(Wild)Life on the Farm

I live in a beautiful part of the country - and in a beautiful old house (over 100 years old). It's got some cracked plaster walls, great old hardwood floors which tell stories of living, some dated wallpaper, doors that don't fit in their frames...and I love it! If you look out the windows by the chimney, you can see the Red Bank Creek and the abandoned railroad trestle.

Here's a picture of my garden, with an eight-foot fence around it to keep out the deer. Unfortunately, the fence doesn't touch the ground everywhere, so the rabbits have found some nourishment in the garden.

Here's the barn and the red garden shed. No more animals live permanently in the barn (like cows and horses), but we do have evidence of a raccoon visiting (trash cans overturned, bags ripped open). Better a raccoon than a bear which was our first thought. It now houses multiple tractors - pick your favorite color - red, green, or orange?

The railroad trestle - one of two on the property. At least this one has sides and a walkway on it - the other one is pretty scary to cross. DON'T LOOK DOWN!!!

It's a little hard to see them in this picture, but there are about 20 geese in this picture. We have four families of geese, some of them with 6 babies. They were all "grazing" in the field until they heard me approach them on our Ranger. They took off running - the babies can't fly yet but they do have cute little wings!

Okay, I tried to take pictures of some of the wildlife on the farm but they weren't very cooperative or maybe they were just camera shy. This is where a deer ran away into the woods in front of me. (Use your imagination.)

Eagle's nest high up in a pine tree - two babies this year but I didn't see any today. I don't think they're flying yet so maybe they're napping in their nest.

A little chipmunk was on the tree trunk but once again, camera shy!

There actually is an animal in this picture - a little rabbit right in the center. He too didn't stay around long enough to get a better shot.

A woodchuck took off running when he heard me approach. I asked him to stop but he ignored me. Luckily for him, the hunter wasn't with me....

Finally, some animals that didn't get scared off. These "friends" sit on my porch steps and greet any and all guests. Don't they have cute expressions?

Maybe next time I'll be able to find some more cooperative animals, but it was fun chasing them down. The weather today was sunny and cool - perfect!!

When we moved to Pennsylvania, we learned that there was a flea market on the first weekend of the month from May through October. I thought it would be a waste of time - who wants to buy someone's junk? But as I've attended the "market" for a few years now, I have found the old adage "one man's junk is another man's treasure" to be true!! We look forward to the first weekend each month.....is that a sad commentary on our life here in western PA?

This is the highlight of the day--funnel cakes!! (More pics later) Very low in calories too!!

If you fancy yourself as "Davy Crockett", here is the place for you to shop. Raccoon tails, hats, and I'm not sure what the other animals are. Send me your order.




I took this picture from a distance because this woman is carrying a rifle (fortunately in a case) under her arm. I did want to ask her where she bought her shirt, but I was a little nervous. I was just hoping she didn't hear the click of the camera.

One of a kind, sitting all by itself by the road.

I can't imagine how many sales were made by the vendor selling these polar fleece robes and blankets. I was tempted though by the Bucky Badger blanket.

As you can see, something for everyone.

For the men in your family....

.....and for the women (pink garden tools, including a hose).

These wood crafts were really "cute". Too bad I'm not into "cute" anymore (ever?).

Guess what this is?

And this is it again, only in industrial size (and costing $390). I didn't buy it.

This is it....a funnel cake covered with powdered sugar after being deep fried. Mmmm-mmm.

And here I am, showing off my treat. I think the funnel cake vendors thought I was a little strange when I asked them to take a picture of me with their product.

I saved some for dad but it definitely doesn't taste the same when it's cold. Also, I was getting pretty full and feeling pretty guilty for eating so much. At least I had exercised that morning and did a lot of walking at the market.
Back to the car, empty handed. I spent $6 at the flea market - $2 to park and $4 for the funnel cake. This flea market just didn't have anything that caught my eye. Most of it was junk, although I did see quite a few of my Currier and Ives dishes for sale. I could be rich if I ever decided to sell my collection of them. I do like to look for enamel-ware items and use them around the house for waste baskets, catch-alls, etc.

That's it for June's flea market....I was there for about an hour and then the rain came to stop the shopping/browsing. It was fun - now you know what you're missing!! Plan vacations to PA around the flea market. You may find some treasures!

