Lazy Hazy Days of Summer

This might be the earliest we have ever had hay to the barn.  My nephew Alan, has been a very busy guy cutting field after field of lush, high and thick hay the last few weeks.  Days have been perfect hay days.  The winds we had all winter have carried through June.  Dry, breezy and sunny days and a good crop of hay has made this year worry free on food for the horses.  I'm sure all the farmers around have smiles thinking of the stress free haying season.  As I set looking over our back fields watching the trees bend and twirl, the breeze blowing and the picture perfect clouds floating across the blue sky it is one of my awe moments.  So much so that other than fix a meal today I am going to enjoy the view.  The water colors are all set up ready for some more practicing.  I might have to float a loan for more water color paper!  Practice is not making me perfect.

The Baltimore Orioles are busy feeding their young on the fresh oranges and grape jelly from early morning until late evening.  They must have a bunch of hungry kids!  I'm thinking that soon we will see the young coming to the feeder.  If you read an earlier blog I mentioned the Painted Turtle that crossed our lawn one evening.  Last night as we sat here I noticed a brown clump where Dick had tilled for a flower bed.  This morning when he went to the barn he noticed it, walked over to take a look,  it was the turtle covering eggs she had laid in the flower bed.  She must have wandered for days to find the perfect spot . That is a first at  Cook'n by the Creek!  Dick is going to put a fence around the spot so Quincy won't get curious and dig the eggs up.  Now I will be googling to see how long it takes for the babies to hatch.  We have seen many lay their eggs along the road by Alma Pond.  It always amazed me that they prefer gravel/dirt and next to a road! 

Another load of round bales just made it home.  They are nice, big and tightly rolled.  Thanks to our son in law for hauling them with his truck and trailer that holds 5 bales at a time.  It sure helps and makes the day shorter.  They are rolling them off the wagon by hand, fun to watch.  Some seem to roll quite a distance before they stop.  Dick will use the spear he hooks to the bucket of the tractor to take them in the barn.  That way they will stay dry and full of what nutrition the hay has with no chance of mildew from getting wet.  Geez, how lucky these horses are, top of the line for them!
17 years we have been hauling hay.......

I often think of my mom which is obvious on how many times I mention her in the many blogs I have posted.  Yesterday we went to our friends 50th class reunion from OVHS.  They graduated a year ahead of us in 1966 but as small towns are they ask friends to join their celebration.  One of my friends husband and I were talking.  Our fathers worked together for Messer Oil out of the Horse Run building.  We would go to their house in the summer and set on the porch for a visit.  When done we would go next door to Al Crans farm and buy eggs if ours were not keeping up.  He said, hard to believe it was so long ago.  Then I found myself saying what I had heard my mom say so many times, the older you get the faster time goes.  Isn't that the truth.  The "kids" that were at their reunion were of  families we all knew each other quite well.  I can go up and down the valleys and name each farmer or who lived in what house from way back when.  Not now, oh I can name the ones from so long ago but not the residents of present.  Times have changed, and the old family names are few and far between. 

This is my mom, Della.  She never liked having her picture taken.  This was taken in 1951 and looks like early spring,
no leaves on the trees but she has her homemade sundress on and clothes blowing in
the wind.  The view is looking up the Horse Run Rd.  We lived first farm on the left
after crossing the Horse Run Bridge.  Tough to see the farm now, it looks nothing like
the neatness my parents put forth to make it look so beautiful.

It's a Slow Down

June 22, 2016, who would have thought it would be a major slow down around Clara!  No rain, grass is turning brown and going dormant  which means I am not on the lawn mower every three days doing yard, barn yard and around the garden.  The garden looks mighty pathetic.  The only things growing are onions, peas and green beans.  The peas have a nice bunch of pods but without rain I'm worried they will never mature.  The pea plants are no more than 12-16 inches high and that is very unusual.  Other years we run posts and wire for them to climb 5'or more.  It looks like nature is doing what it does best, compensate for no rain.  The sweet corn  is 4 inches high, a pale green instead of the dark lush green we are use to seeing.  The old farmers always say the corn should be "knee high" by the 4th of July.  Ours surely will not be which makes me think.......freezing and canning is going to be only if we buy veggies.  Unless we get some nice steady warm rain it looks like a long dry couple months.  Another worry, how the water wells will do.  When ya live in the country we know it just doesn't come out of the faucet because it is suppose to. 

