"What's in the mailbox GranAnnie"?

What's in the mailbox GranAnnie? Oh look,,it's tools for working in the garden.. Right next to the climbing clematis..

Hummingbird feeder and my Oriole feeder.. I have lots of Orioles and they eat 1 cup of grape jelly a day..

This is our old mailbox.. I thought it would be good to store my garden tools and my WD40 spray to keep the tools from rusting.. Ben found all the goodies that are stored inside and he just had to try them all out.. Lol

He thinks the gloves are cool to wear to water my plants. Notice: he has on a polar fleece jacket, it's 75 degrees hot and humid. It doesn't matter, he wants on his jacket..

In the background is my vegetable garden.. With all this rain we are getting it's are not doing well.

Now~! petting the dog...that's what the gloves are used for~~ right?

He loves my garden gloves...

Wearing the blue garden gloves for riding his bike....Now that's what they are for mm-mm-?

Ben is quite a boy~!

Clean up day in the basement

This is the view from my chair ~! After working so hard today in the basement. The red jeep is Ben's remote control jeep that he left in the yard.. he loves that jeep..

We live in an old farm house and the basement is a hole in the ground. Not very useful. Furnace, water heater, water softener, pressure tank and a cupboard to hold my canning jars.. Decided to emtpy all the old tomato juice, salsa and hot peppers out of the jars and then wash them up to use this year when I want to can somemore. Then I swept up all the spider webs down from the rafters and along the walls.. swept the floor and got top of furnace and other things washed off and cleaned.. I put on my mask and sprayed the basement and the rafters with bug spray to kill all the spiders and bugs. I have to spray at least twice a year.. The spiders start coming upstairs and making their webs where ever they like and it just helps to keep the population down if I spray.. I also sprayed all the rooms upstairs.. We should be bug, spider free for awhile..

While I was down there today I decided to get rid of a few things.. How many flower vases does one need? I kept 2. threw 10 away... I threw away some things that was in the pantry . Old Jello,, they do have an expiration date on them...got rid of some old cookbooks, rearranged things on the shelves. It all looks so good. It's always a good feeling when you get rid of stuff you don't use anymore. Dave has an old work bench down there. One can actually see the top of it now.. He will be happy when he goes down there to work on one of his projects this winter.

I would say it was a very successful day...and I have one more area cleaned out and put back together.. I made me some ice tea went outside and sat in the shade and read my book.. Who knows what tomorrow will bring,, maybe I'll get motivated to do another room.

Izzy the amazing dog~!

Here's Rich helping Izzy get out of the water. She loves chasing her tennis ball.. Over and over again she would run off the dock after her ball and over and over again Rich would help her get out of the water.. We are at Jodie's house in Big Rapids, Michigan..

Kerplunk~!

Izzy taking the plunge into the water..to get her ball.

Here she is: Happy Happy Dog..

A wonderful week-end at Jodie's

The view from Jodie's front yard is so amazing.. The river is so still you can actually see the reflection of the trees on the other side.. Truly amazing.
Went to Jodies over Memorial Week-end and had a great time.. The food she cooked for us was right out of Emirll"s kitchen that is on the food channel. It was so good. We even had a little of Rachel Ray's food too..
Rich came on Saturday with John,Kelly and Emily.. It was so nice to all be together again.


There are swans that come daily in front of Jodie and Mark's house . We fed them bread which they gobbled up quickly. They are so beautiful~! The male swan's name is Gus.. He is very protective of his family.

Here's Emily,,she found a frog.. It was so cute. She had a lot of fun holding this frog and showing it to us all..

We went swimming and that was a lot of fun.. Here is Kelly on her floaty and me with my tubey thingy.. The water was great and nice and warm..

This is Jodie and Marks home ~ they live in Big Rapids Michigan.. Dave enjoyed sitting in the shade and watching all of us play in the water. If you look close you can see Izzy the dog standing near the bird feeder pole.. she loved jumping in the water and going after her ball.

