Happy Memorial Day!!

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.  ~Elmer Davis

To all Veterans and their families....Thank You for Our Freedom!! 


Thank You Daddy!!

::Hugs::

We Have Teenagers!

Have you ever thought about all the ways ducks and geese are integrated into our sayings?
Goose bumps
What's good for the goose is good for the gander

DUCK!!!! (lower your head)
Silly goose
Like a sitting duck
Waddle like a duck
Lucky duck!
A quack (bad doctor)
Get your ducks in a row
Goosed (pecked in the rear)
Don't get your feathers ruffled (any bird)
Let it roll like water on a duck's back
The goose that laid the golden egg
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck
Like a duck out of water
Like a duck takes to water
Loose as a goose
Wild goose chase
His goose was cooked  
Bottoms up!
Just Ducky
Take a gander--to have a look at something

All the Goslings and Ducklings are growing up so fast around here!! We have been very lucky, the total number has not reduced all that much!  They are all what we call 'teenagers' it comes so fast....they'll be out on their own having their own babies before you know it!! :)



Teenagers....the middle one looks like he has on galoshes!!




Growing up....so ugly he's cute



imitating mom! Almost as big as a duck! All 3 teenagers and Mom and Dad spent so much time eating the grass in our front yard....we won't have to cut the grass this week!!

Mom(or Dad?) is eating.....and watching!

Mom and baby ducks...they're teenagers too! All born about the same time, just before Mother's Day!!

Bath Time!!

The replanted princess lilies seem to be doing okay!!

The other lilies are starting to bloom in all the gardens!

Look at the size of this bloom!! It's a small tree but will have as many as 15-20 of these blooms on it...it's so pretty....reminds me of Sanibel Island!!

The premature Glad is about done!!

I thought I would take a couple of videos of the Ducks and Geese to share with you...it's almost like being here!!

::Hugs::

(Sorry about the look this time....Blogger is having issues!)

Another Fishing Trip!!

There will be days when the fishing is better than one's most optimistic forecast, others when it is far worse.  Either is a gain over just staying home.  ~Roderick Haig-Brown, Fisherman's Spring, 1951


My Dad and I went fishing again yesterday! What a beautiful day it was! It got a little too warm once, but the breeze would pick up a little or a white fluffy cloud would move over the sun and make it just wonderful!  When we started, they (the bass) seemed anxious to take a ride in the boat, but it slowed down in the afternoon.  Even at that we ended up with four (2 each) more Bass for the freezer! I believe we have already done better this year than the entire season last year!!

Daddy with one of his 14" bass

One of those 'bassy' holes I talk about!

Trees and Knees is where the bass have been lately

Cypress

Looks like someone needed a nap after a meal!!

Bluebird feeding babies in a nest in a tree!

The log where Jess caught her bass...notice the red ribbon at the top for all to see!

 My Dad always refers to our latest 'favorite' place to fish as Castle Cove, the reason for the name is this house that someone built there a couple of years ago....looks like a castle to us noblemen!  Notice the 'bull' tree in the front that I have shown you before!!  This house goes on and on....I don't know what this guy does for a living but it must be illegal!! I would guess it is over 6000 feet of living space, not counting balconies and porches!! 

There are several houses built on these shores that we have fished on over many years, at the risk of sounding like an old dog, it kind of hurts to see these old shores with all these memories taken down and replaced by piers!! Hopefully these people appreciate the view and at least spend some time taking it all in....I have only seen one person at any of these houses actually enjoying it, and she is there on her porch nearly every time!  Everyone needs to sit back from time to time, look around you, no matter where you are and take in the view, and just think for a bit....it's good for you!!




::Hugs::

Veggies and Flowers!!

Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?  ~Author Unknown



My hubby and I are trying to get back into the veggie diet that has been successful for us in the past....eat veggies/pasta all week, no meat. Then on the weekend have something we have been craving, nothing crazy, but back to the veggies on Monday!! It has worked pretty well for us in the past, but we can't seem to maintain it for very long these days!.....anyway, I've been looking around for some recipes and ran across a couple that we really enjoyed....I found them online and adjusted them to our tastes.  I thought  you might enjoy them also!! I guess if I am going to post these, I ought to take pics...but I didn't think of that!!


