Sound Off!!

 Hello Friends, 

Today is going to be a sound off, just to get some stuff off my chest.

I first will start with the USPS. 

I do have to say, my grandma was a rural mail carrier for 40 years. I rode with her on her route. We had so much fun together. I would ride in the back with all the mail. She was loved on her route and she took pride in her work.

I am not sure what is going on with today's USPS, but it is a mess. I wonder if we are going backwards instead of forwards.

 

For several years I have ordered our onion sets from a fantastic grower in Texas. I have not had one bit of trouble with receiving our order in fine condition, until this year.

I received confirmation our onions shipped. A week went by, still no onions on my doorstep? I was looking at the tracking and it looked like our onions where stuck in Ohio.

I contacted the company I deal with, they said they noticed the USPS is no longer updating the tracking information on the sight. WHAT??? CRAZY??

The next week our onions came... 

Our box of onion sets came soaking wet, when I opened the box the onions had mold all around them and smelled awful. 

They had gotten wet, left to sit and rot. 

 

 Thankfully the grower we order from sent out a replacement order for us immediately. 

The reason I am sounding off on the USPS is something honestly has happened to the service we once had, I do not know what the trouble is?

Short staffed?

Our carrier is a sweetheart, I know she does the best she can. Is something going on higher up making the USPS crash and burn? We no longer get mail daily. 

Any thoughts?

Next up...  

Below is a peek of just a wee bit of the mess behind our fence from our backyard neighbor.

Click here to get the rest of the story  

I shared the story about our backyard neighbor in the above post.

Sadly, he broke one of our fence panels moving more junk, a freezer, into his backyard along our fence this past week.

My husband fixed our fence and reinforced it to be ready for whatever may come next.

 

 

Keeping it real here my friends. The blog world can look all pretty and perfect, but in honesty we all are dealing with ups and downs. 

  Keep Calm and Carry On!!

Pink and White Confetti and it is the Hodgepodge

 

It is time for the pink and white confetti. Our apple trees will soon start to drop pink and white confetti. It will dance in the wind and fill the ground with pink and white. 

And it is time for the Hodgepodge.

Joyce asks the questions. 

We answer the questions.

Click here to join the fun! 

 

 1. What do you make more complicated than it needs to be? 

I am going to answer what took me forever to do just the other day. I was adjusting my car seat. I went up and down, back and forth several times, I think I ended up in the same place I started.  

2. What impresses you?  

Honesty!!

 3. On a scale of 1-10 how picky of an eater are you?  (1=extremely and 10=not at all) If you had to eat a meal made entirely of one color what color would you choose? 

 

I am a food snob nowadays because I want to know more about what I am eating. What is in it? Where was it grown? What has been sprayed on it. I read labels. I like to know where my meat comes from, I am really picky about that. 

I would say I am a 3. 

I will pick green. It would be a huge garden salad that came from our garden. I know what has been sprayed on it, NOTHING!!  

 4. What does balance in life mean to you? Does your life currently feel 'balanced'? 

I had to chuckle, because this has been an issue I have been writing about in my journal. I like to have routine in my days. I feel I get more done that way and I feel more 'balanced'. Not all days go as planned and soon I feel like I am 'spinning' like I felt last week. 

 5. If you could travel the world for a year what would be your first destination? 

It would be the UK!!

I have a love for the UK and I have blog buddies I would like to meet.  

 6. Insert your own random thought here. 

They do not last long, but we soak in the beauty while they are in bloom. 

Welcome to the Greenhouse

 

 

Hello Friends,

Welcome to my greenhouse. It is busting full at the moment. This week I will start to plant out cold hardy plants. We have some cold nights in our forecast for this week, so I will wait on planting out peppers and tomatoes. 

My greenhouse is unheated, just the power of the sun keeps my greenhouse cozy.

