Allis Chalmer WD Tractor - Help and Bees Swarms Again

Well folks, I am not keeping up well at all! Things have been so crazy for me lately! Luckily, my 8 y/o granddaughter has come for an extended visit. She got here a couple of days ago and has been a great help. Maybe, just maybe I'll get caught up!

Our bees swarmed today so tomorrow we need to go get another hive. That will make 4. Hopefully, we'll get some honey this year. We do need to learn how to prevent swarming though. From what I understand they produce a lot more honey if you can keep them from swarming - but I suppose multiplying the hives this way is a good thing in the beginning!



It's late and I need to get to bed so I'm making this post short, but I wanted to show you the tractor I currently have on E-Bay. Grampa Tom bought himself a brand new John Deere tractor this spring so we are selling the old family Allis Chalmers. If you know anyone who collects antique tractors, please send them to my E-Bay site!

God Bless You All!

Safe From the Flood

Well, as safe as is possible in the middle of a major disaster. People have been asking about us since our address is Niota. Niota has been evacuated, but we are actually out in the country on the plains about 3 miles from any flooding. Thanks to all of you who have been praying! The picture is one my friend Becky took near the Keokuk bridge.

While we are high and dry, that doesn't mean we haven't been affected. It is difficult to get to Iowa right now. Grampa Tom did go to the Burlington Farmer's Market today, but we're wondering if there will be a bridge open to get him home on tonight. Fortunately, we have friends in Iowa who would be happy to put him up for awhile. I did have the sense to do some turbo shopping last Saturday! In '93 there were about 3 weeks when shopping in Iowa was nearly impossible and there's not much on this side of the river. I wanted to be prepared.

Business for us has really dropped off. Garage sales and farmer's markets are pretty much leisure time activities around here and most people are just too busy and worried to have fun right now. We did have some folks from Carmen stop by today. They were on a scouting mission to find a way to the father's workplace in Iowa. They said their house was being protected by a levy that seemed to be holding. LORD, please be a wall around them!

Fortunately, we found some money we didn't know we had! Last January, Grampa Tom lost his checkbook. He was really messed up so he decided to use my check book for a couple of months. At one point, we thought we had accidentally deposited some money in his checkbook that belonged in mine and that I would be overdrawn, so we transfered it. It's been there for quite awhile so we decided it is safe to use it now! See how God works! He even uses our mess to bless!

My son Jess has been busy sandbagging. Grampa Tom and I are too old and decrepit to be much help so we've stayed out of the way. I'd love to do some of the behind the scenes organizational and fund raising work, but I just don't have any time to give right now. My life was already a blur, and then 2 weeks ago, the little old lady my MIL and I take care of came home from the nursing home. We had been just staying nights with her, but now she needs someone with her all the time, so we've recruited another person and are doing 24 hour shifts. I'm only doing one or two shifts a week and I'm very grateful for the work, but I'm so incapable of giving any more of my time! Ahhh! Mommy-God syndrome. I have such a tendency to want to be all things to all people! I have to keep reminding myself that God is there for those people even if I can't be.

Remember, God promises that He will use all things for good! So, be blessed in the mess!

Valentine Find!

GRAMA’S TREASURES!

A neighbor brought me a whole bunch of unused children’s Valentine cards! Stock up for next year! You can’t beat the price! 5 cents for a box!



THE FARMER’S MARKET

We’ve been having so much fun!
We are now selling at:
Carthage Mondays 2:30-5:30, on the Square
Burlington Thursdays normally 5-8pm on the river, but this week 11-2 on Jefferson street
Nauvoo Fridays 3:30-5:30 at the Winery
Keokuk Saturdays 6:30 am - 11am at the mall (if we have anything left)
We are also considering going to Hamilton on Wednesdays, but right now we are selling out. What a wonderful problem to have! How to produce more :)

E-BAY

Well, I managed to sell my black ink cartridge. Right now I’ve got a yellow cartridge for my old Epson printer. I have been doing some crafts so one of these days I think I’m gonna try to get my Etsy site up and running. Time, time, time!

ON THE CRAFT TABLE

My rug is really looking good! It’s not anywhere near perfect, but I have to start somewhere! I’m really enjoying doing this. At one time my hands were so crippled that I couldn’t hold a needle! I was wearing splints on both hands and was seriously considering carpal tunnel surgery when I found this web site

http://www.doctoryourself.com/handson.html

It describes a little exercise that has almost totally reversed the problem!




THE GARDEN

We are currently harvesting onions and lettus. The radishes and spinach are about done, but we have new potatoes coming on. We should have a few in the next week or so. All the beds are planted. We put in a bed of ever bearing strawberries in the hopes that we will have strawberries in the late summer/early fall. We were also given a few thornless blackberry plants so we should have some of those next year!

We’ve got some of the supports up on our raised beds. I’m anxious to see how they’ll work. If you come, be sure to ask to see our raised bed gardens. Everyone who‘s seen them so far has been impressed!





