Gumbalina and Jumbalaya

gumbalina showin us her teeth

peace for momma

jumbalaya loves his thumb

meet Jumbalaya

Gumbalina became a big sister this morning! Jumbalaya aka Mason Alexander joined the family at 7:59 am weighing 7 pounds 4 ounces and 19.5 inches long. He is the first boy grand baby and in properly lil boy fashion, immediately peed on his momma:)

Gumbalina's first Christmas

Gumbalina is going on ten months old already and she is a ham. This is her first Holiday season and she is feeling the groove and helping granny Z trim the tree. Here she is hanging her "babies first ornament" on the tree.
She got an early present and learned she was going to be having a baby brother in May. She was so happy she did a little dance...

silent sunday-gumbalina

monday's mountain musings

Ahhh, summer is most certainly in full  swing now and we are in a hot, dry spell here  as is  much  of the country. Most out door work is getting done in the early mornings or in the evening when the  sun has gone down, while the heat of the day is spent staying cool or  something that resembles cool and comfortable anyway as there is no central air in this house  nor a  window room  air conditioner. We  use one single box fan and it works pretty well for us. I must admit that I sort of chuckle to myself when I hear people "dying  without their air conditioners." What in pray tell would they do if the electric grid was to go down in the mid summer heat?

The gardens are getting dry but seem to be doing mostly well  over all. Japanese beetles are into  a patch or two of beans but I figure so long as they stay there then they can munch all they want. The beans are formed  and grown and are just starting to dry on the vines  so in some ways are making my job easier when it comes to picking time. A couple okra plants in one area have been chewed by deer but it is only a couple plants and we have okra in many different locations this year because last season the deer ate the majority of the okra  as it was only in two locations, this year it is in 7 different places. The tomatoes have had some white fly issues but I think they are going to be ok as I have been  mixing up a potion and applying it to the plants and of course the tobacco is having its normal aphid  and bug issues but nothing too major. I do have an update coming on the gardens but the camera has been rather persnickity the last couple days and does not want to download the pictures.

We dug up the rest of the potatoes this last weekend and had a decent harvest of them. we did have something chewing on them though in the ground and large pieces were gone from many. I do not know what did this but it was obviously gnawed on. I took some pics but of course they are on the camera so  I will be doing a post on them soon. We canned up 20 quarts  of small potatoes, those that got jabbed with the pitchfork  or gnawed on and have the remainder curing for storage.

Gumbalina is fixin to be 5 months old next week  and is getting  to be a big girl, 13.5 pounds and 24 inches long at her last check up in mid June. She is trying to crawl around now although she doesn't do a real good job of it. I its more like a really bad headstand  from what I have seen of her. She has found out that her feet fit nicely in to her mouth and every picture I have seen of her in the last week or two has her stuffing them into her face.

two of my girls

Gumbalina is a growing girl. She was 11 weeks old in this picture a couple weeks ago and as you can see she is already learning how to fold and put away laundry.

 

Here she is with her momma yesterday. Yes that is drool n bubbles coming from her mouth as she is cutting teeth already.

mid week mumblings

The last two days have been rainy, not overly but enough to  make it too wet to be out working in it. We actually needed a bit of rain and could use a bit more as we only got about a 1/4 inch total.  I did notice on one of the trips down to so critter chores that many of the  first onions are now poking their little green heads through the soil. That is always a good sign. The peas are still sitting dormant. I hope they poke up in the next couple days or I will start worrying then  replant and then wind up with 500 pea plants.

I have been incredibly lazy the last two days. Instead of seizing the down time  from outside chores and getting some of the inside  spring projects done I did  nothing for the most part. I did clean the silverware drawer but that is it. 

Tonight I am making some home made yogurt. I made a large batch   as I need some that I can use in place of sour cream, some for yogurt and some for yo-cheese. Earlier I made some chocolate granola crunch so that  we can have almost good for us snacks in the evenings.  Dinner tonight is luvvin (lentil) loaf with  cheddar n garlic mashed taters and some corn on the cob.

Gumbalina is  getting large these days. She is near a month old and momma  still says  she's the best baby in the whole world. I don't know about that but she  is pretty cute even with the red hair thing she has going on.

monday's mountain musings

AHHHHHHH, finally  Gumbalina entered the world late last evening or middle of the night our time. She checked in at 20 inches and 7 pounds 6 ounces.Her given  name is  Allie when  she is  well behaved and Allison Marie when she is ill willed and rottenness. As of this morning everyone was doing well  and "she is the best behaved, happy, prettiest, good eating and good sleeping baby in the entire world !" Fitting since she was a valentine. However,  I did tell momma  to remember those words for  the first time the little darling  tells mommy she hates her.

Oh, I just got word she is saying gramma already...