R.I.P. Steve...

It has been a rough week here at the ol' Countryfolk homestead. First Clarice was hit by a car. Now Steve the Chipmunk is gone. I am heart broken.
:> (

A feral cat has found it's way to our property. It took Steve and yesterday morning it took a lil' injured sparrow I've been trying to care for.
I am extremely frustrated as to how to keep this cat away from my little animal "sanctuary." I do not want to hurt it, just deter it. So if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Many of you have followed Steve's crazy antics previously on Facebook and here on my blog.

I thought I would share some my photos with everyone again. You can click directly on the photo and it will take you to some of his silly stories.





















I will miss you too, Steve. Give Clarice a hug for me.

♥

I have a passion for patchwork...

Especially quilts!




I have ever since I was a little girl. It was Holly Hobbie's Blue Girl who got me hooked.
(She wore the most awesome boots too!)


Big patches...


or small.
It doesn't matter, I love them all!




Have you noticed I can't seem to get enough of beds on a porch lately?
Is there therapy for that?
((giggle))


On the wall??!! I LOVE it!!
(Feast your peepers on that gorgeous vintage metal crib!)


Even my Darla is hooked. She loves curling up on them.
♥
But then again she'd curl up on a toilet paper square to catch a few winks.




Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!!

"The first supermarket...

supposedly appeared on the American landscape in 1946. That is not very long ago. Until then, where was all the food? Dear folks, the food was in homes, gardens, local fields, and forests. It was near kitchens, near tables, near bedsides. It was in the pantry, the cellar, the backyard." ~Joel Salatin

Have you thanked a farmer lately?
♥
Please buy local.
♥

"I love to think of nature as...

an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in." ~George Washington Carver



♥ Enjoy nature and tune in. ♥

:> )

Finding my Inner Geek...

After a rough day yesterday, I've got more "good" news. Turns out percolated coffee could be worse for me than filtered coffee. Huh???
Of course I've been drinking percolated coffee for years, so it figures.

As always, I can thank my wonderful hubs for this lovely lil' tidbit of coffee info.
Studies show unfiltered coffee could raise LDL cholesterol levels because of the oil in the coffee beans or some kind of cr*p like that. As I mentioned previously, all I hear is Mrs. Donovan, (Charlie Brown's teacher) when he's telling me something I don't want to hear. "Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah wah..."

Man, I wish he'd focus his OCD on say "handyman jobs his wife needs done around the house" instead of focusing it on medical/health issues and research. Only in my dreams...

Seems like everything in life now can kill us. The next thing you know we'll read adorable puppies and fluffy kittens could possibly kill us in our sleep.

So now I have to ditch the stove top percolator and use something else. Ugh.
But what? We've used auto drip coffeemakers in the past. Even though our water is perfect, it is hard. If you don't have hard water, you may not know that over time, hard water destroys auto drip coffeemakers. It got to the point where we were buying a new one every month. So that's not doable.

Which leads me to finding my inner geek. I remembered my mama giving me a strange looking, little vintage "coffeemaker" when we first moved here. She mentioned it would be great to use if we ever lost power but still needed that cup of Joe in the morning. She knows how I am without my morning coffee. (cue the Psycho movie shower scene music)



I dug around in the cupboard and there it was. I believe it's a vintage Chemex Coffeemaker. It was designed by German scientist Peter J. Schlumbohm, Ph.D. in 1941, which is why it kind of looks like a prop from an old sci-fi/Frankenstein movie. From what I've read, they are still making them in the same design.

So I gave it the old college try and... it's okay. Truthfully, I prefer my LDL cholesterol making perked coffee. But my arteries will thank me in the long run.



I'm sure there is some kind of specific "scientific way" to use this contraption, but hey this thing is old and has no directions. Similar to myself. So I'll just wing it for now.

Happy Monday, everyone!
Wishing you a terrific week!

:> )

A sad day here at the Countryfolk Homestead...

Many of you know about sweet Clarice.