I have tired different ways to retain heat in my greenhouse during the cold spring nights. I have pavers as one section of flooring in hopes they heat up during the day and slowly cool down in the evening. I have tried black buckets of water heating in the sun and placing them in the greenhouse at night to slowly cool down.

 Soon we should be free of frosty nights up here in Northwest Wisconsin and the growing season will get on the way.

 

 

Strawberry plants that I started from last years strawberry plants.

 

 A peek at my lettuce patch.

 

 

This is me.. my husband caught me coming out of the greenhouse saying "where am I going to put all these plants?"

We had to downsize our garden last autumn after the growing season for an upcoming garage build. It is hard for me to downsize my garden. I already have been planning just how to squeeze in and save as many plants as I can before the construction starts.

 

 Welcome to the Greenhouse!!

Over the Rainbow and it is the Hodgepodge

 

Happy Wednesday my friends, planting the garden is on the agenda for the next few weeks. We will work on planting the plants that are cold hardy first. As the days and nights continue to warm we will start to plant out our peppers, tomatoes and tropical flowers.

On to the Hodgepodge..

Joyce asks the questions.

We answer the questions.

Click here to join the fun! 

 1. What's one piece of advice you would you give a recent or soon-to-be graduate? 

Hold tight to the dreams you have today and walk with God in their direction. 

 

2. May 15th marks the birth date of L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. At this point in time are you more in need of brains, courage, heart, or a trip back home? Explain. 

Brains.. I am taking on a painting project. I will be using paint I have not worked with before. I need to study up on the best way to tackle this project. 

 3.  "There's no place like home" is an oft repeated line from Baum's book. When was the last time you felt the truth of that statement? 

We live about two hours from my hometown and our family farm. It is always good to take a trip back home. It is usually at Thanksgiving and Christmas when we all get together. For the past three years, I only see my sister during Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

Our family will travel back "home" a few times during the year. Our next big family time on the farm will be our summer weekend of fishing, kayaking, fireworks and more.

  

4. May is National BBQ Month...do you own a grill? Who does the grilling at your house? What's your favorite thing to throw on the grill? What's the last thing you grilled? 

 

We do own a Weber grill. My husband does all the grilling at our house. I love how my husband grills fish, especially trout. YUM!

My husband grilled a turkey on Sunday for our annual Mother's Day dinner. We have been doing this for my mom for many years. It is something she looks forward to each Mother's Day. We host a fun dinner, and grilled turkey is the showstopper on the menu. 

And dessert too. 

 

 5. What's a memory you replay in your head when you need a little joy? 

 

Oh, it would be a memory with our boys. We have enjoyed so many good times. We still do. They know how to make their mom laugh. 

  

 6. Insert your own random thought here. 

 

If you need me, I will be out in the garden.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Joy List Monday

 

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

 

 ♥ visits with both of my son's

♥ special Mother's Day gifts 

 ♥ spending time with my parents on Mother's Day

 ♥ fresh rhubarb, made into rhubarb crisp

 ♥ the first homegrown salad

 ♥ evening walks with my husband and Ernie too

 ♥

Carla 

 

 

 

May the Month of Hope and it is the Hodgepodge

 

May 2023 ~ Yep, that is snow!

 

Hello Friends,

It is Wednesday and that means it is time for the Hodgepodge!

Joyce asks the questions.

We answer the questions.

Click here to join the fun! 

 

 1. What's something you may do this month?

We hope to go out on our kayaks.

 

2. Hola! Hodgepodge Day lands just after Cinco de Mayo... how do you feel about Mexican food? What's your favorite dish? Do you make it at home or is it a strictly dine out option?  

 I like Mexican food. We are fortunate to have a very good Mexican restaurant in our neighboring city. 

Enchilada are a favorite of mine.

Yes, we have made enchiladas at home. 

 

3. When the children of today grow up what do you think they'll say about this time period? What do you most hope they remember?  

