Fall Harvest Time

Here are some pictures from the last couple weeks of harvesting from our garden. This picture is from 3 weeks ago when we pulled our onions. As you can see from the picture, they are really big this year. In fact, they are bigger than any year we have ever grown them. My hands are fairly big and these two onions filled them. We start all of our garden plants from seed and we don't buy anything from stores. So it's pretty satisfying to get results like this.

These next two pictures of our San Marzano heirloom tomatoes. This is the variety that is mostly all meat and no water. Most of the kinds you buy in the store have more water content than anything else which makes for really runny salsa and sauce. Again, check out how big they are compared to my hands.

Lastly here are some pictures from just the other day of some Oxheart carrots. These are easily the biggest carrots I have ever seen in my life. Some of them split they were so big, but most of them were fine. I was really surprised they grew so uniform and didn't get forked. I have done a lot of amending of the soil in that part of the garden, but it is still so rocky. I also included a picture of our new kitten we found after the Columbiana Street Fair. That is a story for another day, but since Kim showed off her new kitty I thought I'd share a kitty picture too.

And before I get any "rabbit" comments, let me give you a little more ammo........The night I picked the carrots I cut them all up and I've been eating them all week for at least two meals a day! They are so tasty!!!

Friday Funny

A middle-aged man walked into Victoria's Secret to purchase some lingerie for his wife. He was shown several possibilities ranging from $150 to $500 in price; the sheerer the selection the higher the price. He opted for the sheerest item and paid the $500.

He presented the gift to his wife and asked her to take it upstairs, put it on, and model it for him. His wife agreed and was shocked when she opened the box. Despite the fact that her husband had left the price tag on, the lingerie was so sheer she thought there may as well be nothing there. Then she had an idea; she would just model for her husband naked and he would never notice. Then she could take it back to the store the next day and go shopping with the $500 dollar refund.

She appeared naked on the balcony and struck a pose.

Her husband looked up and said, "Good heavens! For $500 you'd think they'd at least iron it!"

Have a great weekend everyone!

Some New Names

I've added a couple new blogs to my roll. I decided to add those people [who shall remain nameless Kim and Kevin] who don't blog very often. Even though they don't write very often, I still check as often as I do everyone else so I decided to add them. No guilt trip, but the rest of us really do want to know what's on your mind! I know you think you never have anything to say, but if Kimmy can blog three times in a row about pie, anything you have to say can't be that bad! Another name I added is a guy I know named Kyle. He is currently at a seminary and he has to do a blog for one of his classes. I don't always agree with everything he has to say, but hey, that's what makes life fun isn't it? I also added my sister Karin. Not really sure why I never added her before, just slipped my mind. If anyone wants to check out her family, she's posts a lot of pictures. And lastly, but definitely not least, my wife also started a blog. I guess she thought working 50 hours a week, going to Nursing school full time, and working at the pregnancy center, wasn't enough stuff to do. Not sure how often she'll write, but check her out anyway.

Catch y'all later.

Our Prayers are with You

I want to extend my sympathy to Adrienne in the passing of her father. He was too young and he will be greatly missed. The only comfort in this is that the pain he was going through is over and he is now with his Heavenly Father. Please pray for Adrienne and her family in this time of grief.

Friday Funny

I'm not a huge fan of blond jokes b/c, well, I'm blond. And since most blond jokes are insinuated to be about women, my sisters would kill me. But this one is pretty funny so I couldn't resist.

A plane was on its way to Houston when a blonde in Economy Class got up and moved up to the First Class section and sat down. A flight attendant watched her move and asked her to see her ticket. Upon seeing her Economy ticket, the flight attendant informed the blonde that she had only paid for an Economy ticket and that she was going to have to return to her seat.

The blonde responded, "I'm blonde, I'm beautiful, I'm going to Houston and I'm staying right here!"