For the last few days I have called us the "sky watchers".  When a dark cloud moves in we start hoping it will drop rain but nothing.  Living in a tight valley with hills high and close we normally don't see the storm until it is almost over us.  So we have watched and watched, the clouds come and they go.  I remember reading about the Great Dust Bowl in history class.  It is almost how I feel now.  The ground is showing deep cracks and the dirt is like talcum powder.  The only ones enjoying the dust are my hens.  They are dusting and sleeping in the holes they have dug during the hot afternoons. 

Last Sunday we took the day off for a little fun.  My favorite rides are along Keuka and Seneca Lakes.  Just north of Watkins Glen over looking Seneca Lake is Lakewood Winery.  They offer a great tasting experience.  Since the first time we went the same guy does the tasting.  He is great, funny and full of information.  He also does a great job of selecting what we should sample.  Sunday the Fiddlers Guild was on the winery lawn loaded with great fiddling talent.  From Norway to wine country area the fiddlers were  showing off the God given talent. There was even story telling to let us know how the long ago songs came to be.  A little wine, Sangria, beautiful weather and great music.  We hit it lucky.  They had vendors selling garden products, plants, home canned goods, purses and even a few young girls dressed in their Norwegian costumes braiding wild daisy garlands for the gals to wear in their hair.  It was just a good old fashioned kind of fun.  I needed that!  They husband bought a red grape vine to plant since the one we planted last year is doing so good.  It needed company......

If I think our lawns are turning brown it is nothing to what Wine Country is facing.  The grass was brown and crisp, like walking on Shredded Wheat.  Come on, let's get some rain for this area.  I will say as warm as the days have been the evenings are cool and comfortable for sleeping.  50/50, give and take, good with the bad, it all equals out.  One thing for sure we can't predict the weather and we can't change it. 

Sounds of summer were all about today.  It's hay season and a good one too.  Every farmer I talked to has said the same thing, the fields are thick and high with hay.  That tends for a plentiful amount of bales per acre.  The Hoffmans have been going by with tractor trailer loads of the big round bales all morning. News travels quickly in Clara Valley and we were told the hay was from the Bob Graves farm.  Scott West has been busy cutting and raking our neighbor's field all day. Sounds of summer in the country, can't beat it.  At least for us.

Beautiful friendly gals,  happy to tell you a about their country.

Keuka Lake heading back south on the east side of the lake.

Vineyards at Lakewood Winery.  What a view to set and sample some good wines.

 The fields from here to Wine Country are cut and bales taken care of.  Now will there be a second cutting?  Only time will tell, rain to make it grow and dry days to get it cut and baled.  Like I said, happy we don't depend on farming for a living, worry is daily when your a farmer.

Motivation at Cook'n by the Creek

Several have asked why I wait so long between blog posts.  It is hard to explain but here goes.  Like all my hobbies or loves such as knitting, crocheting, needle work, sewing and painting, my blog also falls into the what motivates me or when the mood hits I do it.  It may take a month (or more) possibly to say to myself, "I feel like writing".  Dick has come home and mentioned, "you haven't  blogged lately?"  He does not read them so I always ask why he asked.  Someone had asked him.  That's a lot of asks!  I can be in a time of my mind wandering and think, "that's a blog".  I can be riding down the road, it doesn't matter where and something will strike me into deep thoughts and there it is, a blog.  That's as good as it gets for explaining my not so consistent blog.  I can't apologize because that would mean doing better at blogging, not going to happen, I just need to be in the mood where the thoughts turn into words.  I will admit I am not impressed with my blog and wonder why others want to read it.  I have faithful followers from near and far, friends, people I have never met and never will but believe me I appreciate each one and look forward to checking out what countries are viewing.  Right now Germany is in the lead, too many to mention and some so amazing that they stop by to read what nonsense my mind puts into words.  Thanks to all. 

