foggy I70

traveling down the interstate... watching fog. lol, don't worry.. T is

driving; not me. the nice thing about misty - foggy days are hot tea and coffee to go with fresh baked cookies. Mmm! P & I made sugar cookies and snickerdoodles this weekend. Watched some movies... nothing worth mentioning I'm afraid. Took brief walks in the rain. Breathe deep. smell the damp pine trees. Slow paced weekends are refreshing as this summer rain.

Fog

all the rain creates some interesting shifting fog. I like to watch it move through the trees...as if it has a life of it's own. shifting, seeking... breathing.

Memorial weekend

Had a nice weekend. it rained off and on the whole weekend, strange for this time of year. we've had 5 days in a row of rain now. everything is now very green and lush. I hope this keeps the fire danger down this year. I got new paint brushes! put them right to use and did two new paintings over the weekend. I think I am almost ready to check out the galleries now.

I'll get some of my new paintings posted on here too. Was outside in between showers and saw that I some of my flower seeds are starting to sprout! Yeah! It's been unseasonably cool so they have been slow to come up.

Little House on the Prairie

The Little House on the Prairie Historical Site is located 13 miles southwest of Independence KS, just off Highway 75

Rules for 1915 Teachers

• you will not marry during the term of your contract
• you are not to keep company with men
• you must be home between the hours of 8pm and 6am unless attending a school function
• you may not loiter down town in any of the ice cream stores
• you may not travel beyond the city limits unless you have permission from the Chairman of the Board
• you may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your Father or Brother
• you may not smoke ciggarettes
• you may not dress in bright colors
• you may under no circumstances dye your hair
• you must wear atleast two petticoats
• your dresses must not be any shorter than two inches above the ankle
• to keep the school room clean, you must: sweep the floor atleast once a daily, scrub the floor once weekly with hot, soapy water; clean the blackboards atleast once a day; and start the fire by 7am so the room will be warm by 8am.

- Buckeye Farm News

signs of life

well, the flowers and trees are starting to show signs of life at this altitude. Yeah! it has been very warm latley, up around 80! hate to know what it's like down in the flat lands.

Jeep

there... our jeep with new parts. well, since the last posting ... wider fender flares and tinted windows. all washed waxed and shined. I've learned that when instructions say it's easy... no drilling required. just use factory drilled holes... does not mean it will be a simple install. those fenders took us 2 whole weekends to finish. but, we are very happy with how everything turned out. the new windows have that new car smell. so now it's like having a new vehicle without the dealer hassles. lol!

summer pests

Summer bug problems... solved

Ticks : Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball and swab it for a few seconds (15-20), The tick will come out on its own and be stuck to the cotton ball when you lift it away.

Mosquitoes : Tie a sheet of Bounce through a belt loop when outdoors during mosquito season.

Bees : Golfers put a Bounce sheet in their back pocket to keep the bees away.

Oklahoma

more to the point... South East Oklahoma. Traveling down here with T. This corner of the state is hilly and forested. It makes me home sick really. Last night was a heavy rain storm with hail. Apparently it has rained for the last 5 days here. So the ground has standing water and the creeks and rivers are full and high. The humidity is high, (83%) it's taking some getting used to. I'm more used to it about 25%. guess I'm a highlander now. it's harder to breath here. My hair is all frizzy. I washed it last night and it's still damp this noon. and it's 81 degrees .. getting warm! Ahh, feels good. The sky is different here than Colorado. it's a lighter blue and the clouds are more cotton ball like. There are lots of birds singing. Oh, and I saw a June bug this morning. lol! bet there are fire flies later in the summer. I"d put a tornado shelter in my basement. Overall, I would add this area of the state to my list of possibility.

Did you ever wonder...

Why is there a crescent moon on an outhouse?

A: the symbol is an ancient one, and was a sign for womanhood in colonial days and on the frontier. It's male counterpart, Sol, was either a star or a sun burst design also on the door. Since most male outhouses fell into disrepair rather quickly they seldom survived; while the female ones were better maintained, and were eventually used by both sexes. (this seems to still hold true for todays restrooms!) Although you can find outhouses still standing with the crescent moon, the original meaning for gender identification was lost by the later nineteenth century in most areas of the country.

... also ...

The best way to let light in was to put in a window. For privacy reasons, most outhouses were designed with the window above the line of sight. Many early outhouses contained a decorative "moon cutout" covered by glass. This allowed just enough light in to take care of business! It also allowed the real moon to shine through during the night. Bringing a lit lantern into some outhouses could have caused quite a bang so the moon won out! In reality, most people had a covered pot under the bed to go in during the night. Get's mighty cold at night going outside and the varmints are something else!