The flight attendant went into the cockpit and informed the pilot and co-pilot there was a passenger sitting in First Class that only had an Economy ticket and that she refused to move. The co-pilot went out to the blonde and tried to explain to her that her ticket did not allow her to sit in the First Class section and that she would have to return to her seat.

The blonde responded, "I'm blonde, I'm beautiful, I'm going to Houston and I'm staying right here!"

The co-pilot returned to the cockpit and informed the pilot that he should probably have the police ready when they landed to deal with the troublesome blonde. The pilot turned to him and said, "You say she's a blonde? I'm married to a blonde. I can actually speak blonde."

The pilot went back to the blonde and whispered in her ear. She looked at him a bit sheepishly and got up and returned to her seat in Economy. The flight attendant and the co-pilot were amazed at what they had just witnessed. They asked him what he had said to get her to move without any fuss.

He replied, "I told her First Class wasn't going to Houston."

Have a great weekend everyone!

Street Fair Time

This past weekend was the Columbiana Street Fair. As usual, we attended every night. For those of you who have never been there, the Street Fair is a good lesson in the psychology of humans. (It kind of reminds me of the lab mice experiments that Canadian Loonie does for a living.) You block off one street for three blocks, throw in some food vendors, two or three crappy rides to occupy the kids, some cheesy games, and lastly ten thousand people, and watch the fun. I've been to a lot of fairs and festivals, but this one is my favorite.

Here's how it works.................
You start at the first end of Main Street, which is blocked off by police barricades that are simply a security blanket to make you feel safe from the cars that are still zooming around the traffic circle only 10 feet away. You start walking only to stop every 20 yards and talk to a wide variety of people. Examples being.......People you haven't seen since this time last year at the same event, other's you haven't seen in years and years, various high school and college acquaintances, and invariably the people you see all the time but for some reason you just have to stop and talk to them as if you have something new or exciting to say! (There are also the people you intentionally cross the street to avoid talking to. They are few and far between, but worth the effort!) You make random pit stops to get food and drink of every imaginable kind. You try to find that elusive good deal at the used book sale. You catch a song or two at the coffee shop by some random high school rock band. The middle of your trip is the tent. You enter this Taj Mahal of brightly lit plastic and then try to avoid the politicians who are attempting to slap a sticker on you, the Avon/Home Interior ladies who want you to sign up for a free snowman, and the contractor guys selling every form of anti-leaf gutter system, none of which ever work. The only fun spot in the tent is at the turn you get to see the Photo-Contest entries. You head back up the other side of the tent and exit where you entered. You then proceed to make your way back up the street pausing for more conversations and a whole lot more food. You end up at the Bingo tent which is right beside where you started. This whole process will take at least an hour, and if it's busy or the conversations are a-plenty, you can multiply that number by 2 or 3.

All I can say is that I LOVE IT! Ell and I look forward to the Street Fair maybe more than any other yearly event we attend. I know it sounds loopy, but it is so much fun!

Friday Funny

Instead of the traditional joke with a punch-line, I found something that is still pretty funny. Enjoy...

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DORMITORY

When you rearrange the letters:

DIRTY ROOM

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PRESBYTERIAN

When you rearrange the letters:

BEST IN PRAYER

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ASTRONOMER

When you rearrange the letters:

MOON STARER

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DESPERATION

When you rearrange the letters:

A ROPE ENDS IT

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THE EYES

When you rearrange the letters:

THEY SEE

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GEORGE BUSH

When you rearrange the letters:

HE BUGS GORE

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THE MORSE CODE

When you rearrange the letters:

HERE COME DOTS

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ELECTION RESULTS

When you rearrange the letters:

LIES-LET'S RECOUNT

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SNOOZE ALARMS

When you rearrange the letters:

ALAS! NO MORE Z'S

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A DECIMAL POINT

When you rearrange the letters:

I'M A DOT IN PLACE

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ELEVEN PLUS TWO

When you rearrange the letters:

TWELVE PLUS ONE

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And my favorite one....................

MOTHER IN LAW

When you rearrange the letters:

WOMAN HITLER

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Have a great weekend everyone!