 This was the topping for the motivation this morning, our front porch.  I have been mulling thoughts around in this crazy mind of mine for a few days.  At Cook'n by the Creek I am lucky to have a morning, afternoon and evening spot to set, enjoy the quiet and get lost in my far away thoughts.   The final touches went on it a week ago.  Our Canadian friends have a camp across the road from us.  They wanted their old shed tore down and Dick was more than happy to find a guy to do it for whatever he wanted from inside it.  This table was left.  Covered in Clara Rd dust and bird poop it looked pretty sad.  I had to check it out and jackpot, it was as sturdy if not more so than one I could buy.  We hauled it home, pressure washed it, fresh coat of paint and it fits the bill for what I needed on the porch.  Free "stuff", can't get better than that.  The real jackpot was our friend's dad had built the table.  I have seen many thinks Ed has made and he is a fine craftsman.  He gave our grandson a flying Canadian Goose he made.  Life is good to be able to think of Ed and our friends when I set at my "new" table. 

We enjoy eating on our porches.  I couldn't resist this picture looking from the inside out.  Quiet morning, listening to the birds and watching a few (very few) cars go by. Our mornings are usually slow and easy.  That is unless the husband is on a tangent to get busy then he tries to rush me along.  Since hitting my 60 something rushing is not for me.  I rushed for too many years, now it is time to go at my own pace.  Salt Rising bread is our pick for toast but my "gal pal" flew solo from New Mexico Friday for a visit.  She brought "Hatch Green Chile Cheddar" bread from a bakery in Ruidoso, NM.  Well let me tell ya, it is our new favorite toast.  Not a cheesy bread just a hint of cheddar but those Hatch Chiles are the quest for the best!   It is so good I couldn't throw away the last piece from yesterday.  This morning while corn pancakes were on the menu I passed and had that lonesome last slice of toast that had been carefully wrapped and tucked away just for................me!  My thought, once cold weather arrives I will be requesting  loaves be sent to PA.  Yes, we love it that much.  Thanks John and Diane for thinking of us.  Speaking of Diane, she is like myself.  When a meal is to be fixed she is right there beside me doing whatever.  Like two peas in a pod we don't ask how the other wants something done we just do it our way and it works great.  Honestly, Diane is the only one I have ever welcomed into my kitchen for food preparation, my personality does not like intrusions but hers is welcome always. 

I tried something new for a breakfast casserole.  Grating a large potato and spreading it out in a cast iron pan with melted butter I browned the bottom of the potatoes.  Then spread browned breakfast sausage over the potatoes and finally poured 5 beaten eggs with about a cup of milk and a cup of grated cheese.  I used German Butter Kasse from Aldis.  I love that place they have so many wonderful German products.  Not to mention the German Chocolates are top notch!  Once it was all together it went in the oven at 375 until the center was set.  Easy and great as leftovers for the next morning. 

Yesterday was Summer Solstice which means the longest day of light.  Kinda sad to think we are already headed the other way.  As we sat on the back porch looking out over the lawn Dick noticed the birds were very quiet.  Maybe they knew and also felt a little sadness knowing their young will soon fly the coop and they will take flight for a long journey to their winter home.  We have been so fortunate this year to have 3 pair of Baltimore Orioles visiting the Hummingbird feeder and eating grape jelly by the jars full.  They are on the third jar already.  No complaints here, they are feeding within 4 feet of us. For the first time we have a pair of Gray Cat Birds...I googled that!   Dick is the nature man with more information that sometimes I wonder how he knows it all.  He told a friend that while the rest of us went to school faithfully he skipped to be in the great outdoors.  Ok, back to the Gray Cat Birds.  They have a beautiful song but they also mew like a cat!  Seriously, they meow when setting waiting their turn to eat the grape jelly.  We also have a pair of tiny gray birds that also eat grape jelly and no, the big guy is not sure what they are but assumes they are some kind wren.

