He's Retired!

Well, I'm now married to a REITREE!  After 30 years of working for General Motors, Wonderful Hubby has decided to just work for himself. 

His new job description includes:

• Golfing
• Fishing
• Woodworking
• Traveling
• Gardening
• Farm Management
• and Hunting....

... He thought retiring at the beginning of Turkey Season would be the perfect way to begin his new 'freedom' so that's just what he did!  Since college, WH and his fraternity buddies have gotten together each season to call in and hunt these large beautiful birds.  Even Favorite Son and Precious Daughter's boyfriend joined in.  They enjoyed several days of camping, catching up and calling.  Unfortunately though, they didn't see many birds. 

 

Yesterday morning, he went again with a high school friend and they were BOTH successful!!  Each got a bird! 
The meat will be used soon at a party for local farmers.

Hunting isn't the only thing keeping Wonderful Hubby occupied these last two weeks.  We've joined a couples' golf league so Friday, we played our first round.  We know several of the couples but are excited to get acquainted with others.  I'm not much of a golfer but since it's a scramble, I can play off of WH's shots and we did pretty well and had a lot of fun! 

Sunday, before Favorite Son went back to college, we went fishing.  We caught several bluegill and two catfish!!  (I caught one and WH caught one.) 

They were grilled for supper!

Farm Management is another part of his new 'job' and this involves another one of his favorite pass times, dirt moving!  We rent out all of our farm acreage but WH does the drain tile and brush removal work and brush hogging himself.  Another project is tearing down many of the old structures on our properties.  As he says, there's always something you can do if you own ground!

 

This is such an exciting time for us!  We have spent most of our married life on different shifts and now we can finally enjoy spending a little more time together.  It's such a blessing to say that, although I love my husband, I also really LIKE him (!) and am so proud I am his wife!! 
 

I'm a pretty lucky Lady of the Manor!

 

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Spring Is Here!

Spring has finally sprung around here.  I've been a bit preoccupied these last few weeks and haven't felt much like writing but Spring has slowly made it's way into our neighborhood.  Here are a few photos I snapped this afternoon.

Violets and Clover

Forsythia

Hostas slowly waking up

Flowering Magnolia

Dutchman's Breeches

My helper, Sallie



Several weeks ago I bought six chicks, three Rhode Island Reds and three Barred Plymouth Rocks.  We've kept them in the kitchen but let them out, supervised of course, a little as the weather allows.

We've bought a cute little hen house.  (I'll call it my early Mother's Day present.)



We have a bit of 'landscaping' to do but isn't it cute?!

This side has outside access to four nesting boxes.

Here's an inside shot.  Wonderful Hubby is going to finish off the inside a bit to make it easier to clean. 

It will be a while before they're ready to move to the 'big house' but we hope they'll get acquainted with the dogs by early summer.

Sallie is ready to plant garden!

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope Spring has come to your neighborhood, too!


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A Bittersweet Ending

This project actually began last August when my friend and her husband took me along on their trip to the Missouri Star Quilt Company in Hamilton, Missouri.  You can read about our adventure here. 

We had a great time visiting all of the fabric stores in this little town, planning multiple projects to keep us busy through the long winter months. 

My friend was planning a Christmas quilt that included an embroidered top and pieced border.  Here is a picture of it, a pattern from Crabapple Hill Studios.

source

We had a great day and came home with some beautiful fabric!

Here is some I bought that day, along with some other material from my stash. 

I made them into a lattice-style quilt.

I machine quilted the interior and hand quilted the borders.  As I was finishing up the last of the borders, my friend's husband called to tell me that my friend was in the hospital with a severe infection.  I was concerned, but she was pretty ill and couldn't receive visitors. 

I started binding the quilt and worked on it when I had the time during that next week.  Each night, my friend's husband called or sent messages updating on her progress.  I then passed these messages on to our other friends.

Her condition did not improve and each day we became more and more concerned.  Finally, the unbelievable news came.  She had passed away.

We were completely stunned. 

I finished binding this quilt the day before she passed.  We enjoyed getting together to work on our projects and I was looking forward to showing it to her.  There would be no more get-togethers.

It is so hard to believe she's gone.  She was such a kind and gentle person and will be greatly missed by many.

When I see this quilt, I'll remember her and all of the fun we had talking and quilting together.  It will be bittersweet, though.

My friend and her husband had two daughters.  The oldest daughter, Jenn, had a congenital heart condition and, after 21 years and almost completing college, she passed away.  That was 13 years ago.  My friend's husband said they drove by the cemetery on the day of my friend's passing and noticed two small daffodils blooming on Jenn's grave.  They took it as a sign from them both.

I do, too.

Farewell, my good friend.



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Dutchman's Breeches

I always look forward to one of nature's first signs of Spring in Missouri's forests, Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria).  These early bloomers are so dainty and unique!  You have to be watchful, though.  They don't bloom for long.  There's a saying around here that 'when you see the Dutchman's Breeches and Dandelions blooming, the bees will be waking.' 

And so Spring begins!

Happy Spring!

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