Cheese Tortellini with Veggies


9 oz cheese tortellini (frozen or fresh)
1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
1 sweet onion sliced paper thin
1 large red or green pepper
2 cups fresh broccoli flowers, chopped
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 fresh lemon juice
1 Tbs tarragon
3 Tbs Parmesan cheese, grated


Spray nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray, on Medium heat, saute onion and pepper ~10 minutes. Stir in chopped broccoli, pour in the lemon juice and wine, and add tarragon. cover and cook over low heat for about 15 minutes.  Prepare Tortellini according to package directions while veggies are cooking.  Stir in the olive oil and then fold in tortellini.


It's really good....and good for you!  I decided to have it again last week but didn't have all the ingredients so I tried with what I did have....this is great too...and much different....you would swear there was meat in it!!


9 ounces tortellini
1 cup baby bella mushrooms sliced thin
2 small zucchini squash, sliced in coins
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small sweet onion sliced thin
1/2 cup vegetable broth
3 Tbs. Parmesan cheese, grated
You would bet it had steak in it!! it's great!!




Another recipe I tried for Mother's Day dip!! My Mom loves Avocados and they were on sale, so I found this recipe on the internet....I have fixed it several times since and it's great on tortilla chips, veggies or pretzel rods....only trouble is it doesn't last very long!! 


Avocado and Roasted Garlic Dipping Sauce


2 Avocados
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 entire head of roasted garlic, squeezed from skin
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
1/8 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp coarse salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper


Roughly mash avocados, (texture should not be smooth)
Fold in remaining ingredients
Chill one hour to marry flavors


(If you don't have a garlic roaster: put cloves in a square of foil; drizzle with 1 tsp olive oil, and pinch of sea salt, seal foil. Bake at 450 F until garlic is very soft, about 20 minutes)


I just decided to share some of my favorite new recipes, I hope you try them, if you do, let me know what you think!!  


I took some new pics in the gardens today.....we've had light afternoon showers yesterday and it made my flowers very happy!!

The Orange lilies have gone crazy!!

They're early, but abundant!!

This Gladiola always blooms early...one stalk, then another at the end of the summer!! Very strange..but pretty!!

This guy (snapping turtle) came by for a visit, he obviously was in his camo disguise, he even had a long trail of moss!

He was a little shy, I was going to put my foot there to give you a size comparison, but changed my mind!! He's not really huge, but big enough to take off toes!!

That's all folks!! Just a hodge podge of stuff to report!!


::Hugs::

Another Family Fishing Trip...and Geocache goodies!

Bragging may not bring happiness, but no man having caught a large fish goes home through an alley.  ~Author Unknown


My Dad, Jess and I went down to NC fishing yesterday and what a great day it was!! Jess is fairly new at bass fishing with an artificial worm, it takes some practice if you want to be successful, and I must say, she is a quick study!! She put the first one in the boat.....although he was too small to pass the limit, it is always a lot of fun!

My Dad was the first to catch a 'keeper' that weighed in at 2-1/2 pounds! 

We had good activity most of the day, we all had strikes, I caught 2 what were just over the limit and My Dad caught another one that weighed in at about 1-1/2 pounds.  My Dad and I each lost 'the big one'....you know how it is, stands up on his tail, shows you that big ol' bucket mouth and throws the bait back at you!! 


