Benefits of coffee

[old Grump]

I am glad you had a nice day, old friends do make things more bearable even if there isn't much to say, just their being there helps. Been a rough year for the coffee house crowd, I have one friend in Illinois dying of cancer after receiving a heart/lung transplant and another in a bad way in California with Parkinsons, diabetes and heart problems and these are my two oldest and closest service friends that I still keep in touch with 46 years after leaving the service. Praying for a miracle for them and yet they feel sorry for me because I can't travel to see them. Well something has to go good soon.

At least I am going to have a heck of a flower garden, most of the plants sent for my mom were in dirt so this summer the garden will be hers. She liked flowers and we had a planter outside her nursing home window for her to look at. I brought them home and transplanted them too. The June berries and the Hazel nuts are growing like gangbusters, to late for ma, if I had known they would grow so good I wpould have planted them 10 years ago. Aw shucks, I did have June berries, Dwarf cherry trees and ground cherries planted but my neighbor thought they were weeds and to help me out mowed them down. Then their dog tore up my grape vines. Some things were just not destined to be at that time.

[kathy]

My condolences to you both and its nice to see your loved ones celebrated with such love and care.

OG you can plant all your Momma's flowers and she will smile down on your honoring of her I am sure of it.

Here I am enjoying my vegetable garden, it will be bigger and better than last year I hope.

Enjoy the Memorial Day Weekend.

[old Grump]

My condolences to you both and its nice to see your loved ones celebrated with such love and care.

OG you can plant all your Momma's flowers and she will smile down on your honoring of her I am sure of it.

Here I am enjoying my vegetable garden, it will be bigger and better than last year I hope.

Enjoy the Memorial Day Weekend.

Ma did like her flowers, probably should put in a strawberry bed for her to come down and visit, she liked her berries too. So far my sweet potatoes are doing nothing...again. I will have tomatoes and peas, I'd better get on the stick and get my turnips in the ground. radish I can plant any time. My onions are doing real good. I can put radish and carrots where the sweet potatoes were supposed to be growing. Just put in about 15 dwarf allysiums, some purple but most of them white. It sure puts a splash of color next to my butternut trees.

Wasn't paying any attention to the calendar so didn't even think about Memorial Day, For the first time in several years I won't have my flag up, I can't find an all weather flag and my old one got so shaggy I was ashamed to leave it up. I think I will have to bite the bullet and order one from a catalog, I think both the VFW and American Legion sell them.

[kathy]

The campaign was invited to the poppy effort today with a local VFW. We had so much fun.

As for growing peas I discovered that planting one soy bean with each pea gave it a nice trellis to climb up. I got so many more nice big peas last year that way.

Ill have to post a picture of this years strawberries, they are crazy big now.

Never Forgotten..

[btcave]

Buried the boys ashes yesterday at the Hettman family plot. Hettman is his biological fathers name. Gave him my CIB and pounded it into his box. Medically, he fought his whole life to survive. In my opinion, he earned mine.

They are a pioneer family and have grave markers in there that date to the mid 1800's. Not old to you boys back east, but back then this was wild country. Buried next to his Grandfather Bob (brain cancer) and his Aunt Cindy (lung cancer). Too many Hettmans' lost in the last 5 years. We planted some perennials over the site.

Heathers brother Bruce fired up the stereo of his car after the burial and we had a picnic. It was a good time.

I didn't ever fall apart or cry since he died. I didn't feel nothing. I took it like I took the losses "over there". Explaining what I was burying with him and why broke the damn. It took everything I had to get the words out. I was a mess.

I guess I'm human after all.

My wife grabbed my face and told me she loves me. She hasn't said it like that in a long time. Nice to hear.

[old Grump]

I understand, a big hug from me to you.

I still have to do that with my mothers ashes next week and I have to conduct the funeral. Not looking forward to it but it is something that has to be done.

[kathy]

BTCave,

So much loss, it sounds like you had a beautiful send off for him. Im not sure what I can add other than to say, cling tight to those you love.

Prayers for you both.

