I was in the store tonight looking for some things for our Irish Fest coming up this weekend and when I asked if they had anything Irish they said, ‘No way, it’s out of season’. so I thought you know, they’re right. Then when I walked past this aisle I saw this.
Christmas stuff in June!!
Yup, I figured they’re 6 months early with the Christmas stuff, so I guess I’ll be shopping for St. Patrick’s day in around September!
Now normally any Sunday is a good day, but this Sunday we took our new kayak out for it’s maiden voyage. Yup, we’re officially a two kayak family. SCORE!! Now what we’ve learned about the second kayak is that it’s a lot more topsy turvy than our first one. But it was on sale and it’ll work fine for a second one. 
You know how sometimes I feel like I should have lived in the 1950’s? Well I also found out that I also maybe should have lived in the 1950’s and by the river! I seriously think that I could spend every day just hanging out on the water! Yup, pretty sure.
So today I had the chance to spend the afternoon with Kyle on the Upper Iowa by Decorah and the weather was perfect! It’s a good thing we didn’t listen to the weather because I guess it had a good chance for scattered showers. Well when the other fellow kayakers heard this – they must have stayed home. Because it was a day with hardly anyone around. Which was good for us and bad for the others.
I took a couple of pictures – I know you’re shocked right? Well the first one is that of maybe a woodchuck? We couldn’t figure out why all the birds were going crazy and like they were literally loosing their minds, until we saw the woodchuck. He was sitting on a ledge and sorry to say I’m pretty sure he was eating their eggs. There was a lot of mud around him and if I was a betting girl, I’d say he knocked the nest off and found the eggs. 
All I know is that these birds were mad! It took a lot to snap this picture because I had to paddle up river against the current and then stand up and get out my camera. Now I’m not saying that I’m skilled – but maybe the best word would be is lucky 🙂 It was also crazy how close I was. I got a little worried that he was going to jump off the rock ledge and into my kayak for a second there so I was trying to prepare myself for that. Now honestly if you think of it, just how prepared can you be for THAT? Can’t you just picture it? I think it would be kinda funny only if it was going to happen to someone else.
While I was messing around with this, Kyle ended up pulling over and was hanging out to wait for me. I guess it took a little longer than I was expecting. 
The river is absolutely beautiful and it has a lot of barn swallows to snatch up the mosquitos. That is if their eggs are being eaten by some stray woodchuck! 
We did a quick detour when we were in Decorah after we got off the water and stopped off at Ice Cave. 
Now if you haven’t heard about this cave, you are seriously missing something! This cave is a State Preserve and is said to be the largest glacier (ice cave) in North America east of the Black Hills. I’ve never gone way inside before because, well maybe I’m a little chicken of being trapped in small spaces, but just sticking my head inside on this warm afternoon, you knew they were right when they said the temperature is always in the low 30’s inside. You are supposed to notice it the most on a warm July day. Today the temperature is around 80’s and the air inside feels pretty darn good. But this is as far as I’m going for today. Maybe some day I’ll see if I can join a group to explore it. 
Today was a great day and I was glad that Kyle wanted to spend it on the water hanging out with me.
Now even though there are many other vehicles that I’m thankful for, today I am very thankful for our farm truck.
It’s not clean and it is starting to get a little rust on it, but it’s ours and it sure has come in handy this morning.
Why you might ask? Well the other day I noticed that there was a sale going on in one of our nearby towns for kayaks and with high hopes that one day we might actually get out on the water, I decided to go back and take a look again. I mean it couldn’t hurt right?
Well before I headed out this morning I needed to grab a few things out of the truck. The first thing was the weed sprayer. I guess this is something that Daryl normally keeps in his truck or something? No idea, but it needed to come out. So it was in the back and when I lifted it out of the truck some of it kind of drizzled down my leg. It was one of those times when you first think that you will have to go and either take a shower or wash your leg down. But then after a couple of minutes it really didn’t smell too bad and I after a good smear I was ready to go. Some hooded sweatshirts was the last thing to grab out of the cab and then a quick wipe down for the top layer of dust from the dash. I’m off!
Have you ever got to a store and was super excited to look at something then your store helper wasn’t on the same page as you? Well if this has happened to you then you’ll know what I’m talking about when I say that the shopping experience wasn’t the best one that I’ve ever had! Oh well, neither one of us died or anything (he came close though – I’m just saying!!) and soon I picked out the perfect 10 ft second kayak for our family. I know that even if we go a couple of times, it’ll pay for itself.
So into the truck it goes and with a couple of bungee cords holding it down I was soon making my way home with my new treasure.
Another reason why everyone should own a truck!
Now it just needs to get a little warmer and stop raining to take it out on it’s madden voyage. I sure hope this happens soon!!