My Dad also did some white perch fishing and caught a couple and he and Jess did some breaming also, which added to our collection. It was getting fairly late and we had already marked the point on the shore where we would stop and Jess still didn't have a Bass in the boat.  Daddy had 3, and I had 2 and I really wanted to see Jess go home with one since she gets to come so seldom!!  When all of a sudden there arose such a clatter....and I looked over and Jess' rod was bent and she was hung in a big ol' log.....but she told us that there was fish on also!!  She kept the line tight and before long her line slipped just enough to pull the bass out of the water and up along side the log!!  He was beautiful and obviously the 'biggun' for the day!!  We motored over to it (which seemed like an eterntiy) and I got the net under him!  She had gotten him hung perfectly with the hook!!  He weighed in at 3-1/2 pounds!!!  She (and we) were so happy!! She danced all over the boat!!  We took lots of pics and sent them back via phones to our hubbies!!  

We really had a great time, and we would have even if we hadn't caught any fish....but this just made it perfect for all of us!


I took a few other pics of our day....We saw this mama goose on her nest, the water was so high, I hope she didn't get her eggs wet, but she barley moved when we got close in hopes that we wouldn't bother her.

We saw some more cypress knee statues, although most of them were underwater!

Does anyone else see a duck?

 We saw several of these little guys, I should have taken a video of him, he walks along bouncing his back end up and down....he was so cute! I'm going to have to look him up and find out what he is called! Next time I'll get a video to show you....he looks like he has the colorings of a sandpiper!!

Well we had a great day in North Carolina, I wish we could take Jess with us more often! We plan on going over to my parents today and eating some of those fish with a good old fashioned fish fry this afternoon!!


...more on geocaching!


I ordered me a portable gps and worked and gathering all the information about Sanibel geocache locations so we are ready when we get down there....I thought it would be cute to make things out of shells to put into those caches....how appropriate is that??  I thought they were so cute, I may give some out here...what do you think?

Mice!

Piggies

Upclose Mice

I made this guy, and Jess liked him so much she made one for herself!!

Jess' owl.

Obviously I need to cleanup the glue, and add some little eyes to the piggies, and whiskers to the mice, but I think they turned out well! Don't you??

::Hugs::

Geocaching!!

I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.  ~Henry David Thoreau




We finally got a chance to go geocaching!!  For those of you who have not heard of it, it's basically a scavenger hunt! There are literally millions of these things on the globe....and everyone is a tricky find, some more than others!  I got interested in it after reading this from fellow blogger Kim....and it peaked my interest since I used to be hooked on online scavenger hunts...this is just better...it makes you go outside, walk and checkout nature!! She even added a tab on her blog here that is very helpful!! 


What fun it is!  My daughter and I have talked about it for a while, and I studied up on it on the internet and gathered some stuff to give away (swag) and made some log sheets in case some needed replacing, grabbed the camera, gps and ipad and we went right after she got into town!! We plan on doing some of this next month while we are all in Sanibel....I'm going to make some shell crafts to give! I'm excited!!  We took pictures of our very first find!!

The GPS got us in the area....we looked for some place to hide something....hmmm see the hole in this tree at the bottom?

Let's look a little closer.......

Closer yet....hmmm a rock...that's a funny place for a rock!

Looks like a rock...but turn it over.....

....voila...a cover and there it is!!  This one had a quarter, we traded the quarter for a couple of things, since there were 2 of us, we signed the log sheet with our geocache names, and of course, you close it all up, and put it back Exactly where you found it for the next one to find!!  When you get home, you 'log' the find online and the fun begins, the internet keeps track for you!!

This one was a large one inside this tree!.....we have 8 now....Not much, but we're working this all in with everything else we want to do while Jess is here!

We got to see the BEAUTIFUL Bluebird during our trek through the woods!

 Jess and I spent a while yesterday on my gardens, planted my new princess lilies, hybiscus trees and moving other plants around.....it was a lot of fun, I think she enjoys digging in the dirt like I do....it really is therapeutic!


Here are some more pics of some of my flowers...spring is always so pretty here!!

Primrose

Peonies

Peonies

My 'Patriotic Plant' has sure filled in!!

Lilies are opening up!

And hubby's favorite birds...the gold finches are beautiful!!

We plan on fishing trip with My Dad for tomorrow, hopefully I will have great fish tales to tell when we return!!

::Hugs::