[btcave]

Thank Kathy.

On a better note...

Heather and I have the garden planted. Our five mature apple tree's appear to be heading for a bumper crop. I even have some apples appearing on my 3 year old apple trees. The 3 year old pear is bare this year, but we actually had a single pear on it last year.

I made pasta with tomatoes, parmesan, olive oil, and I used the wild garlic in my yard and the greek oregano growing in the flower bed. Then I fried up some chicken in a pan with olive oil and basted the chicken with a mixture of butter, parmesan and wild garlic.

The pasta could have used some lemon, or something else to give it some kick as it was kind of bland, but the chicken was to die for.

Make every day count. Make your loved ones count.

Brian T. Cave

[Hedning]

Even though there has been tears and grief Im happy to see that you two guys are back in here. Hope you got tons of laughs and smiles coming your way.

I can give you a funny, but somewhat embarrassing story. It happened couple weeks ago when I was mowing the lawn. I was on my Murray as usual, mowing, not very interesting so I kind of just hang on to it while it makes the grass shorter. Well, one of the branches on one of my apple trees must have grown downwards. Can`t remember any trouble with them last year..... I just didnt see it. Knocked me clean of the damn thing. I sure hope no one saw that. If someone saw it, he or she is probably still laughing. Jesus...

Nothing new over here. Working at the new American Embassy, thats about the only real special thing. Weather is goofy. Had a week in the 90`s, now we are down at 50. Little one turned 8 last Saturday. My God how she is growing. Bought an old Remington Hepburn 45-70 on Wednesday.... yep, thats it... Oh, and we got the old 1938 Marx & Traube, German lathe working again today. Accurate as Swiss clockwork. No more looking arround for obsolete parts.

I forgot to ask you something OG... what is needed to grow Hazel nuts? Would that work in Norway?

[old Grump]

Put the brown side down and the green side up and they should grow just fine at the lower altitudes. You are farther south than I am so you shouldn't have any problems. Mine are doing great and my Butternut trees are growing like weeds this year. unfortunately my June berries aren't thriving. My sweet potatoes didn't come up so I am going to plant squash and melons where they are and hope that works better.

[Hedning]

Im further south? My area is like 60 deg. north. Isnt Blue river arround the 43 deg mark? I think Ill try to plant a few and see anyhow. I got a pear tree and it produce just fine, so a hazelnut might work too.

By the way, how is that Walker project going?

[kathy]

YES!!! WALKER!! WALKER!!! WALKER!!!

Wish I could come vote tomorrow i would, union membership is way down thanks to him freedom from the goon squads has been resonating. I wish we had that here in CT the Gov here did an executive order to farce babysitters and home heath aids into unions against their will to collect dues.

Can I grow hazelnuts here in CT? I love those.

[btcave]

Can I grow hazelnuts here in CT? I love those.

I'm smack in the middle of the hazelnut capitol of the world here in Oregon. There's 100 acres of the them just a mile down the road from me. I would think CT would work too.

In North America: in the United States, hazelnut production is concentrated in Oregon; they are also grown extensively just to the north, in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, Canada.

If they grow in British Columbia, I'd say Norway might work too.

I've got one on my back deck potted. I'm planting it this summer sometime.

[old Grump]

You are right, you are 17 degrees north of me, but if your average low temperature is above -4 C you should still be able to grow the tree but it might only be a shrub not the full grown tree variety like I will end up with.

http://www.ehow.com/how_7811970_grow...es-zone-3.html

I lost my second Walker target but I down loaded it to 35 grains and it shot the same size group and elevation as the Ruger Old army but a little bit to the right. I gave up on trying to find the right size balls for it and I just scrunch the .457 into the cylinders. Biker brother and trucker brother both have a hard time getting rid of the smile on their faces after shooting it. Mine to but then I have to clean them and the smile sort of diminishes a wee bit. I found 50 grains is more fun to shoot but not at targets closer than 50 yards because then they will shoot over the target.

