Heebie Jeebies

A neighbor came over to visit last week and this is what greeted her on our front porch.......

Mr. hairy, long legs, bigger than *@&#, creepy, crawley

Tarantula

He was about as big as your hand stretched out!

I have to say that our neighbor is an elementary school teacher and she was sooo excited!

  Yes, excited!

  I was blubbering and whimpering...but she insisted on catching it.  She could hardly wait to take it to school and show her students.

We were more than happy to get rid of it, but we did have to catch it first.

The first couple of containers were too small...then I found one big enough and with some manuevering and quickness, Mr. Barlow and neighbor caught it.

The picture above was taken through plastic wrap.

I don't know anything about taranulas.  I really don't care.  I'm just glad it's gone from my space.

This must be my personal welcome to Halloween.

muaaaahahhhhh!!!

"Fall"ing in Love

I Love Fall!

I love this tree.

It is just below my house on 2nd East.

It is beautiful.

This is the front north west corner of my house.

The burning bushes are spectacular!

See this one below...

Did I tell you?!

I love the warm days and cool crisp nights.

I love not having my A/C or furnace on.

I love being able to open my windows and let fresh air in.

I love to look at pumpkins.

We went to the Syracuse Pumpkin Walk last night with Kathy's family and had so much fun.

Rick, Tony, Connor, Cody and Lauren

I know these beautiful days will have to come to an end, but boy am I enjoying them now!

Saying Goodbye Again

My sister Sharry passed away last Sunday night. 

She courageously battled ovarian cancer for almost 4 years. 

She lost. 

Comfort comes because she is now free of her horrible pain and suffering. 

She is dancing and singing and leading music and probably looking around for Beethoven.

 She is reunited with Dad, Mom, grand-daughter Elizabeth and her sister Deanna. 

She will be missed.

I "Can"

Shear beauty!

I channeled my mother yesterday. I 'canned' peaches from our own peach tree. Rick and I (well, mostly Rick) have babied this little tree for three years. It was a thoughtful gift from one of Rick's good friends that was given to us when Rick's dad passed away.

We've (he's) fertilized, watered, trimmed, sprayed and protected our precious crop all summer! And finally on Wednesday we picked our bounty.


Notice the shiney strips attached to the tree to keep the birds away. When you drove up our street the tree looked like it was decked out for the holidays! The instructions said to only put them on the tree within 14 days of harvest otherwise the birds will get used to them. Luckily, no birds. They must work.

We didn't think we had that many peaches until we started to pick them. This is only about 2/3rds of the crop. This was also before I put on my apron. :)

In process...

Nothing can prepare you for the work involved, and once you've begun, there's no turning back!

I have never canned anything before. I remember my mother's endless summer canning days from sun up to midnight. Usually canning close to 100 bottles of the precious fruits in season in one day! This was a new adventure and I had done a lot of studying. I regretted not paying more attention to her work. At the time canning was the farthest thing from anything I would ever do. Besides, you can just go the store and buy them in a can. Who would want to go through all that work? ...but, when you finally have your own beautiful little tree...

Two dozen!

I probably could have put up two more dozen if I'd had more bottles. Aren't they beautiful! Rick thinks I rank up there with Martha Stewart. The funny thing is is that I feel like Martha Stewart. I look at the beautiful bottles and pat myself on the back. I did it! I actually 'canned'.

So now with the leftovers, not counting the ones still on the tree, we're going to enjoy peaches and cream, peach crisp, homemade peach ice cream, peach pie, peaches alamode...and who knows what else I can make from peaches!

So here's to you Mom, thanks for your inspiration and the peaches ain't bad either!