To Lesterville and back.

I've been away from blog land for a few days. 

This is where I spent a couple of days. 

I watched this handsome blacksmith give a couple of demonstrations.

A few more handsome guys joined in on the demonstrations. You can read more about our visit at Osage Bluff Blacksmith blog.   As you will read, things were priced for sale at this shop. 

We found this small lidded crock.  It didn't look this nice when it was uncovered from layers of coal dust and spider webs.  I took a steel wool pad and scrubbed rust off the bottom of it.

This old minnow trap was found too. After a little research we believe this to be a wired frame Joy model. This particular model was made by the Johnson company. They were manufactured between the years of 1930 to 1960. 

This #7 Wagner griddle was not among the hidden treasures. It was a gift from Scott, a  blacksmith from our organization. He loves cast iron as much as I do. Scott knew I was wanting a small griddle for my camper. Thanks Scott!! 

I will leave you with this smile. Because as of today, we now know if we are having a granddaughter or  grandson. But until the new parents to be make their announcement, Lizzie's lips are sealed!

Canned fish

Today I am a guest on my friend Tipper's blog, Blind pig and the acorn. I thought I'd repost my recipe on how we can fish. 


It's one of my favorite meals. I open the can, drain off all the liquid, add 2 T. flour, 1 t. baking powder, some grated onion if I remember it, and a beaten egg, mix well. Make small patties and roll them in either flour or cornmeal, my favorite is Andy's seasoning fish mix, and fry in a small amount of oil until crispy. The blacksmith likes his served with a little cocktail sauce he makes using ketchup and horseradish. 

Here is the finished product.

It was easy to do. Pack the chunks of fish tightly into jars. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1 tablespoon of oil and seal the jars. Place in pressure cooker, adding 2 quarts of boiling water. Process for 90 minutes at 15 pounds of pressure.

This can be used the same way you would use canned salmon or mackerel.

Oklahoma OK

Now that I have you singing let me tell you about where we've been the past 4 days.

Actually we were at the daughter and son-in-laws house in Edmond, Oklahoma. It was the first time we had seen them in person since the announcement of their pregnancy.

We arrived Friday evening just as they both were coming in from work. Rusty, with instructions from Sarah, had made dinner in the crock pot.  I quickly cleaned some fresh corn that we brought from Missouri. Sarah put some corn muffins in the oven and we were eating shortly after arriving. 

Saturday morning Sarah, her Dad, and I went to the Farmer's market in downtown Edmond. 

 There was a lot of organic foods.  

We picked up this yellow Israeli melon. It's a cross between a cantaloupe and a honey dew. It was very tasty.  

 It was the biggest farmer's market I had ever seen. Such a selection of beautiful produce.

There were even orchids to purchase.  They made me think of our late friend Ed, who had some beautiful ones. 

Grandpa considered this chair for little miss Lizzie, but I doubt it would ever get used, at least not at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

One the way home we stopped at WOW donut shop. One of everything please!


Back at home Sarah made some breakfast sausages to go with our donuts. After breakfast Sarah and I went to Hobby Lobby for skirt fabric. She picked out 2 fabrics for skirts and one fabric for belly bands. (Something they didn't have in my pregnancy days).

Sarah turned her dining room into my sewing room. My machine sewed the skirt fabric like a dream. I guess that hospital visit last week was just what it needed.

Skirt #1 . . . size 6 to be exact!

Skirt #2, after we went shopping for a new top to match. The skirts both have pockets too! Not bad with a $2.45 pattern, considering the first pattern we looked at was $15.

Saturday night after our dinner at a Mexican restaurant, we drove through two parking lots to find a new Whole Foods Market. We had never been in one. Cousin Rita told me about them from when she lived in Austin, Texas. It was pretty much out of our price range but what a fun time we had looking. I so wanted to take pictures inside but I knew that would really make me look like a redneck. There were cheese bars, dessert bars, pizza bars, fresh fish bars, olive bars,and the list goes on and on.  No need to look for everyday brands like Wonder bread or Lays potato chips, they weren't there. It's all organic. A clue of the expensive cars in the parking lot pretty much told us what we were in for. So were the Tom's shoes hanging on a peg rack for $55 a pair. 

Sunday was an R and R day.  Sarah and I went for a pedicure and did a little grocery shopping. We had a great dinner of meatloaf, fresh garden fried potatoes from Missouri, more corn on the cob, Paula Dean's okra and tomatoes, and peach "deer camp" cobbler (as Sarah calls it).