Last but not least a box turtle went slowly through the lawn.  It was headed for the pine grove that isn't there anymore.  A few Cherry trees and pines that are left will offer protection and shade for the animals.  Quincy had never seen a turtle so off he went to take a look.  He must have known it was nothing to reckon with because after a few seconds of barking he left it alone.

Our nights are full of entertainment, from watching the chickens, listening to the birds and whatever else happens by.  It is just the way I like it, no news, no views, no opinions and no one telling me what to think or do because.....Take time to leave the world behind and live life your way.  I just realized, writing lets me live my life my way and enjoy it.  Kinda like a pretend world.....it's worth it.

 

From the Hills of PA and NY

Mountain Laurel is in full bloom on Moffit Hill.  It is against the law to pick the flowers or dig the plant.  Very delicate
pale pink flowers.  Many rides through our area  have an abundance of Mountain Laurel.  There is also a Mountain
Laurel Festival in Wellsboro, PA, with a parade and crowning of a queen picked from local high schools.

Saturday we took a ride "around the horn" as we sometimes call a slow, peaceful ride to gather what we need for the week.  It was up over Moffit Hill to Coudersport.  The grocery store sells side pork which is our top pick over bacon.  Just fresh sliced slab bacon with no preservatives and nitrates.  Then we headed over North Hollow which is between Rt 6 and Rt 49.  The views at the top of the hills are amazing, they went on forever.  It made me wonder just how many miles long the views are.  Then we went towards Ulysses and turned onto Hickox Rd, yep, to visit the Amish Feed Store.  I actually get excited wondering what the little ones are doing.  Saturday was no exception to their busy little lives.  A boy around 12 was riding the big draft horse while his dad followed behind the hitch plowing the garden.  Two very tiny ones were running around the yard chasing each other and the older boys were busy grinding and filling various types of feed bags.  No girls in sight, if I only could see in that house.  I imagine they were cooking, cleaning and sewing.  Busy day, every day for this Amish family.  Once the garden is plowed  the wife and girls do the planting and tending to it.

The Troyer guys getting the garden ready for the women to plant.

We left the feed store and took an old, narrow dirt road to Rt 19, that came out near North
Bingham, Pa and soon crossed into NY towards Whitesville.  Our next stop was another Amish family that is building our cabin in August.  Dick and Joe had a few details to go over to complete the deal.  No papers to sign, no lawyer, no fancy words, just a good old conversation and handshake sealed the deal.  This might be why so many go to the Amish, the simple pleasures of good honest talk.  The view from this farm is breath taking.  While the men talked I was more than satisfied to enjoy the view and again watch the young Amish keeping themselves entertained.  There were 3 young girls practicing driving the buggy.  Up and down the long dirt driveway and around the house they would go.  Backing up, turning different directions and around a tree or clothes line.  I held up my phone to take a picture and got 3 big smiles.  Times are changing for the Amish around here, the women no longer hustle to the house when a car pulls in and leave the talk to the men.  I even had a nice conversation a few years ago with the wife.  Same concerns as many of us have, just not worldly worries.  That is a good thing.

The brother was trying to tell them how to drive.....these plain clothed sisters had the same reaction
as fancy clothed sisters.  A giggle and a comment from them and he shrugged and walked away.

Company arriving at Joe's for a celebration dinner,  he said there will be a lot of families there for the afternoon.

The trip "around the horn" led us to Genesee, down the Eleven Mile and finally back to Clara.  Lots to see during the ride and the fact we had about 3 hours of rest before working on the old garage.  It is coming and looks so much better with the fresh paint on it.  A few boards need replaced around the garage door, no problem.  My husband is a scavenger, when he sees things that we could use "someday"  he brings the "stuff" home.  The new boards are from the old Bob Pratt farm house up the road.  Beautiful boards that will never be able to be duplicated.  Thick, wide and aged to perfection.  Dick made a table out of some of the wide thick planks.  It will go in the new cabin.  What better way to keep memories of what was.

