Up the Hill (but not over!)

The gang in our yard

2011-12-16T07:51:00.000-08:00

The count on Wednesday was 26!

Gilmer County Farmer's Market

2011-12-16T07:44:00.000-08:00

As usual, it's been ages since I posted. Jim, of Meads Family Habitat , threatened to put my picture on his blog. I told him that I would retaliate!

The elusive Brown Thrasher

2010-04-26T14:05:00.000-07:00

For years I have tried to get a picture of a Brown Thrasher. As soon as I would get close enough to get a picture, it would move farther away. So I was surprised when one showed up in my backyard yesterday.

I had to take this picture through my dirty kitchen window!

Sometimes I see mockingbirds in the back yard but I've never seen one eat at the suet cake until today.

Freddie's Eagle Scout Project

2010-04-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

On April 17th, Freddie supervised the planting of four groves, with seven American Holly trees in each grove. They planted them at two local Audubon Society sanctuaries. They did a great job!

Some of the trees!

Planted and ready to grow!

One of the groves.

Halloween

2009-11-13T12:22:00.000-08:00

Our Jack O' Lanterns for 2009.

Last Halloween

2009-10-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

I was reading Granny Sue's blog and she posted some pictures she took in Grafton this weekend. One of them was loaded with orbs. It reminded me of the evening Freddie and I spent at the cemetery next to Glenville State College last year on Halloween. Here are a couple of pictures with orbs. I think if they had been insects, they would have been in all the pictures. Plus, I'm a bug magnet and I didn't come home with any bites.

Glenville!

2009-10-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

I think CreateWV did a great job on this!

Ramps! The King of Stink

2009-09-26T12:12:00.000-07:00

I'm still trying to get this to post to my facebook page.

You can now follow my website on Facebook or Twitter. I'll try my best to upload the dinner info.

Unfortunately, neither Hacker Valley or Reynoldsville will be having fall ramp dinners. Hope everyone has some in their freezer. Sadly, I don't.

I'm so negligent!

2009-09-04T06:39:00.000-07:00

I really should post more often! I went to the Aurora ramp dinner again this past spring but had no camera! My trusty camera of 4 1/2 years just went kaput! At the dinner I met up with Tom and his wife, Jonell. I couldn't do "Ramps! The King of Stink" without Tom. For the last 5 years or so, he has kept a constant watch on the WV newspapers and listened to local radio stations as he has traveled around the state. He sniffs out dinners that I would never find out about while I'm living in Maryland. It was finally good to put a face to his name. But since I had no camera, I don't have a picture!

I finally did get a new camera in June. I took this awesome picture at the carnival grounds one night.

I just realized why I'm so negligent. I have trouble putting the pictures where I want them. And it takes forever to upload them.

Anyhow, saw this down the road a couple of weeks ago. Sundogs? I'm not sure if they have to be roundish or not.

I have a yard fowl now! This guinea actually belongs to the menagerie across the road but he likes to visit during the day. There used to be three of them. I don't know what happened to the other two. My cat's afraid of him even though he's a big fraidy cat. He runs every time I go near him. I saw the guinea and a squirrel sitting right next to each other the other morning. The guinea was eating some seeds from a weed and the squirrel was enjoying some popcorn that I had thrown in the yard.

1930's Marital Scale

2008-06-25T12:43:00.000-07:00

It's official. I'm a poor wife! Must be because I don't iron his clothes.

As a 1930s wife, I am
Poor

Take the test!

My DH

2008-06-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say something about Jimmy's hobby. The last couple of years, he's been taking pottery classes at the Frederick Pottery School. Here he is doing his thing! Someone at the school took this picture.

This past winter he took a wood fired class for the second time. It's held at Monocacy Pottery. Here he is stoking the kiln. Debbi, one of the ladies in the class, took this picture.

It gets really hot in the kiln. Debbi took this picture also.

Doesn't he do lovely work. This little vase was from the last class.

Weston Ramp Dinner

2008-06-05T14:59:00.000-07:00

I attended the Weston Ramp Dinner on May 26th. It was a fund raiser for the family of a city employee. Recently, his wife had passed away. A lot of people volunteered food, supplies and time for this worthy cause.