 My neighbor to the right of us has kids. Her son is five and her daughter is a teenager. The other day I was working outside in the garden, they were playing out in the yard. It is often to hear police sirens in the distance. (sad to say) The sirens were getting louder as they came closer to our direction. 

I heard the young girl say, "I wonder what happened?" 

 Her little brother answered, " oh, someone killed someone."

It broke my heart. 

I hope they will remember the kindness they received from their gardening neighbor, instead of the current events on the local news channel.  

 4. What advice would you give a new mother? 

 Remember your marriage ... it is easy to get caught up in motherhood. 

You are busy.

You are tired.

The to do list never ends.

My advice... 

 Make it a priority to make time with your sweetheart. 

It makes you a better mom, wife and your sweetheart will benefit from this time too. 

 

If this advice is going out to a single mom. 

Make time for friends or some self care time.

 

 5. What's a phrase your mother often said to you? If you're a mom do you say it to your own children? 

Sleep tight and do not let the bedbugs bite.   

Yes, I sure did.

 6. Insert your own random thought here. 

  May is the month of expectation. The month of wishes. The month of hope.

Emily Bronte

Composting 101

 

 

Hello Friends,

I am going to share some tips I have learned along the way about composting.

The photos I will share are of our new compost bins that my husband built for us last October. Our bins are tucked in the corner of our backyard, you cannot see them from the main garden.

We use pallets to make our compost bins, we have a rotation of three.

We have one pile cooking while we use the other.

Here we go with composting 101...

 

 

 We line our pallets with cardboard.

 You need a mix of brown... dead leaves, old soil from pots, dead plants.

You need a mix of green... kitchen waste, egg shells, coffee grounds.

Oh and you can toss cardboard and newspaper in the compost too.

You do not want to put sick plants in the compost. It would be better to toss them into the garbage if you are able or burn them.

 

 

 We turn our pile as we add more waste.

You may need to water your pile if you do not receive rain for several weeks. The pile should be damp. 

 

 

Black Gold... the compost is added into our raised beds giving fresh nutrients to our old soil in the raised beds.

 

 

 It is FREE, that is the big bonus. If you have room to build a couple of bins to keep your garden waste and kitchen waste, you soon will have your own homemade compost/soil.

 

 

Ernie approves of the compost bins.

Do you spy the little copper dog? 

  ♥

Carla 

High Water and it is the Hodgepodge

 

Hello Friends,

Wisconsin has received rain and lots of it in some areas making our rivers swell.  

It is Wednesday and it is time for the Hodgepodge.

Joyce asks the questions.

We answer the questions

 1. Are you feeling more reset, restart, or full speed ahead as we move into May? Tell us why. 

 It is full speed ahead as we move into the month of May. May is always a busy month here with garden planting, spring projects, birthdays, our wedding anniversary and Mother's Day too.

  2. Painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, cinema, theatre, music...what's your favorite form of art? Elaborate.  

Oh this is a hard question for me to answer, I love, love so many forms of art.

If I have to pick just one to take with me to an island, I can only pick one. I will pick literature. I enjoy reading. I will bring a big chest of books with me to the island. 

  3. What time is dinner at your house? How do you feel about leftovers? 

We try to eat before 7 pm.

High Fives in this house for leftovers!! 

 4.What's the last thing you fell down a rabbit hole investigating? 

I have not watched it yet, but I read a few thoughts from those who did.

 Love Story ~ John F. Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette

 Did you watch it?

I fell down a rabbit hole of looking at the fashion of the Kennedy's.   

 

5. And now for a question from the book Marilyn (Memphis Bridges) gave me...

At what are you 'self-taught?' 

I am 'self -taught' at cutting hair. After we got married my husband asked me to start cutting his hair. I had no idea what I was doing, but I did it. I continue to cut his hair today. I also cut our kiddos hair when they were growing up.

  6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat.

