daily yarns 'n more

i wasn't planning to go see the fireworks

But, they came to us.  We didn't even have to leave the comfort of our home to see the fireworks.  Our neighbors all gave a show.  The fireworks came from the left, the right, the front and the back of us.  They came from all sides.  By the time that I decided to take some pictures the shows were pretty much over.  I didn't get to set my camera up so I just had to point and shoot and this is what I got.

We had a close call last night and I don't mean from the fireworks. 

We get rabbits in our yard.  Normally I like the cute little critters.  But, when they eat all my plants and eat all the bark off my trees that eventually kills them, they are not on the list of my favorite animals.  So, we have been trying to train Sadie to chase then out of the yard.  Which she has been doing fairly well.

Well, last night Jim took Sadie out to do her duty and she spied what Jim thought at first was a little bitty bunny....Well, little bunnies DON'T have a white stripe down their backs.  Sadie started going after...yes you guessed it...a SKUNK.  Jim called her back and luckily she listens to commands very well.  Because that skunk had it's tail up and started to chase Sadie.  Yikes!!!!  They didn't get sprayed and they made it into the house safely. 

I guess we have to teach her the difference between a rabbit and skunk.

happy 4th everyone

America
Samuel Francis Smith

My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring!

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.

Our father's God to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom's holy light,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King.

i am so excited

I can hardly contain my glee.  I have one of my photos featured on the Lake County Forest Preserve website.  Can you feel me grinning from ear to ear?  And, it's my favorite photo of the lotus flower that I took.

have you ever seen a lotus bed?

The other day Jim was going to see one of his clients to look at a job and asked if I wanted to go along.  Sure, why not.  I wasn't doing anything anyway, so I went along for the ride.  Going to see this client is not a quick trip, so having me along to keep him company was a treat for him.

I grabbed my camera and a bottle of water and away we went.  I would have about a half hour to kill while he was checking out the job.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do, or where I was going to go.  As we were driving past a county forest preserve Jim thought he saw some lotus flowers in bloom in the lake that we had passed.  Since we were only about 3 miles from where I was dropping him off at, I planned to go back to the forest preserve to check it out. 

You can't imagine my delight when I pulled into the park and saw what I saw.

I was totally in my glory because I can't recall ever seeing any lotus beds in this area in my lifetime.

I couldn't stop taking pictures, and each lotus flower seemed prettier then the next.

When the lotus were plentiful like in the picture below, people would come from all over just to see and take a ride in a boat through the lotus beds.  The lotus is reported to be naturally found and the Nile River in Egypt is one place where it also can be found.  People began to pull the lotus plants up by their roots causing them to soon disappear.  They are slowly coming back and are protected now.

I recall a story my dad tells of when he wanted to take my mom for a boat ride through the lotus beds back in the 50's.  They never got very far as my mom couldn't relax.  She was so scared, that she was holding onto the boat sides so tight, he just rowed the boat back to shore.  He still teases her about that.

I'm still tickled that I was able to get some pictures and see the lotus beds.  I just have to show you one more picture.

I lied I did two :)

It was such a big thing, these lotus beds.  That they even named a street Lotus Drive,

and, a school Lotus Elementary.  Jim remembers playing against this school in sports when he was in grade school.  The school name is the same but the building is not.  The one he remembers was much smaller and would have been a much older building.

I hope you enjoyed my lotus overkill.  I can't tell you how exciting it is and was to have been able to see these lotus flowers that have not been around in this area for many many years.

What once was might be again.

the farm chicks rock

For my sons wedding rehearsal dinner the girls made bars and cookies.  I was trying to find a recipe that I have never made before.  I reach for The Farm Chicks..."Country Living The Farm Chicks In The Kitchen" cookbook and found a quick recipe to make...nancy's nutmeg coffee cake...and it was out of this world.  I did have to substitute pecans for the walnuts because I did not have any on hand.

Mine of course did not look like the cake in the book...But, it was still wonderful.

As I posted before this is a wonderful book not only for the recipes, and the first one I made turned out to be a yummy one.  One that I will definitely make again, but it's also a wonderful read as well.

Life on the homestead is still busy...We bought some blueberry bushes last night and I can't wait until they start producing fruit.  We also planted a couple of grape vines last week.  Jim will be making a fence of some sort for them to climb on.  The asparagus is doing great despite the flooding, and all 50 plants have sprouted.  I think we might have gotten a few more because last count there were 51 or 52 plants.  Each plant has 2 or more shoots coming out of them.  Yippee!!!!!

Today I'm heading out to the raspberry bushes, as I want to get to the ripe ones before the birds do.  This year I'm hoping to get enough for a pie.  I planted 2 black berry bushes and they are going to produce some berries this year.  Another Yippee!!!!!.  I hope to get a few more this weekend as I'm sure they will be just about giving them away.  My favorite store had some still the other day.

I hope you all have a wonderful day today.  I have lots to do on my to do list.