View from the Amish farm near Whitesville, NY.

On top of the ridge near Whitesville, NY.

Wheat that was blowing in the wind, rotation of crops is great for the soil.  This will soon be "Amber waves of grain".

 Just looking at these pictures give me a sense of relaxation.  Take a ride, take some turns off the beaten path.  You won't get lost, after all you will still be in the beautiful USA. 

That Old Garage

When I drive past an abandoned house, barn or even a garage it makes me wonder why was it left to rot and fall down.  My dad told us when we bought our first house in 1970, Cheryle Anne, if you do one thing each year to your house you will be ahead of the work.  Every summer was the time for fresh paint, new roof, eves, fix the side walk or paint the interior.It worked doing something once a year.  Today was the day I thought of my dad and the once a year fix it up.  We bought the land across from us and unfortunately the trailer had been used for a camp and long since abandoned.  It was in real bad shape with no chance of refurbishing it.  Dick spent the winter demolishing it.  Our big decision and we thought we had made one was to demolish the garage too.  The foundation in the back is sinking away and needs jacked up.  The roof has about 4 inches of moss growing on it.  The windows are broke, the trim boards are blistered and peeling, entrance door is long gone and the garage door is in desperate need.  The good thing is it still pulls up like a well oiled charm.

 So, as we sat having coffee last weekend I suggested going to Home Depot.  Yes, Dick never realizes I have a reason besides being nice to him.  He loves looking around that store.  I do too!  We went our separate ways and it was straight to the paint section for me.  I had a plan, that garage was going to get a new look and quite a bit of tender loving care.  After all, it is old but still useable.  Poor thing, it really wasn't built by a professional so there are many flaws.  It is what it is, Monty's garage.  How could I get rid of the very thing I hate to see.  Get rid of the old and build new.  This little garage has character, flaws and all.  It is nestled into the hill side with beautiful Maple Trees framing it like a picture.  I knew I wanted Earthy colors to blend in with the hillside.  Lucky they had a pallet of colors that would look good together.  Mix'm up I told the guy.  I now have 3 gals of paint, Hazy Sage (medium), Mossy Green (dark) and Shamrock White (light).  It was as if I had to hurry and get it done before Dick could give me a kazillion reason why not to fix the "old garage" up.

The old garage, this has been our view for 17 years
from our house. 

The final choice of colors.

This morning I was on one of my tangents of a mission.  While Dick was starting the stone work on the front of the pizza oven (yes, it should be finished and fired up within the week) I told him I was heading across the road to test out the new colors on the old garage. 8 hours later I am thrilled with the color choice.  One side is completely done other than putting new glass in the window.  I'm sure he will be off to Norton's Building Supply in the morning to order the glass......I'm pretty certain.
The front is half painted, I need a taller ladder for the peek.  The garage door, I'm not sure what it needs beside paint but my idea is probably going to be met with a little hesitation.  90% of the second side is painted.  Eves, window trim left to paint.  We will be looking for a used entrance door in the next few weeks.  I would like to brag to the husband I did it all for less than $100.  The paint was $76 with a $10 a gallon rebate to send in.  That brings it down to $46 which means I have $54 for incidentals!  Like hanging baskets on each side of the garage door and a large metal sun for the side.  I'm a dreamer with projects, it's what keeps me ticking!  Did I mention little to no resistance on my project from the husband?

My mission of get it done is in high.... excited to see the final look.  Like I said, it is nothing special to look at but oh so special for me.  It is after all a garage built my a guy born and raised in Clara.  I'm sure he was proud the day his dad gave him the acreage for his home.  Memories will live on for a few more years. 

The sun has just dropped over the hill behind the garage.  Another thankful day of doing what we love at Cook'n by the Creek, staying busy.  There was even a good breakfast and a nice break of milk and Buttermilk Cookies.  The cookies were made a few days ago when the house needed warmed with the oven on.  Two bags in the freezer for days when I do not feel like baking or cooking.  Today was that day.

This is Eleanor Stavisky's cookie recipe.  It makes about 3 doz. large cookies.
Big, soft, tender cookies.....the best.