GRAMA’S WISDOM
(tips, recipes and ideas for saving money)

The other day, I served a “creation”. These are always a gamble since Grampa Tom is such a picky eater, but he really loved it! I cut some pork loin into strips and stir-fried it along with some green onions, broccoli and mushrooms. Then I added a little Woshestershire sauce, garlic, salt and pepper. I thickened it with some cream of celery soup and then boiled up some of my egg noodles to add to the sauce. Yummy!

God Bless You All! ~Grama Sue

Bees and Swarms

Whoo! Hoo! I got my internet working again ... at least for awhile. Grampa hit the satellite dish a while back and last week it slowed down so much that I couldn’t post. Today I went and hit it with a hammer and it is working better. I have to get a part replaced, but at least I don't have to wait until next week to get on line anymore. Praise God!

Anyway, we had an exciting thing happen last week! I was standing at the kitchen window when I heard a loud buzzzzzzz! I looked out and saw a swarm of bees settling in the tree behind the house. We have 2 beehives so I thought one of ours had swarmed (not a good thing), so I called Grampa Tom and told him I thought we were losing our bees.

He came right home and checked out our hives.They were full of bees, so we proceeded to catch this new bunch of bees.


Here’s Grampa using a power saw to saw the branch the bees had settled on out of the tree. He said they started gathering on his arm as he was doing this. He thought he might just be able to carry them all down to the box we had for them.


We put the branch in a cardboard box and waited a few minutes to let them settle down. Then we put a sheet over the box and raced down to Daydants to buy a new hive for them to live in.




At dusk Grampa swept them into the new hive stocked with sugar water to help them feel at home. They seem to like their new home so now we have 3 hives instead of 2! We feel so blessed to have these bees choose us!

Here's a picture of the inside of a bee hive I had taken a few days earlier to show you.



God bless you all!

Buy Local

INTERESTING STAT

From: Animal, Vegetable, and Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Shereports "If every US citizen would eat just 1 meal a week (any meal) composed of only locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country's oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil per week. Becoming a less energy-dependent nation may just need to start with a good breakfast."

GRAMA’S TREASURES!

Wow! We had a great hatch! Hatching 50% of the eggs you put in an incubator is considered good. We have 33 out of 48. That’s almost 70%! I’m happy! Most of the eggs I put in the incubator were blue and green in hopes that I will get more hens that lay blue and green eggs. I plan to do this at least 2 or 3 more times this summer. If you’d like to help me fill the incubator again, I plan to have an official fill the incubator day once a month. The first one will be this Saturday at 10:30 am. If you need chicks, I am willing to sell a few at $2.35 each.


THE FARMER’S MARKET

Grampa Tom went to both the Keokuk and the Carthage Farmers’ Market by himself this week. I went to the Hamilton Farmers’ Market this afternoon. That was a bust. Nobody there but me. I’d like to go to all of the markets, but I’m really not needed most days and there’s plenty to do here. So far, we’re not making oodles of money, but we come home with more than we spent to go. It’s a start!

One of the things we’ve been selling is egg noodles. I got a noodle maker thinking it would speed up my egg noodle production time. It doesn’t take anywhere near as much strength, but I’m not seeing the time savings I was hoping for. I was hoping to be able to sell my noodles at farmers’ markets for $1.25/bag but it just isn’t going to happen for less than $2 and even then I’m not making minimum wage – it is just something to do with unused eggs. I told Grampa if we can’t sell them, we’ll just have to give them to charity.

E-BAY

Neither of my items on E-Bay sold L! But I got lots of lookers for the bag. Decided not to re-list it because Grampa Tom hasn’t managed to get another one done and he wants to take it to the farmers’ markets. I did re-list the Epson T060120 black ink. It didn’t sell, but it might have helped if I hadn’t made a typo in the id#! So far this week I have 3 watchers on it. If you’d like to bid, you can find my stuff at
http://myworld.ebay.com/gramasues


ON THE CRAFT TABLE

The rug is coming along. I’ve got several feet braided, but I’ve got no idea how big this thing will be! It’s an adventure.

Grampa Tom suggested that I do a golden egg with IOWA painted in black. I think I can do that. Then I thought I could probably even do a Deere egg in green and yellow. Grampa isn’t an Iowa fan, but we sure do like John Deere.

THE GARDEN

We are still finishing the construction and planting like mad. This week we planted musk melon, garlic, basil, winter onions and more yellow onions, cilantro, marjoram, cucumbers and dill. We also transplanted quite a few petunias and marigolds.

We took the first harvest from our spinach and green onions this week. I also harvested and sold some fresh oregano. The broccoli plants that we put in last week is already putting on a head. I can’t wait! We love broccoli!

The potatoes look wonderful, but the poor beans! They’ve suffered from chickens scratching in them and my “other dog/lawn mower” (pet lamb) eating all the leaves off them! Here’s a picture.