Laura Ingalls Wilder 

Mini Flowers

 

 

Hello Friends,

We have spring blooms outside and inside. All of the blooms that I am sharing are mini blooms.  I love the petite bouquets I can create using these mini flowers.

Above I used mini daffodils, squill and tansy greens to create a petite bouquet. 

 

 

This is my second year of owning this orchid and it is the second year that it is blooming for me. My mom was gifted the orchid and asked me if I wanted it after she enjoyed it for awhile.  I killed the last orchid I had, so I was a bit nervous taking over the stewardship of this sweet orchid.

The flowers are small on this variety of orchid.

 I love how long the bloom lasts. 

 

A bit of squill and spring greens.

 

Happy Spring Flowers!!

 ♥

 Carla

It is a Badlands Hodgepodge

 

Badlands, South Dakota

 

Hello Friends,

It is Wednesday and that means it is time for the Hodgepodge.

Joyce asks the questions.

We answer the questions.

Click here to join the fun! 

 

 1. April 22nd is Earth Day...what's the most 'out of this world' place on earth you've ever visited? Tell us something about it. 

 We visited the Badlands in South Dakota. In my opinion it is 'out of this world' with unique beauty. 

 

 

I found a flower growing.  

 

 

The colors are always changing in the landscape. 

They call it the land of stone and light.

 

 

2. A favorite quote, verse, or song lyric with the word earth in it? 

 

"The earth laughs in flowers." 

Ralph Waldo Emerson 

 

 3. What's the most trivial thing about which you have a strong opinion? 

 

I do not like when one mixes our coffee roasts. Ha! 

We purchase different roasts of coffee. I like to just have the french roast be the french roast. There is someone else in this house that will mix the french roast with the dark roast and other roasts. He makes up his own roast I guess. 

Ha!

 4. What's your most commonly used kitchen utensil or tool? What's the last thing you made using that tool? 

The strainer. I use a strainer just about everyday.

I strained tuna to make a tuna sandwich for lunch.

 

5. Marilyn (Memphis Bridges) gave me a great book of 3000 questions, and I'm going to try to use one in our Hodgepodge every week. Here is today's - 

What is your greatest extravagance? 

 

Plants!! 

Seeds!!

Gardening gear!!

 

 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks GO!

Christopher Morley

 

Knock - Knock

 

Hello Friends,

Thursday of last week there was a knock at the front door. It was our local police. Hmmm, I wondered what was going on. I opened the door and he asked if I called in a complaint about our backyard neighbor. 

No, I did not. 

He went on to share that someone called in a complaint about all the garbage, vehicles and stuff that is piled everywhere, but did not leave their name. 

 Hmmm, I shared with him, our backyard is fenced in, but I can see through the fence and yes I do see the "collection of items".  But we did not call. 

He shared that they were asked to clean up the yard last summer by the leadership of the village. 

Hmmm, the memo must of gotten lost in the mail, because instead of cleaning up they added to the collection.  

He asked me who might have called in? 

I said most of us have put fence up so we do not need to see the disaster that has taken several years to make.  And that most of our neighbors that do have a relationship with each other have decided it no longer pays to call to complain because nothing gets done about it anyway. And we do not want to get on the bad side of this neighbor, because he already had some words with a different neighbor across the street. 

I think this surprised him, because he said, we are here to help.

I know you are I said. 

He was a young police officer, reminded me of our military son, eager to help.

He told me he hopes the village will enforce the ordinance.  

And he left. 

Hmmm,  I closed the door. Will the village enforce the ordinance?   

To Be Continued...

 

Note: I usually do not share the ugly stuff around my neck of the woods. Our neighborhood is fairly nice, we do have neighbors who help us without even asking.

I usually am an optimistic person, but with this matter I am rather discouraged.  How do you get someone to move piles of trash? Two campers, six cars, washing machines, freezers and refrigerators. This collection has been on going for several years. And earlier complaints go on deaf ears.

Does your community have a way to deal with such things, or do they pretend not to see and hear? 