It was a great week-end and we made many memories. Thanks Jodie

Ben in Albert's Corn

Rocco the Italian Greyhound had fun tonight while I was weeding the garden.. He just loves it here on the farm...He is my grandog.. He is staying with us until our daughter is relocated into her new place that she will be moving into end of June.. He runs and runs and jumps through the corn looking for who knows what.. We have ground squirrels here in the yard and as much as he tries he can't outrun them ~ they hop down the holes they have all over the yard... I love this picture, makes him look so majestic. He has his eye on something.

Look at the corn growing in Iowa. Here is Ben standing in the corn.. He is 3 1/2 years old and already holding a clump of dirt in his hands.. Checking out the soil.

Quiet evening here in Iowa.. After 3 inches of rain, the garden after weeding it looks really good.. Oh, I should of taken a picture before I weeded it.. Yikes~! Trust me it was not good.

We have had rain, rain , rain since Sunday and it's really good. I got the house cleaned and this evening after the sun came out I went out and weeded the vegetable garden and my flower garden.. It was so easy to tackle the weeds after all this rain.. They just came out so easy and without a struggle. It will be good to look at the garden tomorrow and admire the flowers and not look at the weeds. It feels so good after getting all the weeds out of the garden. I have a little garden tomorrow to work on and then all the weeding will be finished..

Got Ben off to bed and now to make a cup of tea and read my book. I'm reading "The Help" it's a novel.. written by Kathryn Stockett.. It's a great book and hard to put down. Jodie gave it to me and told me it was good.. Sooooo goodnight for now.. Looked at the moon and venus before going to upstairs to read, very impressive and so beautiful... Thank you God ~!

Visit to Barrington, Illinois

This is Lilly and Emily. I just love Lilly, she lives near Emily. Lilly is very good at playing soccer, softball and she plays the piano. I love her blonde hair.. Emily is my grandaughter. They are getting ready to go to school. I love Emsy

Izzy is here saying "Can I go home with you ?" I love the farm.. She is such a great dog..

Here is my Sparky Girl.. Kelly ~! She is 11 years old now.. She is so beautiful and a wonderful young lady. She has her ups and downs but I love her when she is in her ups..or her down.

She has beautiful lips..

Rich is my wonderful son who works hard at loving his children and doing what is best for them. I'm getting ready to go back to Iowa after being here for almost 2 weeks. I will miss them all.

Sleeping Boys

I think Ben is so sweet when he is sleeping. Here he is with his bunny named Nibbles. Nibbles is really loved a lot. He loves his PJ's, Buzz Light Year and Woody.. He says "Buzz Light Year " then extends his arms out and pretends to fly..

Yesterday while Ben was here he pushed the play lawn mower that he has all the way to the creek and back. He was talking and chattering the whole way.. He has now learned what red-wing blackbirds look like and he says "Hello Mr. blackbird"... Mr. Blackbird flew close by and just sat in a tree close by doing his annoying song. Ben ran to the tree and flapped his arms and Mr. Blackbird flew off.. Ben just laughed.

After supper, we played Thomas the Train and of course John Deere Tractors.. There is a disk that goes with one of the tractors . When Ben runs it over the carpet it makes little marks..and he says "I'm farming, Gran Annie"... We love to play.. When it's time for bed Grandpa Dee Dee reads him a story out of the lastest John Deere Magazine. They have to look at all the pictures and make comments.. Then it's my turn.. Ben and I go upstairs and I read to him. "Curious George seems to be his favorite now" and a Book about going on a bear hunt.. He loves it when the family finds the bear in the cave.. Big shining nose, Two big furry ears and Two googly eyes.. Yikes ~! It's a bear and off the family runs with the bear close behind. He goes to bed with his Chocolate Milk in a sippy cup and his beloved Nibbles.. I give him a little flashlight and give him kisses and hugs.. He asks me to lay down next to him , we say our prayers to God , he loves the part where you say Amen .and off he goes to dreamland with his last words "I love you Gran Annie." Nite Nite.

