Girls Coffeeshop Talk

[Lisa]

Dbelle, do you collect Fiesta, too? Welcome to the club!

[cecilia]

Hm, havent seen those. Very lovely. What a range of colors, me like. Especially the plum.

[dbelle7]

I do Lisa! But mostly just the colors that will mix with my Wallace Rodeo pattern which is what I have the most pieces in.

[Art 1]

Originally Posted by cecilia

L, regarding dress...hm..thats gonna be tuff. Havent given the outfit any thoughts yet. But i would prob wear a nice dress or maybe black pants and a white silk blouse from hermes. And pearls:)

Good God, do you know my wife?

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by cecilia

Hm, havent seen those. Very lovely. What a range of colors, me like. Especially the plum.

Hey, Cec.... Fiesta dishes have been around since the 1930s, and they're made in the USA. I don't know where - or if - Fiesta is available overseas. I hope that it is because it's awesome stuff! Very tough, durable and cool styling. You can get it in colors that will go with anything.

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by dbelle7

I do Lisa! But mostly just the colors that will mix with my Wallace Rodeo pattern which is what I have the most pieces in.

That Rodeo pattern is very cool! It reminds me of the old metal dishes (Chuckwagon theme) my parents had from the 1950s. Unfortunately my sister nabbed the entire set from them!

[dbelle7]

Awww I know that chuck wagon set...Monterrey Ware. It takes up some of my cabinet space too. Hehe

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by dbelle7

Awww I know that chuck wagon set...Monterrey Ware. It takes up some of my cabinet space too. Hehe

I'm kinda jealous!

[dbelle7]

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1337377457.785980.jpg
Here Lisa.... Memory Lane!

[Lisa]

Gosh, that's them! Mom and Dad had the glass tumblers, too - they fit into leather cups. And they also had several of the metal mugs. I'm sure it was at least 12 place settings of the stuff.

Where did you get yours?

You know, it's pretty rare in the antique shops, and pricey, too, 'spesh if it's in good condition.

At least it's still in the family.

[dbelle7]

Originally Posted by Lisa

Gosh, that's them! Mom and Dad had the glass tumblers, too - they fit into leather cups. And they also had several of the metal mugs. I'm sure it was at least 12 place settings of the stuff.

Where did you get yours?

You know, it's pretty rare in the antique shops, and pricey, too, 'spesh if it's in good condition.

At least it's still in the family.

Lisa,
My parents travel a lot and just whenever they see pieces of it they get them for me. (luckyeee) My mom gave me my first pieces probably 20 years ago when I was still in college. Some of them are pretty well banged up but it kinda gives it a little character.
D

[Lisa]

Dbelle, banged up old plates are good because there's less stress in using them! Not as many worries about MORE dings. That is so cool that you have a collection of them. Do you use them often?

I have two egg stories to share... I have tampered with Mother Nature twice and hope this doesn't bring bad karma... ya'll may think I'm crazy. Which is okay, because I sort of am.

Both incidents happened the same day!

First: My 12 year old found a robin's egg in the grass under our Magnolia tree last week. It wasn't damaged and had apparently fallen from a nest above (this happens every year and she's got a little collection of eggs in her room). This year, however, we were aware that a female cardinal was in the process of laying eggs in HER nest in another part of the yard, in some holly shrubs. We could peek into her nest while she was out and, using a small mirror, view the two eggs there. So, my daughter pleaded with me to let her put the robin's egg into the cardinal's nest, hoping that she would hatch it. I let her do it, then scurried to the computer to see if I'd just made a terrible mistake... fearing that the mother cardinal would abandon the nest. Turns out cowbirds do such things all the time - lay their eggs in other birds' nests (cardinals included), and the birds hatch them and raise the cowbird babies as their own. That was encouraging.

Sure enough, the mother cardinal has stopped laying and is now sitting on the nest, with the robin egg and two of her own eggs. Hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll see if the robin baby hatches! The incubation time is just about the same for both kinds of birds - 12 to 13 days.