 

 

 

Where We Left Off

 

Where we left off was episode 11 of the 52ish Day Datn' ... 

so here we go with episode 12.

Episode 12

We attended a choral concert at a local church. It was a beautiful evening enjoying local musical talent.

We captured a photo of one of the beautiful stained glass windows as we left the concert.

Episode 13 

Episode 13 started with a walk along the Red Cedar River. It was a beautiful spring afternoon. 

 

 

We returned home from our walk along the river and started in on the kitchen dance.

We worked together making dinner.

We made a Dubliner

&

Fresh Roasted Pepper Tomato Soup 

Not Wisconsin Cheese ... but oh so good!

 

We finished this day date with our favorite ice cream.

His & Hers

I am the Mint Chocolate Chip and he is the Really Reese's.  

 

 Episode #14

On the road we went for this Day Datn' trip.

We headed to Colfax, Wisconsin to explore another section of the Red Cedar River.

Red Cedar Preserve and Recreation Area

 

We enjoyed a two mile hike along the banks of the Red Cedar River. We saw several ducks, geese and swans. We enjoyed the area and we know we will be coming back to do this hike again in all the seasons.

 

 We decided to drive into the community of Colfax before heading for home. We are glad we did. We found more places we want to explore. I have a feeling Colfax will be another episode of 52ish Day Datn'.

To be continued.... 

April Showers Bring May Flowers and it is the Hodgepodge

 

 

It won't be long now, spring is here.

 

It is time for the Hodgepodge. 

Joyce asks the questions.

We answer the questions.

Click here to join the fun! 

 

 1. Big week in the US of A...do you do your own taxes? What's something you've found 'taxing' lately? 

We take our taxes in to be done.

Having patience with our USPS, we are not receiving our mail daily. I think our post office might be short staffed.  I have chatted with neighbors who are experiencing the same difficulty. 

Rumor has it that stamps are going up to $1.00 at a post office near you, very soon! 

 2. When it comes to travel are you a last minute packer or a lay it all out a week in advance type? Do you struggle to pack light? Share a packing tip that has worked for you. 

I am a little of both. I will set aside some clothing items I know I will want to wear on the trip early. It is our Wisconsin weather that keeps me from packing light. We can have all four seasons in a day. I need to pack it all, especially if we are going to be doing a lot of outdoor activities. 

I purchased a fantastic bag for all our toiletries. Everything has a home, just as long as we put it back in that same spot. Ha Ha.

 3. April is National Grilled Cheese Month. Hmmm...who knew it got its own month? Do you like a grilled cheese sandwich? What ingredient do you add to take yours to the next level? 

Oh yes, I love grilled cheese. One of my favorite ways to make a grilled cheese the next level is using sourdough bread and a fresh slice of tomato.

 

4. There's a well known quote that says-

'A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for." John A. Shedd  

Is constant growth necessary or do you think it's more important to prioritize stability and peace in your life? 

  Long time readers here at The River will remember my garden mentor and dear friend Marv. Marv was a Korean War Veteran, lost two wives to cancer and dealt with many memories from the war. 

He was still driving to Texas each winter up to the young age of 90.

His advice to me during our long visits was... "always be learning Carla. Never stop learning, exploring new places and trying new things." 

He begged me to promise I would travel to Newfoundland and Labrador someday, it was his favorite. 

The below photo is from 2019, when our military son was home after training. 

 

 

5. Let's wrap this up with a fun spring this or that-

• daffodils or tulips  ...  daffodils
• lemonade or iced tea ... ice tea
• gardening or hiking ... gardening 
• ladybugs or butterflies ... butterflies
• umbrella or raincoat ... raincoat
• floral patterns or polka dots ... polka dots 
•  
•  6. Insert your own random thought here. 
• I have no idea why my #5 is showing up like it is today on the blog. I best say good bye before this entire post vanishes, yes that has happened to me.  Ha!