One of these things is not like the others,.....

.....One of these things just doesn't belong!

Ching was curious when I was trying to get a group photo of my teddy bears.

Some of you will recognize the bear at the front and center--that's Fuzzy of course. He's my original and most loved teddy bear. Grandmother gave him to me when I was young, and he went through good times and bad with me. He even went to college with me. That was a traumatic experience for him, as he was kidnapped!
From my dorm room.
By one of my best friends.
To whom I confided every detail of the ransom notes, because I thought my roommates were the culprits!
Grrr! :-)

She and her boyfriend (later husband) concocted the notes from words and letters that were torn and cut from newspapers and magazines.

I had to leave a pan of brownies at a certain tree at the lake as ransom.
They did return the pan.
I don't remember now if they at least left a brownie for me, or if it was just crumbs.
I think it was just crumbs, and probably a note saying Fuzzy would be returned.
He was.
To my dorm mailbox.
With his legs tied together, and his arms tied behind his back with an athletic shoelace.
AND
with a piece of athletic tape over his mouth!
Fortunately he was unharmed!

One or two years later we (Fuzzy and I) roomed with this friend.
All was well until the evening of the October open house.
I returned to the room, boyfriend was visiting, and there was Fuzzy...
in a pillowcase
hanging from the curtain rod
disguised as a Halloween ghost!

The other bears in the first photo have entered my life sometime since I got married.
Some were gifts,
some might have belonged to my girls,
some are memories of relatives, friends, or trips,
and some I bought because they had such appealing faces.
But Fuzzy is still my favorite!

"Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear,
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair,
Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't very fuzzy,
was he?"

Just Peachy

Our friend, Donna, gave us some peaches, so I had a chance to try again. This is more like it!

Live and Learn

Something funny happened happened on M's birthday earlier this summer. Can you tell what from the photo?Here's what happened.
We had been having a lot of cake, so to celebrate M's birthday, I decided to make his favorite--peach pie. Had filling in the freezer, so that was no problem. I "always" make my own crust, but for some reason had some store-bought ones in the freezer, so decided to use those. That might have been okay for a one-crust pie, but it didn't turn out so good for a two-crust. These crusts were smaller than what I usually make, so there wasn't room for all the filling. Even without using all of it, the filling bubbled over. At least the pan caught it, instead of making a mess in the oven. It was late, I was tired, and I had actually forgotten to cut vent holes or make any kind of design in the top. It didn't look right for pie, but oh well, it would still taste good.
The pie was done.
Time to celebrate.
Put the candles in so we can light them and sing "Happy Birthday!"
Oh no!
Quick, get them out!
Moral of the story--Wax candles don't hold up so good in hot-from-the-oven-pie!

A Golden Journey

We've been done with wheat harvest for about a month. We're usually done by the end of June, or at least by the Fourth, but this year's weather extended things a bit. Maybe these photos will give you some idea of part of what's involved before you eat that piece of toast for breakfast!

No harvest or planting time would be complete without some repairs to the machinery.
The combine is ready to roll!
A few heads of wheat
can be threshed by hand to get the wheat berries, which make a chewy and tasty (in my opinion) snack.
The reel guides the wheat into the combine
where the straw is separated out, with just the grain ending up in the bin, or hopper, on top of the combine.Then it goes from the combine hopper, through the auger, onto a waiting truck
that hauls it to be stored in bins on the farm
or, it might head down the road to the local grain elevator.
There it is weighed,
sampled,
unloaded either by dumping out the back
or through a door in the bottom of a truck bed,
and then makes its way up to the top of a l-o-n-g leg
where it drops down into a huge storage bin until it is sold and trucked away to be made ready for the grocery stores as pasta, bread, cereal,..... .
This is my favorite photo of the crop.

Kansas wheat--nothing like it!

Catching Up

I've finally caught up reading everyone's blogs from the past couple of weeks. Sounds like there's a lot going on this summer. Now maybe I can get back to commenting on them and doing more posting here.

B is making progress every day with his new knee. Physical therapy sessions are a great help of course, even if they're not fun.

Here's a picture of the afghan as promised. To see the pattern, you'll probably have to click on it to enlarge the photo. Earned a red ribbon at the county fair with it!
Hope to be back soon!

(Hey, Kelly from Alaska--it was great to see you last month! Let me know if you stop by here.)