Satsuma Orange

Did I ever tell you I have a Satsuma Orange tree?

Well, I do.  I bought it a couple of years ago at the end of season sale.  It had oranges on it and it was getting cold so I was afraid to take it out of the pot and plant it then for fear I'd shock it, lose the oranges and kill it.  My plan was that I'd plant it in the Spring.

Then we got orders to move.  At the time we had three rooms in our house torn down to studs because we were updating/redoing it ourselves and this move was not supposed to happen.

What did I do?

I moved the tree with us.  I knew if I planted it and left it there on it's own it would likely die from no one taking care of it and monitoring it so, hey, if I bring it in a pot and it dies, same thing, right?

Well, it didn't die.  I didn't plant it up here because this area's winters are too cold for it and I knew it wouldn't make it.  Well, that, and the fact that it wasn't our place, so I didn't have the right to plant anything like a tree, anyway.

It didn't make any fruit the year after that move.  I'd had it in the house during the winter and I think it was too warm to trigger it to set fruit.  That's my theory, anyway.  I know nothing about citrus trees, so who knows!  lol

Then we moved again.  Still too cold for it to be outside year round.  I put it in the unheated garage during the really cold times this Winter.

It's put on some new growth in the last few months and I knew I needed to prune it.

Isn't it funny how you can look at someone else's tree and think, "Oh, I'd prune that limb and that limb," but when it's your tree you're unsure?  Like I had no questions or qualms about pruning the peach tree that's in the yard here.  The owner said it was fine if I pruned it so I did.  It looks good, if I do say so myself.  They had actually wired a limb to another limb because it had split from fruit weight years ago.  That lower limb shouldn't have been there to begin with, the angle was too great from trunk to limb, even just looking at it.  So it's gone now.  :)

I did prune it but I'm left with one question that I'd like your opinion on.

This is what it looked like before:

This is what it looks like after:

See that middle limb?  Shouldn't I whack the top off of it?  Yes?  No?

I'm not going to do it now because I actually have three little bloom buds out there so far (none of which are on that part) and I'm going to be thrilled if I can get a couple of oranges up here.  I have to re-pot it, too, to get it back straight.

Before and After - My *New* Sewing Chair

It's new to me, anyway.

I bought this chair at a Goodwill store in the next town over.

This is what it looked like when I bought it.

(I now know that the pattern was originally light green but all exposed parts were yellow when I bought it.)

This is what it looks like now.

It's my *new* sewing chair.

I got tired of dragging a dining room chair around.

This is what the 'stuffing' was made of.

Guess how I found that out and how big of a mess it made.

(I took it apart in the living room, of course!)

Everything down to the strapping was pretty much dry rotted so I took it all off and started over.

Now if I can keep the kids and cat out of it, maybe I can use it for sewing!

Copycat, that's me!

Ok, a while back Carolyn Renee and Rhiannon at Krazo Acres made dandelion fritters.

I'd never heard of making fritters with dandelions.  I've eaten the greens in salads.  I knew you could make jelly, although it doesn't peak my interest.  I knew you could make wine, but I don't like wine, lol.  So, basically, I've been leaving the flowers alone and just using the greens.

Until this year.  When I learned about fritters!

Fried dough with dandelions?  I can try that!

We picked dandelions.  (We picked flowers for the fritters and greens for our dinner salad.)

I made up the batter following CR's instructions.  I'm a messy cook, as you can see.  lol

Mine didn't turn out as pretty as CR's did, but I was happy with them.  Oh!  I must admit, the first few were quite flat so I added a tiny bit of baking powder to the remaining batter to poof them up a bit.  :)

Then we tried them.  I put powdered sugar on some for the boys.  To me they taste like the funnel cakes we used to get at the county fair.   Except, of course, that they have dandelions in them.

The verdict?

I liked them, hubby liked them, one son liked them, one son tolerated them and one didn't like them.   What was sort of funny to me was that the one that didn't like them was the one that was the most excited about making and trying them!  Poor guy!

Thanks for the inspiration, Carolyn Renee and Rhiannon!!!

On Rappel! (AKA Why not throw your children off a 42 foot wall?)

We recently had the chance for our Scouts to go to a fun filled day of activities on a military installation.  They rode in vehicles, rode in simulators, shot guns in simulators, checked out equipment and a helicopter and asked 888 gazillion questions.

They also got to use the training tower for rappeling.

This is the tower.  It's 42 feet at the top, we were told.

We were double booked with another group and they had exactly enough riggings for each boy, so us adults lost out.  I cannot tell you how bummed I am about that!  I REALLY wanted to try it and that's coming from someone who's not a daredevil.  It just looked like a blast, pretty much idiot proof and the rappel masters were great guys, funny enough to put everyone at ease but very calming and helpful with the few (VERY few) boys who were nervous about it.

This is my youngest kiddo.  He doesn't weigh enough to pull the rope harness on his own, so they rigged a rappel master up behind him to anchor him.  This is the practice wall.  He only got to do the practice wall (no way to rig him in tandem for the big wall) but he had an absolute blast.

The kiddo on the right is my middle child.  I think he'd have jumped off the wall face first if they'd have let him.  HE LOVED THIS!  I think he went down it four times before we made the boys stop because the poor rappel masters were there volunteering their time and we were sure they wanted to go home at some point.  lol  This picture is just so you can see how small kiddos look up there when you are on the ground.

Here he is coming down.

This is my oldest on one of his trips down.  He had a great time, too.  He took great glee that ALL of the younger Scouts did it with no problems and the only nervous ones were the older Scouts.  lol

Beautiful lately, isn't it?

I've got peas, onion sets and lettuces in the garden.  I also have some strawberries in pots on the porch.  The trees are all budding out (which probably means a later freeze and no fruit, bah!) and we've been enjoying the weather.

I'm especially enjoying hanging clothes outside and not running A/C or heat!

Phone call with a pre-schooler

My little guy has pneumonia.  His grandmother called to check on him last night.

Here's how the interrogation phone call went:

She asked how he felt.
I'm fine.  I have double amonia.   (obviously he heard SOME of what they said when reading the x-rays..lol)

That was the last thing she got to say because then he took over the questioning.

Can you read books, Nana?
Can you play a guitar?
Do you have a pencil sharpener at your house?
What about pictures?  Do you have pictures on your walls?
Do you still have two dogs?
Are there mud puddles there now?
OK,I'mdonenowIloveyoubye!  (hands phone to me)

Mother's Day

Yes, I know Mother's Day is like 67 days away.  (There's a gadget to tell you everything on the internet, isn't there?)

Doesn't matter.

I usually don't have a request for Mother's Day.  I'm not picky, I'm not big on getting gifts just because someone decided we should get things on that day.

This year, though, this year is different.

I know exactly what I want.

The boys are going to clean my car out.  All the crap they've drug in there - OUT.  All the dirt - OUT.
Then they (with hubbies help) are going to wash and wax it for me.

I can't remember the last time it was *really* waxed, as in, by hand.  It's old, it hauls them all over, it's still running strong and darn it - I, um, IT deserves it!  :)


My memory isn't as strong as the car........so will someone please remind me of what I decided on when it gets closer to Mother's Day?  HA!

Spring is on it's way, you say?

Well, then, I better get that hat done!