  
We headed to the back yard for a little Redneck golf. Lets just say Missouri beat Oklahoma!

We even wore Josie the  dog out.


Thanks Rusty and Sarah. It was a great 4 days, minus the car ride out and back. LOL.  Love you guys and baby-to-be too!

Child labor again!

 Corn shucking 2011

Corn shucking 2012.

Wow!  Now we see how much they've grown in a year. Again, they were good little helpers. 


After shucking, cleaning, cutting, and cooking corn we ended up with 22 quarts in the freezer. We think that's really good considering the weather we've been having this summer. 


Corn took us from 7:15 AM picking time to 5:00 PM  freezing time. I then made a little dinner of bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches with some fresh corn on the cob. There would be no rest for us. After that, we made 14 pints of chili sauce.  The blacksmith then made 4 pounds of deer jerky. Ah to lay in bed and smell jerky cooking all night!  However I really think I will be tired enough to sleep right through it!


LIG!

You are what you eat?!?!

Family time

A little bit of history on the blacksmith. He is the oldest of eight children, 3 boys, 5 girls. One of those owns the home place and still farms it.  Two live on acreage off of the home place. We live 2 miles from the home place. Another one lives 4 miles from the home place. Two live about 12 miles from the home place. Then there's the last one, he lives in the next state over. 

The out-of-stater came home for a 3 day visit. So I decided to have a little dinner party. 6  siblings with their spouses and their mother attended.

It was a great meal, charcoal grilled brats and burgers. Everyone contributed a dish or two, maybe even 3. We had  potato salad, ramen slaw, fresh tomatoes with onions and cucumber salad, relish tray, baked beans, and chips. The carried in desserts were angel food cake with fresh strawberries, peach pie, blackberry pie, cherry pie, (all with ice cream if desired) and gooey butter cake. Did I mention wine too?

Here's the out-of-staters enjoying their meal! (Wine included)

More great conversations going on. It got wild later in the evening when they all started telling stories on each other. 

Before they headed home, we stopped to take one last pictures. Sorry it's a little blurry, I'm sure the wine had nothing to do with it. I blame it on the 10:15 pm time!

Thanks, in-laws, for coming (all 11 of you).  I really enjoyed the evening. I only wished the other 3 or 4 in-laws could have made it. In your defense not one story was told on you. Come next time you will see.  Let's not wait so long to do this again!

Stalled . . .

I have always loved coleus. My Mom grew them when I was younger. 

So I found it very rewarding when my daughter Sarah picked them out for her wedding bouquet. Better yet she didn't even know the history behind them.

So this year in honor of her first wedding anniversary I planted them in the front bed. Despite record breaking high temperatures, and lack of rain, they seem to be doing well.

They almost remind me of a heart.

I show you flowers because I can't sew. My Elna was taken to the hospital last Wednesday. Gosh do I miss that gal. Maybe they will call tomorrow and tell me she is well. Unfortunately I have to work all day. The hospital is about 30 miles away, not like it's a lunch hour trip.


I have sewing to do, a quilt to finish machine quilting, and then binding. I have two or more pot holders to make for my quilt guild exchange next Tuesday. There's at least one pair of jeans to be repaired for the blacksmith. I'm hoping for a quick recovery!

My "hot" blacksmith

Isn't he cute?  He's so hot!  He got even hotter when at noon, the outside temperatures reached 101.  After that I quit checking the thermometer. 


Yesterday he was demonstrating blacksmithing at the LePage steam engine show. This was our 5th year to participate there. 


You can see 2011 here,  2010 here, 2009 here, and  2008 here.


Because the pictures all look alike, I took very few this year. 

But this one of Paul driving off I couldn't resist.

The blacksmith's helper, Terry, apparently didn't work too hard, I don't even see a sweat.  

Hello OLD new friend!!

Look what came in the mail today!  I found it on Etsy and it was only $10.99, I'm pretty sure I couldn't buy a brand new toaster for that price. Even so, I'm a positive it wouldn't be a heavy duty one like this beauty.

This is the old one. You can't even tell the difference. In case you are wondering why I need a new toaster you can read about it here.


Welcome home old new friend.

Congratulations Branden and Aubrey

What a better way to celebrate the 4th . . .  a wedding!!!

 My nephew Branden awaits his bride . . . 

 Let the ceremony begin . . . 

 The combining of families.  Like sands in an hour glass.

Sealed with a kiss!

The gift cart.  An antique that belonged to my parents (his Grandparents).

Congratulations you two!

Showing my Red, White, and Blue

Just a little something I made many years ago. 

Happy 4th!