She's the wild rabbit who befriended me three years ago. Crazy huh? But it's true. I've been talking to her almost every day since then. We talk about the weather, what her plans are for the day and what crazy Steve the Chipmunk has been up to. Also, I'm always telling her to be safe. (Lots of foxes and coy dogs in our parts) For the record: No, she never answers me back.
But she does wait for me by our back door and allows me to get within a foot of her. She's so comfortable around us, even Darla and Gracie don't bother her.
Just last week I saw her gathering grass, making a nest near the field stone we have around one of our trees.

This morning as I was on my computer, I heard my hubs run down the stairs and out the front door. I followed him asking what was wrong. "Did you hear that noise? It was a loud thud." I heard nothing. Just as I said that we both turned towards the road.

There she lay dead on our front lawn. She was hit by a car. My hubs ran over to check on her but I couldn't move.

She was still warm. She was in rough shape. A lot of her fur was missing and her back legs were barely attached to her wee body.
As my hubs picked her up to bury her, I couldn't help but wonder through my tears, "Did the driver even see her? Did they know they hit her? If they did, did they feel bad? These are questions I'll never have the answers to.

I know many may think, it's just a rabbit for crying out loud. Who cares??
Well, I do. That one rabbit touched our lives. She was one of God's little creatures.

Hubs buried her down by the blackberries. She loved to hang out down there. I will continue to talk to her and tell her how much I miss her at her grave.

So it is a sad day here at the Countryfolk homestead. I lost my furry little friend today.

Rest in peace, Clarice.
♥

Man, and I thought it was hot in these parts!

((giggle)) You gotta love a weather guy with a sense of humor.

:> )

"A porch is a porch of course, of course...

and no one can talk to a porch of course."

Wait a minute... Those aren't the right lyrics.

So I changed the words a little. You would too if your were delirious from all this massive heat and humidity. Whew.

I thought I'd share some more front porch pretties.
The pillows are the house numbers!! How cute is that??!!


Love the lamps idea!


You can never go wrong with white wicker.


So quaint!


Now I need an old warehouse dolly!


Now I need a clock too!


Pure country perfection!


The railing paint color matches the furniture. Great idea!!


Okay. Time to get back to my heat delirium. Happy Saturday everyone!!!
Are we in Kansas yet??

:> )

"What dreadful hot weather we have!

It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance."
~Jane Austen



Man, it's going to be another hot and humid one here in the Northeast!!
Now where did I put my Floaties?

Stay cool everyone and have a fantastic weekend!
:> )

I'm convinced...

I need a porch bed swing!



Okay. So maybe I "need" a bigger porch first.

Maybe I "need" to win the lottery or have a long lost great uncle leave me an inheritance to pay for that bigger, remodeled porch.



Or maybe, just maybe I need a porch swing within reach.

♥ Like these.



Just perfect!! ♥
↓


Click on the photos to direct links.


:> )

"You have to love a nation...

that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism." "Erma Bombeck

;> )



Hope you're enjoying the day too!

A friendly reminder...

as to the reason why we'll gather tomorrow with family and friends for picnics, BBQs and fireworks.

Sometimes we lose sight.


George Washington
"By the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability and expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side."

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."

"To contract new debts is not the way to pay old ones."


James Madison
"Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government."


Alexander Hamilton
"If it be asked, What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? The answer would be, An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws."

"He who stands for nothing will fall for anything."


Benjamin Franklin
"Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future and crimes from society."

"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."


John Adams
"But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever."

"We should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections."


Thomas Jefferson
"Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear."

"We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt."

"Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic. But will they keep it? Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the path of destruction."




"We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Celebrate. Enjoy. Teach.

God bless.
♥

"Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream.."

Or better yet bring me a cute DIY headboard idea!! Been kicking around rustic ideas for our spare bedroom.

Old doors.
♥


Either oar...
(So cute in a cottage on a lake)


A dresser mirror.
But the last thing I want to see first thing when I wake up is myself. Yikes!


Got an old mantel??


How about a smaller mantel? Pretty colors. So cozy.


An old gate.


(((giggle)))


I can't resist barn wood.


Old shutters look great anywhere.


Boy! I need to see what I can come up with. Time to dig around for old crap "treasures!"

Happy Monday all!!

"A perfect summer day is when...

the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken." ~James Dent

Hope you're enjoying this beautiful summer day as much as I am.

:> )