When you see something old and run down think of what it was and how it came to be.  Then imagine, what would it look like with a little love splattered all over it. 
 

Time

This time of the year there is never enough daylight time.  Or maybe there is and I am just wasting time.  Every morning I get on the computer to check the news, email and finally face book.  There is an hour wasted.  After coffee and breakfast it is clean up the kitchen and myself, make the bed and head outside for brush hogging, mowing, weed whacking, garden work, weed a few flower beds.  It doesn't matter what I do first it all needs to be done at one point in "time".  Lunch usually  involves computer (more wasted time) and then back to whatever was left out from the morning.  Supper is from 4:30 to 7:00 depending if one of us is in the middle of something.  This morning I made potato salad, plus a few loads of laundry before heading out. 

Back to that "time" thing.  What made me think of time?  My mom and a song today while I was in the back fields brush hogging.  The best time of my day, on the tractor and going back in "time".  I think of my mom and how she used her time wisely, she must have.  She sewed me beautiful dresses and fancy coats, crocheted doilies, knit sweaters and socks, cooked wonderful farm meals 3 times a day, baked delicious sweets and bread, kept a very clean house, milked cows morning and night and still found time to be a mom.  Her day never involved radio or tv.  If there would have been computers that would not have been in her day.  Shopping was once a week in Shinglehouse or maybe once a month in Olean.  One vacation in all my young years.  Thinking of all she did with a smile is amazing.  Consider our generation right on down.  We deserve all the good times.....right.....at least that is what we tell ourselves.  Working from dawn to dusk is not in our vocabulary now a days.  There are shopping trips, vacations, hair appointments, fingernails, toenails, facials, massages and lunch with the girls.  Because we deserve it.  Time......slips away.  The days turn into years and as I look back I wonder....was mom really happy doing all that work?  I think so, after all my happiest times are doing things around "Cook'n by the Creek".  It is like watching an old time movie playing my past, from the farm to my kids it is the best movie ever!

Now about the song.   Willie Nelson -  Funny How Time Slips Away.  Thinking of time brought back this old favorite.  It is not funny how time slips away but it is going to happen like it or not.  With out time slipping away how would we ever collect precious memories?  It is all part our life that keeps us going.

Today on the tractor was one of those.....how beautiful Clara Valley is.  The temperature was a cool 57 degrees, blue sky, warm sunshine and a brisk breeze that left my face wind burned by afternoon.  All worth it.  The leaves on the trees were fluttering and dancing around and the hay was blowing every which way looking like waves across the water.  Swallows were diving and dipping ahead of the tractor trying to catch bugs that were trying to get out of the way.  Usually a big Red Tail Hawk is hawking the field looking for mice or snakes once the hay is cut, not today.  There were two Turkey Vultures circling over head.   It made me laugh as I looked up at them and said, I may be old but not today.  They have never been a bird I enjoy seeing.  Another smile came when I caught a glimpse of our black dog Quincy running up to check on me.  He has a tough time keeping track of Dick and I if we are working in separate places.  He tends to run back and forth every so often just to make sure he knows where we are.  He hung around for a bit sniffing spot where the hay was crushed down, it was probably from a deer bedding down the night before.  Deer like to bed down in an open field,  they can see farther and get a scent from a predator that way.  From that tractor I can look up the valley, down the valley, to my right and left and all I see is high green hills and blue sky, my little heaven on Earth.  I wish everyone could feel the peace this play I call home has to offer.



At the end of the day there is always something
soothing to drink.

Breakfast is usually filling during the summer.  You never know if there
is time for lunch.  Dick had French Toast, I had an asparagus omelet and
we both had hominy and cantaloupe. 

If you have never heard of or had hominy give it a try.   Hominy can be for any meal in place of potatoes, noodles or rice.  We prefer the white hominy, drained and warmed in butter with salt and pepper.  My dad always poured warm milk and maple syrup over it for breakfast.

Take "time" to enjoy what you like to do.  Time slips away to fast.