The Pumpkin Patch Fun!!!

As fall approaches the "Pumpkin Patches" have started to pop up everywhere. I just love these fun places. What a great place to wander through even if you are not a kid to watch all the smiles on those little faces as they run for the biggest pumpkins. And now the patches have amusements for all....see some of these patches....,
                                   
The Tanaka Pumpkin Farms in offers these fun things to do there:
Wagon Ride around our 30 acre farm
* Wander around our corn maze
* Pick your own vegetables
* Visit our petting zoo (sheep, goats and alpacas)
* Take pictures by "Tanaka's Pile of Pumpkins"
* Finally pick your own pumpkin right off the vine


















  

 Pumpkin Car Races

Some Tips when going to a Pumpkin Patch:

•many pumpkin patches also offer a corn maze, hay rides, petting farm, or other fun for families
•to choose your fruit (yes, fruit) : come with a carving pattern in mind; or get inspired by the shapes you find

•make sure your pumpkin can sit level on the ground

•ripe ones will have a dryish stem

•leave the stem on! You'll need a handle for the "lid" of your carved pumpkin. (And don't carry the pumpkin by the stem or it might break off.)

• And some farms even have Pig Races
•  Pig Races:  Heck, it's worth the visit to a farm if only for the pig races! The little guys run pell-mell around the track, at a full scamper, squealing all the way! They know there's a snack waiting for them at the end! Everyone quickly gathers when they announce the next race! Place your bets and possibly win a prize, or lose your bacon! Pig races are fast becoming easier to find. They are so popular, you can probably find a farm near you that has them.

•see more tips about picking, carving, cooking; free carving patterns too

This website provides a page for every state in the U.S. and 6 other country pages, listing the pumpkin patches, pick your own (PYO) Pumpkin farms, hay rides, corn mazes, Fall festivals, Halloween festivals and events there.


How to pick a Pumpkin?

Do you want it for decoration or eating?

 
Decoration to paint or carve:
OK, Then you need only look for any pumpkin that is

1. visually appealing, evenly a deep orange. The shape is just whatever appeals to you. If it grew on its side and has a flat spot, you can either make that the make or use it as part of your design!
2.  free from cuts, soft spots, bruises. The flesh should feel hard, and not give easily. Infections can invade easily and cause rot
3.  Make sure the stem is attached.
4.  Store it carefully, especially if you pick it from the vine yourself. Cure a fresh-picked pumpkin by keeping it in a dry place. Don't handle or disturb it. Curing toughens the rind, making it less prone to rot. Pumpkins will keep for months in a cool (50 F to 65F dry, low humidity environment; such as a cool, dry basement.

Tip: If you like roasted or baked pumpkin seeds, you can save the seeds from any pumpkin!

 To make a pumpkin pie!


Then you need a small, sweet type of pumpkin that has been developed for eating. They are smaller, typically about 8" to 10" diameter. The meat is much less stringy and smoother than a decorative pumpkin variety. Pumpkin is rich in vitamin A and potassium. One-half cup of cooked pumpkin provides more than the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A. One cup of cooked pumpkin contains only 81 calories. It's low in fat and sodium! Usually you can get these at the grocery store, and some of the pumpkin patches and farm stands have them. Be sure to tell them that you intend to use it for a pumpkin pie. Again, look for firm, no soft spots, or signs of any rot. See this page for easy, illustrated directions to make a pumpkin pie from a fresh pumpkin!

Varieties of Pumpkins:

•  Sugar - Excellent for baking
• Jack O'Lantern - most common for carving
• White Lumina - unusual, medium-sized white pumpkin
• Mini - Great for decoration
• Gourds - Many varieties, used for decorations

If you want to grow your own Pumpkin ...

Enjoy a Pumpkin Patch today....bring out the kid in you...

Some Halloween Decorations for You

" IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO BE WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN"

by George Eliot   Now what surprised me was when I found out that George Eliot was actually a pen name for a woman named Mary Anne Evans. Just  abit of info I found interesting....I found this quote on one of my blogging friends blog.. thank you, Debbie-Dabble 

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 I love Halloween and all the decorations that come out....so I thought I would check out "Family Fun" website which is a favorite of mine for wonderful ideas. Here is a cute and easy one for your porch or lawn.  This is safe too...

They are called "Cagey Ghosts" ..Come Halloween, they haunt front porches as glowing ghosts.

