Sherry8's Blog at GardenStew.com

Too many things will be happening....

Sherry8 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:32:15 -0400

Author: Sherry8
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:32 pm (GMT 0)

Too many things will be happening at the same time here. We have new windows to be put into our house that was built in 2005 because we didn't check them out close enough when we bought. Who would expect a new house to have windows that let in so much cold air. ..not us. We have lived in 2 other homes and ended putting new windows in those and now this is our 3rd time...we plan on retiring here so hopefully this is our last home. My husband will be 58 so he has a ways to go yet...

We are waiting for the window man to get back to us on when they will be starting..all depends on the weather. Our spring nice weather hasn't come yet...it has been a long snowy winter in Wisconsin this year.

My biggest concern are my perennials that are going to be starting to grow and my lilys....how will they ever get 23 windows in this ranch house without destroying my flower beds? We did buy a large board but anything starting to get too big by the time they get around to doing it will have to be dug out. Does anyone have any suggestions for me...? I wait all year for the flower season and to have someone come in and trample on all my hard work is upsetting...it will be just so much work to dig everything up out of his way and I hope I can get it done when they say he is coming...I know he can't help walking on everything but if you are a true gardener, you will understand my concern.

And of course with being a true gardener, I ordered things that will start arriving around the middle of April..oh, how I wish I would of not ordered so much. Some things go into the large bed in the middle of the yard so that flower bed is safe....I know the sleepless nights will start when the window man keeps cancelling because of the weather....April showers do bring may flowers...Keep all of those beautiful pictures of spring coming everyone..

To decorate or not to decorate outside for Christmas...????

Sherry8 — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:35:17 -0500

Author: Sherry8
Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 12:35 am (GMT 0)

We usually don't put a lot of outside decorations up for Christmas but this year we went a little farther ...It all started with our new neighbors, Tom and Dawn. Very nice people and they have 2 children. I know this is one of the reasons they decorated was for their children. They made a real cute snowman with their Dad too after our first good snow on the weekend. I noticed the snowman had Tom's baseball hat on today...I guess he figures he will need a warmer one for our cold weather...

Getting back to decorating, our children are all grown so I guess you would say we decorate for ourselves and the neighbors. Tom started putting up his decorations so we did too. He put something up and then we did. It seemed just like we were trying to outdo one another...maybe it was a challenge...well, I took the challenge. We had never put holes into the siding before this year...the house is only a few years old so I suppose that is one reason we haven't. We really wanted the house to look good but not junky...

Well, I am happy to say Tom didn't go overboard and I was glad for that...I couldn't let him out-due us now could we.....?

I am happy to say we are done and I hope we have a lot of on-lookers that drive around looking at our neighborhood Christmas decorations. I hope everyone has a Happy Holiday...I did end up putting some large bells on the front door after the pictures ..I will add that picture after I take more...

How did you decorate this year? Maybe a challenge?

Did you have too much food at your Thanksgiving Table?

Sherry8 — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 07:16:03 -0500

Author: Sherry8
Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2007 12:16 pm (GMT 0)

I had quite a menu for our Thanksgiving Day noon meal.This was for 11 people at our table, 5 of which are children. OK, 2 of the grandchildren are big boys that play football and they love to eat... I think that is why I cook so much.

Turkey,stuffing, potatoes, sweet potato casserole (this one was a new one I had to try) corn,cranberries, a 3 bean dish,rolls, strawberry jello and my daughter brought the green bean casserole and my daughter in law brought a 7-layer salad. 2 pumpkin pies and an apple pie with a apple crisp topping. The reason we have so many veggetables is because we have too many dislikes. Of course then I end up with so -----------many leftovers.

The turkey was a 20 pounder, I usually buy a 22 pound one but the store where I purchased it did not have a larger size. 38 cents a pound I thought was a great deal...What did you pay this year?

I made the turkey in a cooking bag again,the meat is always juicy. I decided not to put the stuffing inside the bird this time and in stead I stuffed it with some delicious apples that I cut up. One of the main reason I love using a cooking bag is that it cuts the cooking time down quite a lot..

I had purchased a small food processor and I cut all the vegetables up in it for the stuffing and to use part of it in the gravy. I am one that loves to try new things in the kitchen and every year it is a new stuffing recipe. Maybe one year I will find one I truly like. Any ideas would be appreciated...As stated above we had the sweet potato casserole and it had a brown sugar and pecan topping..everyone thought it was great.

How many leftovers did you have? I had one whole pie, so I cut it up and froze it to take out when we need a dessert. I always make too much stuffing so that we will be eating for a few days, I froze 3 bags of turkey and left out enough for supper tonight. I basically froze a lot of the other food that was left too. A quick entre when we are in a hurry...

One of the reasons I didn't send leftovers home with anyone was because they had another Thanksgiving meal to go to that day... For supper or our 5 pm meal we were not hungry so we just ate some jello...I could not eat anymore...

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving....

My way to attract birds....

Sherry8 — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:37:57 -0500

Author: Sherry8
Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:37 pm (GMT 0)

In the spring of 2007 my husband built me a cedar pergola for feeding the birds. I didn't have many birds here and when you move from a place that had a woods in the backyard, you really miss them. We planted many trees, arborvitaes and lilac bushes. The last 4 we put in were Blue Spruce about 6 feet tall.

The pergola has drawn many birds in and as soon as I figure out how to get my pictures small enough for here I will post a picture. I have quite a few feeders hanging in the inside of the pergola and when the weather was nicer, I had flower baskets hanging on the side. The birds love to play in the flowers..

I just drew in some Blue Jays and I would love to have some cardinals. I could hear them in the distance and the first day we hung feeders a couple of them stopped to check things out. But I have not noticed them since.
Here is my link to my Bird Pergola. I hope it works.. Sherry8

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AYuW7Nu4cN2Lv4