Second egg story: My 8 year old hurried home from school with a what we're guessing is a duck egg, wrapped in her jacket... it was sitting right outside the school doors, on a tiny tree stump, on its end, with mud carefully packed around it - as if someone (not a duck someone!) had intentionally left it there. We had no idea how old the egg was, of course, but June wanted to try and hatch it. So.... we drove to the 4H center and borrowed an incubator and set that little guy in there. I'd read that a fertile duck egg can last a while without being incubated, but really, what were the odds of this egg being fertile and unspoiled? This egg could have been some kid's show and tell object at the beginning of the school year for all we knew.

Anyhow... we candled it this morning (Day 5) and we could swear we saw something going on inside just like it was supposed to after five days of incubation - a small red center with red veins radiating from it. I was floored. I kept asking June if I was imagining things and she said, "No. I see it, too."

So... the adventure begins. I'm still not too hopeful that the egg will hatch, but it has definitely become a fascinating project!

[East Bay Rider]

Nature rocks.
Good luck with the eggs. I hope they hatch.

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by East Bay Rider

Nature rocks.
Good luck with the eggs. I hope they hatch.

Thank you, Bill. The duck egg especially intrigues me because when I was a kid, my brother found a duck egg at a pond and brought it home and put it under our pet hen. She hatched it! So who knows? Though I imagine a hen would do a better job than some ignorant human with an incubator.

Did learn something about cowbirds that was interesting - when the baby cowbird hatches and is being reared by the "adoptive" parents, that little jerk will boot the other babies out of the nest so he can get all the food. For that reason, cowbirds are considered parasites.

Humans aren't the only living things to act horrible toward others, I guess!

[Peppers90]

Lisa~ Good luck and definitely keep us updated!! Our neighbor found a rabbit's nest with 3 tiny bunnies last year. Just right in the front yard in the grass. I never knew that is where a rabbit would give birth? Anyway, my daughter and I would go and check on them for a week or so and then they were gone. Never knew what happened to them.

[dbelle7]

Lisa,
We have to have at least weekly egg updates. Just so ya know. :-)

We do use that Monterrey Ware quite a bit...it seems like my younger son and his friends always grab that stuff first. I put it up for awhile because I started worrying about lead paint, etc...then I did some research and it is supposed to be safe. Although, now that I thought about it again.....eek.

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by dbelle7

Lisa,
We have to have at least weekly egg updates. Just so ya know. :-)

We do use that Monterrey Ware quite a bit...it seems like my younger son and his friends always grab that stuff first. I put it up for awhile because I started worrying about lead paint, etc...then I did some research and it is supposed to be safe. Although, now that I thought about it again.....eek.

Lead - tell me about it! That's always been one of my big worries, especially living in an old house. We had it, and our previous home, tested for lead paint. Some was found at both places (of course! ) so the best decision we knew to make was to have it painted over and disturbed as little as possible.

One of the scariest things to me was the lack of concern among contractors... was it just lack of knowledge about lead, or no interest in having to take extra precautions?

As for the Monterrey ware - if you're really concerned, you can have it tested. I've done it with an item or two - the testing place just presses a hand held device against the suspect object and it will quickly register any presence of lead. The place I used did it for free.

[dbelle7]

Good to know... I will see if I can find somewhere close that can test it. Make me feel betta!

[Lisa]

Here's a little egg update:

Robin egg - we checked the nest yesterday and found the Robin egg crushed and hanging off a branch right below the nest. I think the mother cardinal may have crushed it and thrown it out - for good reason as it didn't look like it had developed at all - just a yolk inside. Her other two eggs are fine.

Duck egg - I'm getting nervous because it's just rocking along fine. Nervous because I have no idea what I'm doing and really didn't expect the thing to start growing - we just kind of haphazardly stuck it in that incubator without ANY prior knowledge. Instead of dealing with a spoiled egg that wasn't ever going to do anything, now I'm faced with accidentally murdering a duckling through ignorance! Now I'm feverishly reading everything I can find about duck egg incubation!