Grandma and I were out "eagle hunting" with her new camera that she got for Grandpa's birthday. We then came home and figured out how to get the pictures onto the computer (is that upload or download?) Anyway, we got them onto her computer and now I am going to try to get them on my blog without my niece Elza helping me. I think she gave me a good tutorial yesterday so wish me luck....

Help!!

Elza is here to help me put pictures on my blog since I was told by a family member that blogs are boring without pictures. Molly, this is for you....

Caleb was baptized today and so family pictures were in order - here are my three nieces from Butler. They are all beautiful and single, but only one is of marriageable age. Guess which one?

A "fwump" in the night....

I don't know if "fwump" accurately describes the sound I heard last night. I was talking to Molly on the phone late last night as I was sitting in bed and I heard a "fwump"ing sound, like wings beating. The sound came from behind me so I figured some creature was in the little storage alcove behind the wall. I only heard it a few times so the nerves calmed down.

Fast forward to 2:15 a.m. I wake up because of a noise - something fell. What would make something fall? I didn't want to investigate but turned on the light next to my bed to see what happened. I didn't see anything at first, but then saw a bat flying erratically in our bedroom - erratically because the ceiling fan was on. I hurriedly pulled the covers over my head so did not see where the bat went. I woke up Chris so we could both be awake and nervous.

3:38 a.m. Still awake - I'm guessing I'm awake because of the fear of bats. The light is off and we shut our bedroom door and put a thick robe in front of it so no bat can come in under the door. That is, if the bat flew out of the bedroom. If it didn't fly out of the bedroom, now it can't leave. The clock keeps ticking....I know this because I'm not sleeping.

It's the afternoon now and it's been raining most of the day. That means the house is a little dark which means the bat may come out of its hiding place. Everywhere I went in the house today, I went there in trepidation. Is the bat on the shower curtain? Is it hiding on some clothes left on the floor? Did it fly in my closet because the door was open and it's dark in there? Did it go downstairs and decided to spend the day in the curtains? What is its next move?

I love where I live but I can do without these "friendly beasts". I hope I will have no more tales to tell about our resident bat.

Fwump, fwump, fwump.....

Staging my comeback, Part II

Okay, maybe the hairstyle will work. I did my volunteer work and one of the employees (who is young and has good eyesight) noticed I had my hair cut. She liked it and said it was "youthful".

I will now be accepting visitors.

Staging my comeback??

It all started in April. I was walking through Wal-Mart and stopped to look at the books. One title caught my eye -- "Staging Your Comeback - A Complete Beauty Revival for Women Over 45". After leafing through the book, I decided I needed to have it and make a "comeback". So I went home and ordered it and had it shipped to Utah because I was flying out there to attend a women's conference and visit kids and grandkids. The book finally came (the day before I was to leave), but that still left Emma, Molly, and me time to look at all the before and after pictures and get inspired. It really is a great book and I saw myself in some of the before pictures (so did Molly and Emma!!). I decided to look on the book's website and discovered that the author, Christopher Hopkins, has a salon in Minneapolis, MN. Guess where I was going in mid-May - I was flying to Minneapolis to attend a family reunion in Wisconsin! So I gathered up my courage and called the salon to get a haircut to help me "stage my comeback".

Two of my sisters went with me for moral support as I got my hair cut - not drastically, but shorter and kind of fun. It was easy to take care of and I liked it. I even took "before and after" pictures but didn't publish them. The stylist told me to go to my beautician soon after I got home so she could see the cut and copy it. I sort of did that....it may have been longer than she recommended, but I did go and I got it trimmed and it still looked okay.

Well, since then I've been to Georgia and while there I decided I didn't like how long it was in the back - it made me think of mullets and we all know what people think of mullets. So I decided it was time to cut off the length in the back and make it more even. I called my beautician and went for a haircut yesterday. We looked through books and I showed her the style I liked and she asked questions and I answered them in, I thought, a clear manner.

The back gets cut and it looks good...then she started on one side and cut it short, like right below my ear. Now the back is longer than the side again, which is NOT what I wanted. "I guess we got our lines crossed...I thought you wanted it short" were her words. "We must not have been on the same page" she said. "I'm sorry" she said. I bravely smiled, all the while wondering if a person can pull on their hair to make it longer. (You can't.) She finished cutting the other side and trimmed the back a little bit more so it wouldn't resemble a mullet. It sort of looks like a bowl has been placed on my head and then cut around the edges.

There are no "before and after" pictures. I will be accepting phone calls, but no visits for the next month. I am going to stay secluded on my little farm and sit and watch my hair grow.