Materials:
Tomato cage
Duct tape
String lights
Twist ties
Socks
Sticks
Marker or craft foam (for facial features)
White twin sheet
Instructions
1. To make one, set up the cage as shown. To form the head, use duct tape to secure the rounded prongs of the cage. Thread the lights through the cage, and secure them with twist ties.
2.For each arm, ball up two socks and duct-tape them to a stick, placed in the ground.
3.Add marker or pinned-on craft foam facial features to a white twin sheet, then drape it over the structure.
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This is great if you have a large tree in front of your home....Turn trees into mysterious lawn creatures. Cut circles out of fluorescent-green crafts foam, draw pupils with a black marker, and adhere them in pairs to a tree using double-stick tape

I loved this easy one to display Candy Corn.....how cute is this one from "BHG" crafts, another one of my favorite spots to get ideas,
 Really easy and so cute.......these should be made closer to halloween, get some clear stand alone treat bags, again the $1 store has many, make some popcorn and fill up the bags a little, tie the bags together with a black bow, use a hole punch to make the hole if they don't already have one, then get some wiggle eyes and glue them on as shown. Make a card by floding a 1/4 sheet of white construction paper in 1/2 and write the saying on above, and arrange bags and sprinkle around some Candy Corn...Voila...complete...
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Just get some small pumpkins, scoop out all the seeds and pumpkin and I actually like the idea of gluing on a face or using a black highlighter to draw one on rather than cutting out a face, thats only cause the pumpkin is so small it might be a bit difficult to get in there to make the face??? Then get your lollipops [again at the $1 store] use an orange plastic table cloth and contruction paper to make their faces and tie it on with string or use rubber bands and stick them into the pumpkin set them on an upside down paper cup and cut out circles to cover the cup, use a white plastic table cloth from the $1 store for the bottoms...

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This one is called a "Bat Holder" make a few for those special Halloween Guests---  directions

 How about some Chocolate Bar "Eyes" how cute and decorative for your candy....directions

 How cute is this one? There is actually Halloween Candy under this "Candy RAT"....
Download the Rat Pattern >> [free PDF file]

What You'll Need:

Patterns
Textured brown paper or brown construction paper
Scissors
Black paper
Adhesive tape
Large-eye needle
White floral cloth wire
Glue gun and hotmelt adhesive
Red gemstones

Directions:
1.Cut out the body, tail, and ear patterns from textured brown paper (or construction paper).
2.Cut ear slashes as noted on the pattern.
3.Fold the darts as indicated on the pattern;
4.tape the darts on the inside to secure.
5.Tape the tail to the underside.
6.Cut a 2-x3-1/2-inch rectangle from brown paper.
7.Center the rectangle crosswise on the underside of the body and tape along the center.
8.Wrap and tape the paper around rolled candy (such as Life Savers), holding the candy in place.
9.Fold the ears in half and slip into the ear slashes;
10.tape in place on the inside of the rat.
11.Cut a small black square of paper for the nose; glue in place.
12.Use a large-eye needle to poke a hole on each side of the nose for whiskers.
13.Thread two 4-inch pieces of white floral cloth wire through the holes; curl the ends.
14.Hot-glue 1/4-inch-diameter red gemstones in place for eyes.

Voila....a candy hidden RAT.....
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I love this easy one its called "Tangled Web"

What You'll Need


Newspaper
9-inch balloon
Thin black yarn
Paper crafts glue (make sure the glue dries clear -- we used Elmer's)
Water
String
Tweezers
Hot-glue gun and hotmelt adhesive
Orange plastic spiders
Directions:
1.Cover work surface with newspaper. Blow up 9-inch balloon and tie off in a knot.


2.Cut twenty 6-foot pieces of black yarn.
3.Mix together equal portions of glue and water; mix well.
4.Dip a piece of yarn into mixture and soak thoroughly, making sure not to tangle the yarn. Pull out and gently squeeze off excess glue by running yarn between index finger and thumb.
5.Wrap the yarn around the balloon in an irregular pattern.
6.Continue with remaining yarn pieces, tucking in the end of each piece beneath the yarn layers.
7.Tie a length of string around the balloon knot. Hang up balloon and let dry completely. (Put newspaper under the balloon to catch any drips.)
8.Once the glue is completely dry, pop the balloon and use tweezers to pull out the deflated balloon and any glue residue between yarn pieces.
9.Hot-glue plastic spiders to the web, and tie a piece of string to the top to use as a hanger.