They had a good crowd. The food was delicious. The ramps were hot. I only eat bacon when I eat ramps so I really pigged out on that at this dinner. Oh, the sweet tea was really good. I'm pretty sure it was brewed and not that instant crap!

I guess the Armory made them cook the ramps outside!

Me-me

2008-06-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

TINKer Belle tagged me, the rules are thus:

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer.

Here goes for moi:

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? I was a SAHM and raising a happy 5 year old! Do you really expect me to remember what I did 10 years ago!!

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):
a. buy new tennis shoes
b. fill the bird feeders
c. laundry, more laundry!
d. schedule a mammogram
e. check on my Villagers

3. Snacks I enjoy: chocolate ice cream, Chex Mix, Sun Chips, pretzels, anything chocolate!

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: pay off all my bills; donate to some worthy causes, take classes, oh and put gas in my car, I might actually take a drive for the heck of it. I would fix this old house up!

5. Places I have lived: Huntington WV, Athens OH, Glenville WV, Kingwood WV, Terra Alta WV, Vienna WV, Stonewood WV, Germantown MD, Mount Airy MD

6. Peeps I want to know more about: this is a toughie, but I'll try to limit my curiousity: Uh, Alan Rickman. Seriously, TINKer Belle and Diana. I don't visit too many blogs. Most of them, I already know.

I'm a nut!

2008-06-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

You Are a Brazil Nut

To most people, you seem exotic, unusual, and even a bit scary.

But you're really quite normal. You're just hard to get to know.

If people leave you alone and let you do your thing, you really shine.

But you tend to get lost in a crowd, especially if it's filled with big personalities.

What Nut Are You?

Ramp Dinners (so far) in 2008

2008-05-05T13:37:00.000-07:00

On April 12th, I attended a new dinner in West Union (WV) this year put on by Learning Enhances and Advances Doddridge (L.E.A.D.). They provide service for children and families in Doddridge, Harrison, Ritchie, Tyler and Wetzel counties. I talked to one of the organizers and she said they record themselves reading story books and then put them on DVD's. Then they send them to the children of prisoners. Unfortunately, they were ill-prepared and ran out of ramps early. They gave me a very small, but delicious serving. If they try this again next year, let's hope they are better prepared.

I went to the Aurora (WV) Ramp Dinner on April 27th. This one is put on by the local Fire Department. They served a good sized serving of ramps and they tasted great. They also had cornbread with ramps. I took that home and ate it the next day.

The people were really friendly and I met a nice couple from Grafton. They know some of my husband's relatives there.

I ran into David Sypolt, a State Senator from the 14th District. He grew up in my hometown but lives in Kingwood now. He was "politicking" and bussing tables.

I wore my new "got ramps?" t-shirt and received a lot of comments on it. I sell them over at CafePress.

Egg dyeing fun

2008-03-29T16:51:00.000-07:00

I guess I should have worn rubber gloves! I took 2 ounces of merino roving, soaked it in some vinegar and water and then dipped it in the leftover egg dye. We used a 5 color tie die kit. Each of the colors was in a tray so I just had to squish the wool into each color. My hands looked better after a shower.

I split the roving into four strips. Now I have to find time to spin them up!

Last year we used the 9 color Paas kit. I dyed some mohair locks to use for needle felting.

A few years ago, I dyed some of my handspun merino with the leftovers from a 9 color kit. After it dried, I ran out and took this picture before a storm came.

Back to Belington

2008-03-25T15:17:00.001-07:00

I was able to go back the Belington Presbyterian dinner in 2006.

One of the friendly greeters!

All those hungry ramp eaters!

This was the view when I left the church. It had been raining and it made the colors more intense.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to any dinners in 2007. I ordered some from G&N Ramp Farm and cooked them up with some bacon. I hope to get to a dinner this year so look for me!

New blog -- first post

2008-03-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

This was actually from my old blog. It was dated April 1, 2005.

This is me. If you see me at a dinner, be sure to say hi!

I was only able to attend one dinner in 2005. I sure enjoyed my meal at Belington (WV) Presbyterian Church. As you see, I'm chowing down.