Our Country Today - Thought for the Day...

This little story came to me by way of e-mail and I decided this being Sunday I would share it with my readers... A father wanted to read a magazine but was being bothered by his little girl, Shelby. She wanted to know what the United States looked like. Finally, he tore a sheet out of his new magazine on which was printed the map of the country. Tearing it into small pieces, he gave it to Shelby and said, 'Go into the other room and see if you can put this together. This will show you our whole country today.' After a few minutes, Shelby returned and handed him the map, correctly fitted and taped together. The father was surprised and asked how she had finished so quickly. 'Oh,' she said, 'on the other side of the paper is a picture of Jesus. When I got all of Jesus back where He belonged, then our country just came together..'

Mother's Day Fishing Spots

Sunday, Mother's Day, I got to decide what we , Hubby and I, would do to celebrate the day. The choice to go fishing, to try out my new fishing poles, was at the top of the list. Hubby had been given forewarning earlier in the week since I didn't want to spring the concept on him at the last minute. However, he wasn't aware that the fishing poles were "pink." I had introduced him to my new aquisitions when they arrived. However, Hubby is color blind and I have been told that he discerns pink as gray. So, being the fair woman that I am... I told him just a few minutes before we were to leave on our fishing excursion. ;) We spent a couple hours fishing off the point by the tree in the first picture where the ground is worn from traffic.The roots provide terraced steps or a place to sit while waiting for a fish to come along. We did see small fish darting along in the shallow water a couple feet off shore just to tease us, not interested in any lure we had to offer at that time of day. Turns out we had another fishing pole and reel combo hanging in the garage that is suited for the other better half of this partnership. The black "Berkley" rod and reel combo just needed a little tweaking for it to be ready to put the line in the water. It wasn't long after we left our first fishing spot that the locals moved back in to take over their home again. Time to try a different location that had been given as a fairly good place to catch fish by the Iowa DNR weekly fishing report. We headed to the bottomside of the Spillway from Big Creek Lake into Saylorville Dam at Polk City,IA. It took us a little bit to find the access road which was long enough for other people to get the same idea. Things got to be a little crowded...especially since I wasn't real positive about my casting skills. I know what I need to do now. Go fishing when everyone else is at work,or practice casting over and over. A very skilled fisherman remarked at how the fish had been biting a week ago in the pool below the spillway. Several boats were taking advantage of the water in the middle. I think they were herding the schools of fish to the northside of the pool because that is where the fisher people were first to start getting strikes. The picture below is one of the most noted bridges found in Central Iowa. It is referred to as "The Mile Long Bridge", spanning the Saylorville Dam, at the west edge of Polk City. It was the backdrop to our second and final fishing spot for the day. Mother's Day here at Timber Life was spent with the man I chose to be the Father of my children. It was a very nice day...;)

Joining the Morel Mushroom Hunters

Ahhh, 4:00 in the afternoon rolled around yesterday. The bird sound went off on the wall clock and Sadie headed for the door to go outside. I pulled myself away from the Office Professional Word 2007 individual studies I have been working on...Away we went! This week,the week before Mother's Day, is usually the week we start seeing morels here,then it seems to end abruptly at that point, or we stop looking. It took me a while to find them. I went to the place that has been the most productive since we moved here and started searching. As you can see they are hiding out of view. I removed some vegetation before snapping a couple of pictures. The timber has been holding moisture, a down slope from the tillable ground has brought the water to the surface . Sadie and I felt pretty good after our romp in the woods. She found the water and had a good mud-pack going on;I found some mushrooms to put on the table for supper. What a great way to end the day?!? ;)

Stinging Nettles Anyone?

Yes, you heard me. Stinging Nettles - What do you know about them? Other than they can give you a serious prickly sensation after you come in contact with them. It is a multi-faceted plant when it comes to practical uses. Not only are stinging nettles edible but you can make beer, garden fertilizer, nutritional supplements, folk medication, shampoos,skin care products and using the fiber. Only most of us aren't aware of what it can do for us - we consider it an invasive menace. It has been used in Europe,Asia and Northern Africa for centuries. Last week I harvested some new spring leaves and cooked them up just like spinach. The instructions I found said to use the first growth of the spring. Plants are not to be more than a foot tall, using the leaves only from the top four inches. Unlike cooked spinach the leaves didn't become limp but had texture. Yes, the "sting" was removed.

Find out more about Urtica dioica here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinging_nettle

Sunday Morning Praise

As world events, turmoil in my own State & our Country seem to keep tumbling out of control. I run to the source of my faith...Jesus the Son of God said that life wouldn't be smooth sailing,that tribulation would be par for the course. However, he came to give us hope. There are times when the creature has this innate need to offer Praise and Thanksgiving to the creator. Internal peace from insecurity in the world's system can be gained because his promises remain the same Yesterday, Today and Forever...