How come when you don’t have to go to work the next day you can find so much more energy? Maybe it’s coincidence or maybe it’s a mental thing – but it’s kind of a thing.
As you can tell, I’ve got tomorrow off!! Whoo Hooo!! I’m not sure what I’ll be doing which is a huge thing for me. I mean I’m a planner and a list maker. But there is one thing for sure that I’m hoping that I’ll do and that’s just what I want to do! Pretty tough talking if you ask me.
So tonight is my night to get things done in the house. It’s after 10:30 pm and the laundry is going along with some of the house picked up. I’ve even got the outside throw pillows sewn up (again!) tonight. You know when some people put out fresh towels when company is coming over? Well on our farm we put out the porch pillows! Then the dogs will rip them up once they notice that there back outside and off to the sewing pile they go with plastic bags filled with stuffing beside them waiting to get sewn up again. It’s kind of like a merry go round, they tear them up – in the house they sit – I fix them – they tear them up 🙂
I also want to put some pork roast in the crock pot for overnight cooking. It will be nice to have some shredded pork in the refrigerator for this weekend. We’ll be in and out and it would be pretty convenient to just have something that can be warmed up easily.
Another thing on m list is to try to figure out what soap to make this coming weekend. I ended up making a lavender soap early this week and I’m not sure if I like it or not. I mean it looks OK, but just not sure.
Lavender and Cedar fragranced soap infused with lavender flowers
I think I’m kind of hesitant on it because I don’t have a name for a lavender scent and it’s throwing me off. I do know that I need to make a bunch of ‘Sassy Come Home’ soap. This is the oatmeal, honey, and milk soap that I’ve made. I officially named it now. Holy smokes it’s about time isn’t it? But I can’t keep that soap around because everyone seems to like it.
Well I better keep moving before my ambition wears off. I wonder if there is any good movies on TV this late?
Now here’s a humdigger.
Do you know what this is?
Although there was some good guesses – it seems like this one was a little harder than the rest.
Here was the clue
and this is what the full photo was. It’s those little mushrooms all over in the yards this time of the year! 
Tonight we found a treasure. Now the definition of treasure is for sure in the eye of the beholder, but in this case – it was truly a very good find!
It all starts with our cow yard fence that needed to be fixed. We’ve put it off for quite a few years and honestly it was time to replace it. You could kind of see the cows laughing at the gates that have been put up and Ed would just literally push them out of his way if the cows wanted to get through. He’s kind of a ring leader if you haven’t figured that out yet. So Daryl had a whole wagon of fresh lumber from the lumber yard that he picked up after work tonight and that was this weeks task. He wanted to fix the fence and had asked for Kyle’s help with the project.
Working hard to get the job done
There was some talk at first about putting back in gates or some other kind of sectioned off things in the yard, but the final verdict was going to be replaced with a good old fashioned fence. Yup, I’m loving it! Daryl usually gets home pretty late from work, so he knew that it was going to take a couple of days to get the work finished. The project started Monday night and it was off to a great start! Then with kind of a smirk on Daryl’s face, both him and Kyle were looking down on the cement in this one part of the cow yard. I had no idea what they were doing, so off I go to investigate. The only thing that I knew that was in this part of the cow yard was some dirt and weeds that grew up.
What they found was some very small foot prints in the cement. No one had a clue that they were there and it seems like this is the second time that this has happened in the past couple of years to us on the farm. But honestly I have no idea how Daryl didn’t know that they were there. I mean this is the side of the barn with the basketball hoop on and I’m thinking that many hours were spent shooting hoops while waiting for the cows to get done milking.
So the next question is who’s are they? The best guess using when the lot was cemented was that it is either Daryl’s or his younger sister’s foot prints.
Now even though these foot prints are only about 6 inches long and have been there for a very long time, it’s about the coolest thing to find them. It literally is like finding a hidden treasure. And when you look at these tiny prints you can just imagine Daryl’s dad holding one of the kids up above the cement and telling them that they can be the one that gets to mark this spot. It just makes you smile doesn’t it? It truly makes your belly feel good and it was a great treasure to find. 
I got up early this morning even though it’s Sunday and we went to church yesterday, I had some things that honestly needed to get done. So instead of laying in bed thinking about it I actually got up and did something about it.
First thing – get the garden planted. The guys had the garden all tilled up for me so my part was super easy. I’ve got a lot of tomato plants that needed homes and with more self control than I thought I had, I only planted eight of them. I pawned about 30 off to my sister but after both of these things, I’ve still got quite a few left. Then I planted only two cherry tomatoes. But now I’ve got about 50 (or more!) cherry tomato plants left. My other sister said she would take some, maybe it’ll be her lucky day 🙂
Now grow!