What a sweet boy...who we love dearly.

Cold & WIndy today

Got out my hand cultivator and tilled up the garden today.. It has that awful grass that is so hard to get rid of.. but I worked it up today and got a lot out of the garden.. I planted red potatoes today . I put little red flags to show where they are planted.. I'm going to go to Rich's house on Thurs. He asked me to come and go with him and the kids to a camp out for John's boy scout troop 10.. I told him I would come and it sounded like a lot of fun.
After I got the potatoes planted I put my tools away.. I decided to get my tree trimmers and cut the lilac flowers off the trees.. Heard that if you take the flowers off after they have bloomed they will bloom better for the next year.. It took me 2 hours to get two bushes flowers clipped off. Then it started to rain.. Made me go inside and get warmed up. Made me a cup of hot tea and sat with my book that I'm reading.. "Three Cups of Tea"... It's a really good book.
Tracie called me this afternoon and said she had a tooth ache and Cory had a bad sore throat and asked if I could take Ben for the evening and take him to school the next day.. I said "Sure , that would be great".. About 6, Cory brought Ben down. Ben was so excited.. WE played with Thmas the Train and with the tractors.. I popped him some popcorn and he watched a favorite DVD.. Then it was time for bed.. He was very talkative tonight.. I read him two stories and then I told him it was time for bed.. Oh he fought the sandman all the way to 10:30... He is now sound asleep and I'm going to go to bed too.. 6:30 will come soon in the morning.
It's so windy and cold out tonight. It rained for along time , which is good.. Makes the flowers grow and give a good watering to the potatoes I planted today.. It's 41 degrees right now, the house is chilly and the furnace just came on and is warming up the house.
Time for bed.. Ta Ta For Now

Happy Mothers Day~! Again~!

We went to Thomas Park today in Marion to have our lunch and Ben could play on the new playground equipment.. last time I brought him here we stayed for 2 hours..

This picture was suppose to be last.. We told him it was time to go and he was sad.. He loves playing here.

Brought his John Deere tractor to the park.. He rode it all over the place and had a great time.

He loved this climbing obstacle. Of course instead of climbing up he climbs down. He has no fear.. He is full of adventure.

Here he is high up saying to me "GranAnnie come up here". Go down slide together"...

Happy Mothers Day~!~!

Ben loves to fill up the bucket with water. He is my helper with cleaning the bird baths and making sure they have clean water.

Here is Ben with his Mom helping him putting water in the birdbath.. He loves doing this ~!

Here is Ben Praising the Lord~! He loves helping me in my garden

At church today they gave us mothers potted plants.. Ben is helping me get it planted..



He is meticulously digging the hole for the flower. Happy Mothers Day~!

After the rain we have drops~!

Oh I thought this tulip was so beautiful and the raindrops dripping off I thought was so cool.

The columbines look like dancing fairies. The hummingbirds and butterflies like these flowers.

The poppies are just coming out ~!

They are such a big beautiful flower, they almost look like tissue paper flowers I made when I was a small girl. I love the raindrops..

This poppy is bowing and shielding the inside of it's flower from the rain. Leone's garden is so wonderful...

Flowers from Leone's Garden

My friend , Leone who was 102 years old passed away this year. Today I went up and took some pictures of some of the flowers that were in her garden.. She loved her garden so much and was so proud of all her flowers..

This is a picture of what Leone called "Bridal Wreath".. It's a bush and it was in full bloom.. We had a rain storm and you can see the raindrops on the leaves.

Spring Rains Brings Flowers

Spring is a wonderful time to enjoy nature and the flowers that bloom.. It's that time of year again and the iris's are in bloom.

They are so delicate and so beautiful~! God's promises are alive and well.

