Monday, July 26, 2010

Playing in Concrete

This is the concrete pad next to our new barn, of which I still have pictures to post, including the cool way it was delivered.  The former old barn was apparently built in three different sections with different levels of concrete and some areas just left dirt.  The place where we wrote "BREMER 2010" and put the kids' handprints and initials is where there was a spigot inside the barn (a good chunk of the former barn was a greenhouse, which is now where we have the new barn, on a frame over the biggest section of dirt "floor".

Max lifted, I (mostly) mixed, and Max poured forty 80 lb bags of concrete.  It was the "just add water" kind, which should actually be "just add water and LOTS of elbow grease".  Mixing water and concrete powder into mud is a lot of work.  Max and I were not as sore the next day as we thought we would be and we are wondering if it was the Shaklee Performance that helped our muscles not be sore...we just got some in the mail and it is the first time we've used it for our outdoor labor in sweltering heat.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

From the Melon/Punkin Patch...

Behind Gloria and the melons are the pumpkin, cantaloupe, and watermelon vines that apparently plan to take over the world.  We are blessed with a bountiful harvest of melons and even some pumpkins that are orange in July!  I still have to "Google" when the best time is to harvest pumpkins...whether right when they are completely orange or when they fall off the vine or what?  With cantaloupe it is when they either are off the vine or when they come off the vine easily...I think it's the same with watermelon...

Our favorite "punkin" is the one with the blond hair and cute dimples.

Just learned from "Googling" that it is hard to tell when to harvest watermelons.  I guess the best ways are to look at the place where the watermelon has been resting on the ground...if it is yellowish instead of green or white it is an indication of ripeness.  And if the skin is firm and doesn't dent or scratch easily when pressed, then it might be ripe.  Same goes for pumpkins except for the part about the yellow bottom.  When pumpkins are orange throughout and their rinds are tough, then they are ripe.

I also looked up when to harvest sweet potatoes.  They can pretty much keep growing until right before the first frost.  We may have a long ways to go...  The plants aren't taking over the world as much as the melons.  They do have pretty purple flowers on them though and are hopefully growing sweet potatoes mysteriously and secretly underground.  Did you know that sweet potato plants are related to morning glories?  The flowers on some varieties look like morning glories.  Also, "potato" is spelled without an "e" when single..."Google" reminded me of this:0).

Now you know...

Friday, July 23, 2010

For my Dad...

My dad, Pastor and wonderful father, Larry, might appreciate this:

First of all, JB has become more aware of leadership in the church.  Every Sunday that we attend church he and Gloria do Sunday School when we do and then we pick them up and they go to the service with us.  Here in Oklahoma our Pastor is "Brother Jeff".  JB spends a lot of time with Max's parents since they are fairly close (9 hour drive) and Gramma Shell's work allows her to be more flexible than my parents' work and since Grampa Duncan works at home, JB gets to see "Grandude" when we visit there.

I think it dawned on JB that he doesn't know what my parents "do".  He asked me the other day and I told him that my mom has a daycare and takes care of other people's kids for a chunk of the day and my dad is a pastor "like Brother Jeff."  JB raised his eyebrows at that and said "Oh, really?"  Being curious like his Daddy he asked what the name of the church was.  I told him it was Ruggles Baptist Church and I knew right when I said it that that would sound like a funny name to him.  All of the churches that we have attended have been "First Christian Church" or "First Baptist Church" or "Church of Living Water" (words that make some sort of sense to a 7 year old brain).  However, I could tell "Ruggles" threw him for a loop.  His face said "why Ruggles?" So I explained to him that the church my Dad pastors used to be on Ruggles Street and then they moved and kept the name.  JB said "Why did they keep the name?  It sounds so....tangly".   Ever since then I've been trying to figure out why Ruggles sounds "tangly".  It sounds so normal to me, having grown up with that name on "my" church since I was a wee thing.  I came out to the Midwest and South as a young bride and asked so what makes this church "First"?  I guess it comes down to perspective and background...

Another "church" story...I took the kids to a VBS that was in a different church building than the church we normally attend.  He has heard me talk about Ruggles and the fact that it has a rooster on its steeple because it used to be a Unitarian Universalist church building and they put weather vanes on their steeples.  He's also seen that some churches have crosses on the tops of their steepless.  As we were approaching the "VBS church" JB says to his friends in our car (three other 5-9-year-olds, plus Gloria) "Look!  They have a spike on their church...not a rooster, not a cross, but a spike."  It was just a normal steeple to me until he said that...

Monday, July 12, 2010

The New Barn Found Its Way Home

Wildlife and nature at the OKlahoma Bremer House

Baby Skunk...cute when they're little
Biff...sweet bull, but getting bigger and closer to his meeting with the butcher...
Taken North of the house...a rainbow over our neighbor's barn.  You can see a couple of our gardens on "this" side of the fence.  The melon patch (on the  right near the tree) is doing well, but getting too much water lately...it's been raining for a week and a half!  At the same time, I'm very thankful for the rain!
This one was taken in the evening looking South from our house.  This is where our sweet potatoes and corn are growing.

Evie's Bath Time

Evie loves sitting in the sink and having her bath.  It's easy for me too since I can still do stuff in the kitchen while she sits and splashes.