There are a ton more to see so check out BHG crafts pages for more

Got My Name in Lights

I got my name in lights with notcelebrity.co.uk

Yesterday my desk top computer "blew up"...Yikes...we were and still are having freak thunder and rain during our heat wave and the power strip went and while cleaning my "puter" it went too...sooooooo.....into the shop it must go and hopefully I didn't blow the motherboard but I fear I did. You cannot sign on at all and there is a blue screen only I cannot even get into safemode. :( I may have the my guy put in Win 7 I am now running on XP....

So we have to take the little guy in to be fixed....That will take a few days thank God I have my "Click-it" and everything is backed up. :)

But I just washed my car and now its all spotted....sugar....

I wonder if they will give me a free wash???

But speaking of sugar....back to my previous paragraph....I saw these silly candies and thought I would share with you all....has anyone seen these?

Who would of thought of Mashmellow Fries??? Now I have heard of Hamburger and Fries Cake,.,,,my son just got one for my g-son's birthday...it really looked like a hambuger and fries, except it is cake, the fries are actually pound cake.

It seems that French Fries are a popular food to replicate in any form...

911 Celebration Day

big smiles for Ashley

honoring the brave

the flag

as the flag waves

My G-daughter had a special celebration to honor all the heros from 911 and those that had fallen. My son-n-law wore his Marine duds to honor this. Look at the big grin on my g-daughter's face.... :) What a wonderful day for them....

The Bellamy Brothers - Let Your Love Flow and Pretty Flowers

One of my favorite groups singing a wonderful song....thanks Jerry

I have been off and vacations and busy with family, AGAIN...I know ...but what a great time we have had...now that school is in things will be back to normal...except it is HOT here ...wow we have been in the mountains all weekend and came home to HEAT!!!! Wish we were still up in the mountains...

As I was visiting one of my favorite online blogs "Chatty Crone" I came across this beautifule flower from Thailand...it is called a "Parrot Flower" and you can view it but not allowed to taked it out of Thailand. What a beauty...



As spring progresses, you will find the air perfumed by lilacs, peonies and roses. Soon lavender and lavandin join the symphony of scents. Some roses will continue blooming throughout the season to provide an ongoing source of fragrant delight. Can you imagine a summer evening perfumed by the roses?



Flowers Fragrant at Night


Many flowers are most strongly scented in the evening. For example, this includes the aptly named night scented stock plus nicotiana, four o’clocks, and the inimitable moonflower vine which along with the nicotiana and four o'clocks will bloom long into the fall. I love the Moon Flowers but they are a very leggy vine that needs guidence I have several in my flower beds.



Favorite Fragrant Perennials


Among perennials favored for fragrance, you must plant the spicily scented dianthus for bloom from spring into summer. Don’t miss scented iris cultivars such as "Royal Storm," "Scented Bubbles," "Vanity," or "Midnight" and specially fragrant daylilies such as "Siloam Double Classic," "Hyperion," "Chorus Line," and "Raspberry Candy." For a shady garden be sure to grow fragrant hostas such as "Honeybells," "Fragrant Bouquet," "Fragrant Blue," "Heaven Scent," "So Sweet," "Aphrodite," and "Royal Standard" along with the species, H. plantaginea.



Magnolia Syringa and Peony for Scented Gardens and Phlox are in a class of their own when it comes to fragrance and the border phlox will bloom from summer into the fall if deadheaded, fed and watered. Late summer bloomers with strong fragrance also include the exotic and heady tuberose which is not winter hardy but is still worth growing even if you need to replace it every year. Naked ladies or Lycoris squamigera, a moderately hardy bulb, is another wonderful scented late summer bloomer with lovely spidery pink flowers atop long thin bare stems.



Well Loved Smells of Fall


Although it is a flowering vine, I must mention sweet autumn clematis or Clematis terniflora, its infinite numbered white starry flowers intensely fragrant and so welcome in the fall garden. One fragrance to avoid in the fall garden is that of burning leaves; for the sake of your flowers (and air quality), compost your leaves instead of consigning them to the burn pile.



Aromatic Foliage


Try some plants with aromatic foliage such as lemon verbena, I have some bright yellow Verbena and they are wonderfully fragrant around my pond. And some scented geraniums, and herbs such as basil, rosemary and lavender. I love my lavender bush and it is true you have to touch it to get the fragrance.  Some are best grown underfoot between step stones where passers by will crush the foliage and release the scent. What a great idea, I never thought of using herbs for that. I think I will add them to my new backyard design I have been working on. A really great plant for this would be the creeping thyme.


One of my favorite flowers I have in my own yard. :) It is called a Plumeria and comes in several colors this is the color of mine...I saw them when I went to Hawaii and fell in love with them. :) They use them on Leis they are real fragrant and so pretty.