[old Grump]

Went out today and started to plant the squash but found some of the sweet potatoes had finally started. Instead of the squash I pulled weeds instead, planted a few muskmelon seeds and checked my peas and tomatoes. So far so good. I wasn't to sure about the seeds because they were a few years old but they are growing like gang busters.

Tomorrow nephew has last day of school, we will finish rebuilding my saw table and then do some shooting. Time for the June Challenge match entries. Ahem, that is to say it is time for all you little boys and girls who have a gun you carry in a holster, tis time to draw and shoot it.

[Hedning]

Ok... so everybody is on vacation!!?? Isnt that a little early?

[btcave]

Not on vacation Hedning. We are going up to the fire lookout at Gold Butte on Saturday, to open it up for the spring. We will take photo's of course but it's going to be wet weather, so not much chance of pictuesque.

Years past...

[old Grump]

Got back Tuesday night from moms funeral. Long drive to Rhinelander and nobody knew if I could make it but I did. Only family at the grave side and I conducted the ceremony at mom's request.

Biker brother drove, he who has been up there a hundred times got lost and instead of taking on us the straight route I had given him to make it easier on his sister and me he took the back road and we ended up having to take a ferry across the lake. His little detour cost us 2 hours but we did see some pretty country.

Almost made it home without a problem until we got to Madison. Told him what exit to take in order to get us around Madison and while he was quoting the exit number he took the wrong one and we ended up going straight through the middle of town in rush hour. Heavy sigh. I give up. I am convinced he was in the drivers seat but mom was driving because that is exactly what she would have done. Tell her straight and she takes a left, tell her right and she went straight. Her last hoorah I guess.

Anyway we are slowly completing our projects now that we can do our thing and not take time out for mom anymore. Rebuilt a table saw and made a bus stop shelter for David that can double as a deer blind or an ice shanty.

My giant peas are just that, giants, my sweet potatoes is going like the house was on fire, they decided to get growing before I discarded them. 2 weeks the roofers should be starting on my roof. Glad I can't do that anymore. 102 earlier but down to 94.4 F as I type this. Actually I wish I could do it, I liked roofing but today that heat would have killed me, I cant do it anymore like I used to.

My hazel nuts are doing real good and some Hostas I stole from my cousin are doing good but the 96-98 degree heat while I was gone for 4 days fried my June Berries. I will have to try again next year and lay out a sprinkler system just for them.

Later this summer we are going to have one heck of a yard sale to empty out the storage shed and clean out my shop a little so I can get some moving around room in there. Won't do it right now though, to many people broke or on vacation or just refusing to go outside in this heat and humidity.

So hows it in your neck of the woods, are you a full fledged trained professional political hack now Kathy or are you still our gal who tells it like it is?

I owes an E-mail to that little Norwegian guy, I will get to it soon, honest I will but things have been a little upside down lately and I'm just getting my legs back under me.
.
How is your back btcave, any problems getting up the mountain to the look out?

[btcave]

The back is good OG. I still have siatic symptoms, but nothing I can't handle. Glad I don't have to pack 100 lbs of gear anymore. I couldn't hang with the infantry these days. I'm 43 and feel like I have a 70 year old back sometimes. Got the back issues from moms side. Damn Norwegian blood...

...at least her French side didn't take hold, or I wouldn't have a backbone.

[Hedning]

I dropped out there for a while.... Damn Norwegian blood huh?..... I might stop by one day and see if it looks ok.....

Everything is pretty much the same over here. One bad summer so far and it look like its going to get even worse. Rain.... let the Britts have it.

Work is fun though. Working with the guys from Walsh at the New American Embassy is fun. Good fun guys. I got some issues with their HSE policy, but I think I might survive it.... I said might.

Range time has suffered... too much work and the family like to plan my spare time. I got no objections to that. Spending time with little one is way more important and funny. I did go to the national black powder championship this year. But I kind of blew it.

No vacation yet either... Ill take a week out in August, and then a couple weeks when the deer and moose hunt starts. And I got to plan and find time to go and kick OGs ass arround again.

Have a great one....