We candled it last night and there is an unmistakable embryo in there with what looks like a healthy blood supply - just like the internet pictures. Now I worry that any little thing I do wrong is going to kill it. Is the temperature okay? Is it too humid? Am I turning it properly? Should it be on its side or on its end? Should I candle it or not? It is not unlike being pregnant for the first time!

[Peppers90]

Lisa, you need the "What to expect, when you are expecting a duckie" book! haha. All that newborn stress is coming back! Make sure you post a baby pic ;)

I forgot who has a rose garden and posted pics a while back. Mine are just starting to bloom. I have five rose bushes in the back yard. Here are two that are blooming. I also have a red one; the variety is called "abe lincoln" it is super huge and smells strong. I will post some of those in the coming weeks.

Enjoy and have a great Memorial Day!!

[Lisa]

Shannon - laughing about "What to Expect..." So true!

Your roses are so pretty - enormous blooms! - and the perfect backdrop for your loverly DJ. My roses are starting to put out a few blooms here and there, but much fewer than the big show a few weeks ago.

[chicfarmer1]

Shannon, such gorgeous roses. You ladies are definitely inspiring me to look into some rose cultivation next season.

Lisa, your egg experiences are journal worthy beyond this board. Do you journal? I hope so.

There are birds laying eggs at our wetland, including a pair of ducks. Haven't gotten close enough to see what's up. We get migratory birds including some pretty dramatic guys, like swans and snowy egrets.
--
A few pics of the early gardens. In a month it will all look nicer. Veggies are doing really well (this is just one of the beds). The flower border currently has blooming irises, bachelor buttons, pinks (dianthus), and purple salvia. More to come.

[Lisa]

Beautiful, J! I really like those purple iris... actually, I'm drawn to purple flowers of any kind.

In your veggie garden - do I see turnips or some kind of greens? Spinach, maybe? Not kohlrabi, is it? And on the left, it looks like very tall onions. Yes?

Man, I just want to sit in one of those chairs and have a beer and listen to the birds chirp. It all looks so peaceful. Thanks for sharing your little slice of paradise with us!

[East Bay Rider]

My dog would love it there. So much space to run and chase critters.

[Lisa]

Oooh... and how old is that barn?

[FeelingTheBlues]

Ladies, please allow me to tell you that you have amazing looking gardens! I hope I'll have time to buy other flowers soon enough and show you more progress on my side!

[chicfarmer1]

Bill, our dogs lead lives that our vet regularly tells us he envies.

Let's see. The tall gangly stuff is garlic. Lots of it, which is great because it's been a real success. I haven't bought store garlic since early fall, when we harvested. Turnips yes, plus spinach, kale, lettuce, radishes, peas on the fence, and then lots of other plants. That is just one bed of two. They're smaller than in previous years but very intensively cultivated.

The barn is probably ca. 1915 or thereabouts. We have another huge-@ss barn down in the field that we don't use but is very picturesque, and it may be older. I think it is. This barn, which is very much used for lots of purposes, is all massive oak pegged beam construction.

Yes by all means, let's hit the Adirondacks and quaff.

PS, the purple irises are Siberian iris. Stunning color that I can't photograph correctly.

[chicfarmer1]

Here's a pic I took another year of the Siberians. Again, the color is so difficult to get right, but they are a very deep blue violet more than a red violet, so the blue here isn't totally inaccurate.

[Lisa]

Pretty. Almost like a lapis blue. So elegant.

Old barns are just so cool. My dad had a book that was all about old barns... (I even remember the title: "The Barn.") Hope it's findable at Mom's because I'd love to have it.

Would you mind too much getting a piccie or two of your barns some time?

[chicfarmer1]

I love barns, too. They're a little endangered, the really old ones.

The outbuildings are all weathered silvered gray, not painted. That's they way they've been, and that's they way they'll stay. I think they're beautiful that way, but it's a little against the classic white outbuilding look.

I don't have closeups of the lower barn. While it has some missing siding, it's totally sound structurally and can be used. Our farmer guy (who does the big-crop planting) does store some stuff there.

There are several other buildings too. At bottom is the corn crib, another very old building that has my potting shed, the firewood, etc. The other side of it is where the tractor and other big clunky things are stored.