What a Fine Day to Make Pickles!

Today is...making pickles day!
Thanks to Grandma, Leonard & Linda, we have about 4 dozen FRESH cucumbers to make pickles with today! I have been wanting to try making Bread & Butter Pickles for a long time, and now's the chance! You just don't get any better veggies than those fresh from the farm.
However, since I was "wanting" to make pickles, but was not yet prepared, I had to hunt down the ingredients, including the special salt for pickling. Wish us luck!
We are making half Dill Pickles and the other half will be Bread & Butter.
Good thing we waited a few days, because I remembered that I had my canner and other canning tools in a bin in the basement, which will make the process much easier.

It's been awhile since I put much up here, life is a little busy it seems. And, I'm tired...
Looking forward to the conclusion of my 2nd class the end of Sept, it's been a long haul this time.

But lots has been going on anyway. Here are a few pics of just some of our activities.

Father's Day, for my Honey and little guy to dress alike (again!). Seems it's not okay to dress alike as spouses, but best when it's father and son. that's okay, tho :)

My family (brothers and sisters, and all the kids) have been involved in demolition derbies for about a decade now. I've never been in town when they were happening, so I only got to hear about them over all these years. Mom was excited to also be involved, helping to paint and to arrange for other accessories, such as matching t-shirts with "Team Nickless" printed on them.

Here is a picture of Mom's car as one of the entries in this year's derby in June, at Budd's Creek. I will be honest, I didn't have any strong feelings in the past, but when it came time for the guys to strip the car down to ready it for the derby, it brought up some feelings of apprehension for me. Perhaps that is irrational, maybe it has something to do with the fact that the 2nd anniversary of her death is quickly approaching....it doesn't matter, though. Cars are cars, they are just things. I miss Mom, and I'm glad that her car was able to provide pleasure and entertainment for many.

Here's a pic of 9 of the 10 kids Mom had, plus spouses and kids. We missed you, Juanita & Dan, Danny & Cindy! The pic is a little blurry, hoping to get my hands on one that is a little clearer. It was a little dark outside that night after the derby.

My brothers: David, James, Keith, Charles, Darryl
David and Keith drove derby cars or trucks this night, the rest helped
out in the pit or cheered them on.

Nieces and nephews...Amanda, where did you go when this pic was taken?!
Christopher has to be the luckiest boy of all, he is so "RICH" in cousins, all around the country. For some reason, most of them are boys, and many around his age.
When we go on road trips, now he automatically asks,
"Which cousins am I going to get to see and play with?"

Attempt at a family picture....no we can't get it coordinated, apparently! :)
And then the flash card was full after this, so this is as good as it gets for now.
Maya wouldn't even turn around...

Family pic with Grandma on the farm.
Thankfully, it worked out great having Maya visit there and stay with her.
She was the security for the house, patrolling all the rooms, including Grandma's,
setting up shop in the doorways as folks slept.

While there, two thunder and rain storms rolled through for about 30 minutes each, then the sun came out again. Most peculiar!

One of my favorites...lightning bugs! While sitting on Gramps' bench outside in the quiet of the morning, I was surprised to find these critters actually landing and crawling all over me. There were about 3 on my foot at one time at one point, lots on the bench, others just flying around.
In all my years on the farm, I don't remember ever seeing so many, especially in the light of day.

Good morning, Farm!

hanging upside down tomato plant

Linden tree next to house, 1 of 3 around the perimeter of the house

Linden tree #2, before Grandma sprays the ivy down

these, for anyone who has never seen them, are the seeds that drop from the huge Linden trees! when a wind blew a little the last night we were there, these fell like crazy onto the tin roof, making us think it was hailing outside! I had swept up the old ones from the previous week, filling three 5-gallon buckets that Christopher proudly worked hard to take and dump in the corn field. in the morning, there was enough on the back sidewalk to almost fill another bucket!

back at Mom's the outdoor kitty setup shop on the trailer almost immediately after we returned it (from moving the last of our stuff from southern VA to a storage unit in MD....yay for moving....)
Maya loves to chase kitties, but didn't seem to notice this one so close by, even when he was hissing and hunching shoulders, daring her to come closer. all I could think of was, "please don't scratch my girlie's face, you little kitty"

I think this is the closest Maya has ever actually gotten to a cat, usually they run and she chases, and the pursuit makes her all perky and chatty

besides the fun you can have using a magnifying glass to enlarge images, I just find the think it's fun to also enlarge body parts, such as the eyes. Christopher thought it was fun, also!

We went to Flag Pond in Calvert County to look for sharks teeth and let the guys swim for awhile, but we only had about 90 minutes before the beach closed. Didn't take the camera to the beach this time, which was a shame, because we found the biggest live horseshoe crab I've ever seen, hooked to another one, on the beach. This thing was at least 12 inches wide, amazing! they finally swam off into the water. Also saw blue crabs (yum!!!), lots of fish, lots of fun shells, and just had a good time. Maya didn't like it as much, as she gets tired a lot easier now that she's starting to show her age a little. Mike even had to carry her from one sand bar to another so she wasn't having to swim in the water when it was time to leave. And we practically had the beach to ourselves, since it was close to closing time. THAT was a nice bonus!

Here are some of our treasures we found. Anyone know what these little fossils are? I can't seem to find their proper name anywhere. One person told me they were prehistoric sand dollars, but I'm not so sure. Some of the other pieces are shells, coral, pretty rocks, beach glass. Mike found a shark's tooth, but lost it in his pocket when swimming. I didn't get to look much for the sharks teeth...Maya didn't want to cooperate with me, so now we know...

And finally, for today, here is evidence that my Christmas cactus FINALLY bloomed after not blooming for 3 Christmases past. We move to NJ, and it starts to grow buds. Two buds survived the move and made my day.