The big FIVE-OH, 50 to you simple folks

This is the 50th entry to this little rag of mine. Quite an accomplishment if I do say so myself.

I wanted to thank those of you who sent me encouragement for what Ell and I are currently going through. Since we were such an intregal part of the leadership of the church in more than one way, we aren't done yet. I have another meeting with the kids and a meeting with the church leadership. They want to do a pseudo Exit-Interview with me to discuss what went wrong so they don't make the same mistakes again. In a perfect world that would be a great idea. But unless it's possible to replace some of the personnel or to at least change their attitudes and personalities, nothing will change. The church will continue to ignore the importance of the youth, and that church and the Kingdom of God will lose kids year after year. I simply want to be able to stand before God when I die and have him say "Job well done!" If I had stayed in that position, I'm not sure I could be sure I would here that.

Well enough of that stuff. That wicked illegal alien named Ernesto paid my garden a visit over the weekend. My cherry tomatoes are about 2 feet taller than in the pictures my sister took. So when that wind kicked up from the wrong direction and kept blowing for two days, it broke my trellis right off at the ground. All five poles just snapped and the plants came crashing down. Nothing happened to the 'maters, but when they fell they landed on top of my brussel sprouts and some of my kale. I got to them quick enough and both should be alright minus a few leaves.

Today was a good garden-eating day. Today was one of those ten paid holidays us bank schmucks get off, and so I spent almost the whole day in the garden. I turned all three of my compost beds, did some weeding, and harvested some bounty. I picked two golden beets that were each about 12 inches long and bigger around than I could reach with both of my hands. I picked about 8 oxheart carrots, some lettuce, and one onion bigger than a softball. Then I cut them all up along with some red-skin potatoes, 4 thumb-sized cloves of garlic out of the garden, and added some olive oil. Ell put in some spices I didn't pay attention to, and we stuck it in the oven for about an hour. Oh my word did it taste good. And we made enough that I'll get to take it to work for 2 or 3 days. Have I ever mentioned I love having my very own grocery store in my backyard? It sure is awesome!

Well, anyway...........Hope everyone had a good Labor Day and you didn't have to "labor" too hard. Evening..........

Friday Funny

A young businessman left work early to get in nine holes of golf before he had to go home. As he was about to tee off, an elderly gentleman approached him and asked if he could play along with him. The younger man was reluctant thinking the old man would slow him down; but not wanting to offend him, he agreed. To his surprise the old man kept up pretty well. He had to hit more shots but he never slowed the younger man's play. On the ninth hole, the young businessman hit his tee shot right behind a tree. As he stood and tried to figure out what to do, the old man walked up and said, "When I was your age I could hit right over that tree." Not wanting to be shown up by an old man, the younger man picked a club, lined up his shot, and swung away. The ball buried itself in the dense tree and came to rest right at his feet. Upon seeing this the old man stated, "But when I was your age that tree was only a few feet tall."

Cha Cha Cha Changes

My life has taken some major changes in the past week. So as not to bore those of you who have only this rag as contact with me, and so as not to slight those of you who know me well (and who deserve more of an explanation than what I can offer here) I'll keep this short........ Ell and I have left the Upper Room, the church we attended. All I care to say is that I hate when religion creeps into churches. That may confuse some, but anyone who knows what a real relationship with God is as opposed to what a church offers, knows what I mean. The decision to leave the church was not a hard one, but the fact that it meant I had to leave the Youth Group was terribly difficult. And to be honest, that was the only thing that has kept us there as long as we've been there. We tried to fight it for as long as we could, but we just weren't being fair to ourselves or to the ministries we were involved in. God wanted us to leave and we tried to fight it. Last week we decided to stop fighting. And so last Sunday was our last week and next Wednesday is our last youth group. Those of you who believe in God, please pray for us. The decision was not an easy one for us and we are still struggling with the repurcusions that it will cause with the youth. If any of you want to talk to us, please call me. I'd be happy to talk to you.