If you want to order flowers for someone here in the Marion, Iowa area. I highly recommend a florist called "Weeds"... It was Tracie's birthday and I had them send a bouquet to where she works.. I thought they were so beautiful.. She loves tulips.. Thanks "Weeds " for another job well done..~!

Tracie & Ben stopped by

On Monday Ben and Tracie and Rocco the dog stopped by for supper. It was good to see them. She had gone to a garage sale over the week-end and wanted to show me all the clothes she had bought for Ben.. He saw the Iowa Hawkeye shirt and polar fleece jacket and wanted them on instantly.. Oh ~! his favorite saying when he sees something or gets excited is "Wow".. He put them on and then he was so happy.

We ate supper which was delicious.. I love to cook minute steaks with lots of onions, mushrooms and red peppers.. If you tell Ben it's steak, regardless what the meat is, he will eat it.

silly boy. After supper Grandpa Dee Dee took Ben outside for a tractor ride on his favorite tractor John Deere 530.. This time Grandpa Dee Dee let him drive it all by himself.. HE was in hog heaven.. For fun, Ben would steer the tractor towards a tree and Grandpa Dee Dee would have to stop the tractor and back up.. Ben would be laughing and you could hear him say "Oh NO~!".. Then off they would go with Ben steering the big tractor too close to the pine trees so they would have to lean over so the branches didn't hit them.. and then out into the open and off to the creek and back to the big shed where the tractors are stored... Tracie and I could hear them laughing and talking to each other. Sweet~!

Rocco had a great time chasing the ground squirrels all over the yard.. He is an Italian Greyhound and even thou he runs so fast he just can't seem to catch up with these little varmints.

Evening came and time for Ben and Tracie to go home.. Ben wanted to stay with GranAnnie. But we convinced him that he needed to go home so he could go to Pre school/daycare the next day.. As he went out the driveway in his MaMa's car he was waving and blowing me kisses.. Makes me wanna cry. I waved goodbye and blew kisses to them both..

World's largest tractor~ Big Bud....

Sunday ~ 5-2 -2010
Dave and I took Ben to Independence, Iowa to see the World's largest tractor.. Big Bud.. When Ben saw this tractor all he could say was "Wow". There were other tractors and farm machinery to see and he enjoyed walking by each one. Couldn't get on any of them which was a big disappointment to Ben.. he thinks all tractors are to be climbed on~ sit on the seat and put hands on the steering wheel and then make the tractor noise that he makes. r-r-r-r-r-r-r- just like Grandpa Dee Dee's John Deere A. We had a great time seeing everything that was there. He enjoyed putting corn into the corn sheller and turning the wheel.. He thought it was funny to hear the corn drop into the metal bucket that was placed below. They had a petting zoo. Ben enjoyed looking at the goats, sheep and a baby calf.. He really liked the big cow with the mega-big time horns.. Ben laughed because it had a itch and was scratching it's head on the metal bar. Electric fence around this fellow - so no petting this guy.. We started for home about 2 and Ben instantly fell asleep before we got out of the parking lot. It was a good day and lot's of fun.

Snake~! GranAnnie Snake~!

Ben was here on Saturday helping me with the awful grass in my garden.. He loves to use my garden fork.. I only had one, so I bought one for him to use. When Ben turned over the soil he would see the earth worms.. I tried to get him to hold one.. He said "No Thank You." it sounds so cute when he says that. I told him he could use those fish worms the next time he went fishing with his daddy..

He was walking around the yard while I was finishing up and he said "Snake~!" Snake~!" Grandpa Dee Dee had mowed over a huge bull snake earlier and it was dead.. I told Ben "Well lets put it on your fork and we can put it in the corn field.." He hooked his fork under the snake and he carried it over to the field.. I told him he was very brave.. Ben is 3 years old . After we put our garden forks away we walked down the mowed path to the creek. He loves the creek.. I told him when it warms up we can play in the creek.. It's not very deep.. lots of sand and just big enough for GranAnnie and Ben to have fun. He loves being outside and so do I..