Wait and Wish

 How about it?  Two of the most used words in my lifetime!  Wait......until the temperatures get warmer,  wait.......until the temperatures get cooler, wait......until the leaves change, hunting season, snow arrives, leeks pop through the ground, spring gobbler, trout fishing, get the garden ready, plant the garden, harvest the garden, put the garden to rest for the winter............I can't wait until.......  Then the wish my life away, wish for vacation, family to visit, grandchildren to be born, sons to come back to the USA from deployment, you name it I have wished just as much as I wait for things to happen.  Now, at my age it pretty much has stopped.  Each day is another day to not think of tomorrow or what I want or want to do.  Just take it for what it is.  

Today was the first cool day for us to get some outside work done without complaining how sweaty we are.  I put on my favorite old purple hooded sweatshirt and away I went.  First was to brush hog the fields for one last time this year.  Moving right along and enjoying the ride and view it happened.  A pin sheared which means the hog quits cutting and a new pin has to be put in.  No big deal it was actually time to move on to something else.  Keep a little spice in my life :)  Next I gathered the peas left on the plants to dry.  These will be used to plant in the spring.  Once I got all the dead pea plants pulled Dick hauled them away to the big garden to "wait" for the rest of the garden plants to turn dry and brown.  They will be burned in one big pile and the potash spread on the garden for a little extra nutrition.  Together we picked a bucket of Roma tomatoes that I will can, not sure what.....stewed or plain.   We also had quite a few hot peppers that will be fire roasted and put in the freezer for a great almost Hatch Green Chile Stew.  Not Hatch chiles but will still be might tasty in the cold snowy days of winter.

The dead pea plants that are no more. 

My view, up and down the valley.  It is something I never tire of.

Way down there, is a guy on the garden tractor with a can of paint, paint brush and headed to the upper wood line to paint a bench he made me.  My favorite walk and set on the bench to enjoy the view.

The NC corn is ready to pick.  We didn't think it would ripen but what a nice surprise.  Some ears are over 12" long.  I have never seen such huge white kernels and the best part........it doesn't get stuck between teeth!  The reason I don't like to eat corn on the cob, not the problem with this corn.  Also ready was our grapes.  We look forward to them just to eat.  So sweet and the skins are light and tender with no seeds to spit out.  I wish I could remember what variety but not sure....think they were called champagne grapes.  

One more "wish"......just can't help myself.....RAIN, we need lots of gentle rain for days and days!  The creeks are so low, scary!

It is Elderberry Time

 Yes, the little dark purple berries are ready.  We picked yesterday and will again on Friday.  This morning I sat and took them off the stem cluster.  Three ways to do this, 1. just rub them between your fingers and the fall right off it ripe enough, (I wear rubber gloves).  2. use a wide tooth comb to pull them off and 3. use a fork.  I like number one method the best.  Two and three tend to get more stems and then you have to pick those out.  The best way is to soak the berries in cold water, the ripe will go to the bottom and the not so ripe, stems, leaves and even a bug or two will float.  Just skim them off the top of the water.  All of the elderberries will go to the freezer until one of those cold winter days.  Cooking jelly makes the house smell so good and brings up a memory or two of the day we picked.  Today when I was cleaning them as always the same memory comes to mind.  On the farm the Leilous family was our neighbor.  Joyce and Linda were a couple years older than mean and their brother Donny a few years younger.  Their mom was a great cook and baker, you could always smell good things when I rode my bike into their yard during the warm weather months.  Their dad worked at Clark Brothers in Olean.  Every August he had his kids  pick Elderberries for a couple Italian guys he worked with.  They used them to make wine and paid by the bushel.  I have no idea how much I helped because it gave me something to do.  Being in the country it was something different and fun to do.  We would spend most of the afternoon picking. There was a huge Elderberry patch behind their house.  So today I went back to those afternoons spent with friends.  It's funny because now I can't even think what we talked about!  Probably the first day of school coming up.  Back then country kids were always excited for the first day of school.

Thinking about the first day of school the weather has it in the air.  Very close to that fall feeling.  Trees are starting to turn from deep greens to lighter, wild apples are starting to fall to give way for some to get a little bigger and few wild flowers except for the dreaded golden rod.  It is starting to show color.  After the predicted rains this weekend we will be walking the forest looking for wild mushrooms.  They love the wet and once the rain comes they will pop up almost immediately.  The other thing that is sought after this time of the year is ginseng.  We find it but don't dig it.  Many do and can make quite a bit of money selling it once it is dried.  

This has been quite a season for the Orioles.  They left, they're back, left and now they are back again.  They might be northern Orioles headed south.  If they are we are surprised they know to stop by our porch for hummingbird food.  We are filling two feeders 2-3 times a day that is equal to 4-6 cups.  This is the best year ever for them!  Every morning and night they are our entertainment.  Even our friends from Olean stop by to watch the show every once in a while.  

One more reason to know fall is near...........the guys are preparing for archery season and rifle season.  Two new huts are being built.  The grandson and gramps have been busy with the final touches on the one gramp will use.  It doesn't seem like a year has past since having this time of year upon us.  Like my mom said, the older you get the faster time goes.  That is for sure!