After a quick Irish Fest meeting at our house, Daryl and I were off to St. Olaf for dinner. The scenery along the way to this town is so awesome! There are rolling hills with rows and rows of corn fields and hay fields. You swear that you are going to see Norman Rockwell standing along the road painting a picture or something. Then once you got to the town it was an old town and the buildings look like they were from the turn of the century. I found out that it was established in 1872 so it really was old. Just my kind of place. Now a lot of the buildings looked abandoned but still never the less, pretty cool! When we stepped into the bar/restaurant it also felt like you were stepping back into time. We found a booth and sat down. The next thing was to figure out just what kind of pork tenderloin we should order. I mean this is what this town is known for and that’s why we were here. We chose ‘The Big One’ and decided to split it if it was too big. The bar boasts that they have the largest tenderloin and when we got our meal – I’m pretty sure that they do hold that record. Holy Cow! It was huge!! A quick picture and then we dug in.
The tenderloin sandwich I ordered – The Big One!
Now I’m sure you’re asking yourself, did we eat it all? And the answer is no way! We brought home at least half of it for a meal later.
What a good road trip and then back to the farm to get ready for another Irish Fest meeting. I never got my soap made this weekend, so I sure hope that I can get some made early in the week.
Kyle has been helping me to get ready for the 5k that was on Saturday and I sure needed the help. Have you ever run and physically turned around to look to see just what in the heck your dragging? Then you realize that it’s your own backside that’s giving you all the trouble.
Now don’t get me wrong. I do understand that I’ve gotten myself in this situation (remember the mints?) and now I just really want to get better at this whole running stuff. I mean, I just should be able to do this don’t you think?
Well, I had everything ready the night before because Saturday was going to be super busy so when I got up I was already dressed and packing the car way before I probably needed to.
Like I said, Kyle has been helping me to get ready and my goal continues the same to try to get under 30 minutes.
After giving it my all… and not even puking once!, I made it across the finish line in…… 32 minutes 22 seconds. I’m pretty sure it would be much later if Kyle wasn’t there to keep me going. But not the time I was hoping for. I guess the only thing that I can do is to keep trying and maybe also try to stay away from the mints 🙂
The first 5k done for the season. Now it’s the time to beat!
Tonights experiment was to make homemade mints. Now everyone has told me that they are so super easy, so I was going to give it a try to bring to a baby shower and also a wedding shower on Saturday.
First things first. I needed to figure out just what was needed. I thought that I needed a whole sheet of mint molds because then I would just fill all the molds, run a rolling pin over them and Shazam! I’d be mass producing them and would be done in no time.
That was the plan and honestly I felt pretty smart coming up with the idea.
But when I went to buy the mold for the mints they only were selling them one mold at a time. Now that’s crazy talk isn’t it? When I asked them why they don’t sell them in a sheet so you can get more done, they looked at me like I was crazy.
So I bought a couple of each design and some flavoring and home is where I headed. I still thought my idea was a good one but I figured that I’d give the idea of making one at a time a chance.
Yea, my idea wasn’t so smart after all. Once I got started, I realized that I was going to do everything that I could just to get enough made for tomorrow’s showers. There definitely was an art to this whole mint making thing, and for some reason I don’t think I showed up for that art class!
But I made the commitment to my sister that I was bringing them, so I decided to buckle down and just get it done. The recipe is so super easy, it’s crazy! For the recipe you take a package of cream cheese (8 oz) and mix it with a bag of powdered sugar (2 lbs) That’s it. I added food coloring and some flavoring and then you roll them in small balls and sugar and put them in your molds. Well, this is where it takes some time and I realized why the ladies at the store looked at me and I swear that I heard them say under their breath Rookie. I decided that this isn’t something that you can rush and I also found out that you really shouldn’t eat all the ones that don’t turn out so good. It was for sure a learning experience for me tonight!
I finally had a bunch of lemon yellow mints, cherry pink mints, and finally almond grey ones (they looked more purple for some reason) sitting on tin foil on the table so I packed the remaining mint mixture into a bowl and called it for the night. It was around midnight and I really needed to get to bed. This is the part where I mentioned that you shouldn’t eat all the rejected mints. I had a lot, and I mean a LOT of these sugar mints in me and for the life of me I couldn’t fall asleep. I needed to get some rest because I’m in the first 5k of the season and I need all the help I can get.
So when I looked back at the pictures that I took of making the mints, I had to laugh because I took one when I was mixing them up and then… that was it. You know when you’re doing a project and when you’ve done it for a couple of hours you’re kind of ready to be done with it?
But let me just tell you that these mints are easy to mix up and pretty darn good!
So here is my photo of my mints for the night
