grandpa's favorite songs.

 

Joy List Monday

Wisconsin Autumn and Woodsmoke

Joy List Monday

 ♥ a weekly ritual ♥

a reminder to stop and pay attention to the little beauties and graces

that make life magical and to set aside time for gratitude each day

 ♥ flannel sheets

♥ the smell of woodsmoke in the air

♥ banana peppers on homemade pizza 

 ♥ having garden help from my son Atticus

♥ homemade cookies from my friend Kathy

 

Moving Day ~ to 3rd Street in Eau Claire

 Moving Day

The last week of September we moved our son Sam to his first apartment. He is attending college in Eau Claire and has his Wisconsin National Guard work at Camp Douglas and Fort McCoy. Making the commute each and everyday from his home here in Cameron was getting to be long. He also was wanting to start out on his own. We started our apartment search in June, shortly after he graduated from AIT at Fort Gordon, Georgia.

Eau Claire is a college town and a growing city. In fact it is one of the three fastest growing cities in Wisconsin. We waited it out and found a fun apartment for Sam at the start of September.

 The apartment is on the upper level of a 100 year old house. A family lives below. They have made an apartment out of the upper level of the home. We think from the steep steps you have to climb we may be using the servant steps to get up to the apartment.

 Original woodwork and character are through out the apartment. Because our home is also a 100 year old home that Sam has helped and watch as we remodeled each room as he grew up. We called it our "This Old House Project"  I think this old time charm was something that made Sam smile when he first looked at the apartment.

 He has a claw tub. 

 He is just a block from the river. He may be able to see the river from his bedroom window this winter when the leaves are off the trees.

Eau Claire has made an old railway into a walking, running and biking path. The bridge you see in the photo is called the High Bridge. It is a beautiful bridge and well lite at night.

 Sam has to keep up with his physical fitness for the guards. I was excited to find that the trails are so close to his apartment. He enjoys the outdoors, so a river run will be perfect for him.

 Jeremy built Sam a new desk. This was Sam's design, using pipes as the legs.

I will show you more photos as the apartment becomes home for Sam. 

We found a few items at The Hope Gospel Missions Bargain Center in Eau Claire. We will peek in to that store again, they have a great turn around on inventory with new items coming in daily.

We also plan to head to the big city to check out what  we may find at IKEA.

Sam is enjoying school. He had a long Drill weekend this past weekend. And I LOVE that he is only an hour away. 

 

Joy List Monday

Kettle Moraine State Forest Wisconsin - Southern Unit  

 

 

 

Joy List Monday 

♥ a weekly ritual ♥

a reminder to stop and pay attention to the little beauties and graces that make life 

magical and to set aside time for gratitude each day 

♥ warm apple crisp

♥ continuing to create flower bouquets .. no kill frost as of yet here in Northwest Wisconsin

♥  continuing to listen to baseball as the playoffs are here

 ♥ pumpkins .. I love pumpkins and my son Atticus does too. We like all shapes and sizes. We did our pumpkin shopping together.

 

 ♥  creating a jack o lantern for our friend Marv  .. a tradition we started long ago. We carve him a jack o lantern every October and deliver it to him. He enjoys lighting it each evening.

When we visited him this week, he laughed with joy seeing that we brought with us the jack o lantern. He said "that tonight when I have my nightly beer I will tip my beer to that ol' jack o lantern and say here is to you."   

Oh the humor of our 91 year old friend!

Have a blessed new week my friends.

As I was walking

 During one of our walks, I just about stepped on this green thing. I looked closer to see that this little green thing was a baby snapping turtle.

He was on his way to a little pond across the road. 

We decided to help him on his way. Jeremy picked him up very careful and moved him to the side of the road.  NOTE .. we would never be able to pick up a grown snapping turtle. This little guy did not try any shenanigans and seemed genuinely happy we moved him along.