If you come, be sure to ask to see our new raised bed gardens. We are following Len Pense’s plans:

http://www.gardeningrevolution.com/index.html

They take a lot of work to build, but once they are done, they are a breeze to care for. We’d love to build one for you or teach you how to do it yourself!

GRAMA’S WISDOM
(tips, recipes and ideas for saving money)

How to Clean a Microwave

This is one I learned from my daughter when I was over 40. Some of you young pups may think that’s disgusting, but bear in mind the fact that there were no such things when I was young. OK, OK, so I used a microwave for 20 years before I learned how to clean one! I’m not the only one! Almost everyone I share this secret with has never heard of it.

Put a bowl of soapy water in microwave and run for 5 minutes. Even the most stuck on stuff will come off! It is amazing.


GRAMA RECOMENDS

Great Chiropractors!

It is so awesome to sleep next to my husband again! For years, Grampa Tom has been severely overweight. This obstructed his breathing so much that he had to sleep sitting up so he slept in his big chair on the other end of the house. He also fell asleep quite often during the day and snored loudly all the time. He finally went to the Rexroth Clinic in West Burlington. They gave him some adjustments and some supplements to help kick start his metabolism again. He’s lost several inches off his tummy, sleeps in our bed and stays awake all day! The only problem now is that I can’t keep up with the guy!

Check them out! http://rexrothchiropractic.com/index.php


God Bless You All!

Correction

The river is rising again so the Burlington farmer's market will be at the train depot again this week!

Chicks, Avon & E-Bay

WE’VE GOT CHICKS HATCHING!

So far, there’s 7 little babies and quite a few eggs that are chirping through little holes! I’ve got them in the house with the incubator. I’ll keep them in here for a few days just to make sure they stay nice and warm, but if you or your kids would like to see them, I’ll be happy to invite you in! If you'd like to buy a few, they are $2.35 each.

200 AVON BOOKS

Really, I mean really, it was my intention to just have a few Avon books and a lotion or two available for my customers in the garage! Somehow, I managed to order 200 books by mistake. I’m taking it as a sign from God. The same day I realized what I had done and that I couldn’t fix it, my “sleeping around job” ended. I know how to sell Avon. I used to support my family on it. Maybe God wants Avon to be a major source of income again. Needless to say, I’m spending a lot of time this week passing out Avon books!

THE FARMER’S MARKET

The Farmer’s Market in Burlington went very well this week. We sold out of egg noodles and I managed to sell quite a few of my golden eggs. This week it will be on the river just south of the bridge where it is supposed to be. If you want to come, it is held from 5-8 pm every Thursday. We should also be going to Keokuk on Saturday morning (at the Keokuk Mall) and to Carthage Monday afternoon (at the courthouse).

E-BAY

Back in the fall of 2006, I was selling quite a bit of stuff on E-Bay, but that project got put on hold due to my assessing job. This week I resumed it. I’ll try to put a couple of things on it a week. This week, I put Grampa Tom’s first shopping bag on E-Bay with a starting bid of $4.99 and some black printer ink for an Epson printer with a starting bid of $9.99. If you’d like to bid, you can find my stuff at
http://myworld.ebay.com/gramasues


ON THE CRAFT TABLE

I was amazed at how far I got my gazebo top to rug project last weekend. I actually got all the strips rolled into balls and have begun to braid the strands!

We bought some more paint to paint eggs with - even some red, white and blue for the 4th of July. I’ll probably experiment with that a little this weekend along with my rug.

THE GARDEN

The biggest project we’ve had going on this week has been the gardens. We’re finishing the construction and planting like mad.

We have planted tomatoes, potatoes, cucumber, radishes, onions, peppers, turnips, corn, green beans, lima beans, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, carrots, garlic, squash and pumpkin. We already have some herbs. The oregano and lemon balm are coming on strong and the sage is starting to leaf out. I also bought some seeds for dill, basil and marjoram. I’ll be drying most things, but if you’d like some really fresh herbs, I’d be happy to go cut some for you!

Be sure to ask to see our new raised bed gardens. We are following Len Pense’s plans:

http://www.gardeningrevolution.com/index.html

They take a lot of work to build, but once they are done, they are a breeze to care for. We’d love to build one for you or teach you how to do it yourself!


GRAMA’S WISDOM
(tips, recipes and ideas for saving money)

Hurting People Hurt Other People

Some old people are real sweethearts, but there are other’s who are just plain mean and if you are going to take care of them, you can’t take it personally. Most of the time, these are people who’s brains aren’t working right and/or they are in a lot of physical pain. They lash out at you because they are in pain, not because you did anything wrong. They still need to be cared for and loved, so you have to learn to look past their bad behavior and do what’s best for them in spite of themselves – kind of like putting a crabby kid down for a nap.

Actually that’s pretty much the way it is with all people. 90% of the time, people who are growly or mean aren’t actually responding to what you did. They are responding to situations in their pasts where they were humiliated, scared or devastated. Or maybe they are just tired, stressed out or hungry. Don’t take it personally! Forgive them and move on. You’ll be a happier person.

God Bless You All!