Sunday again

The gardener was here yesterday and used his weed-eater to get rid of the rest of the weeds. We measured out a 6x8 foot area for a raised flower bed in the middle of the backyard. He will get some price quotes for me for laying down some sod around the proposed raised bed. Good soil will be brought in and mixed with the heavier soil. It's really not as heavy as it was when we first moved here. We used lots of homemade compost besides the steer manure and bagged compost and it was worked in. But still it's not that easy to work with.
Today I bought two more tomato plants, so now I have enough; a cherry tomato, Early Girl, Better Boy, and Celebrity. Bought seed for pickling cucumbers and Dill. I would have planted them today, but it was windy again. I hope that's the last of the wind. I have 2 small Camillas to plant and a pretty pink Daylily I bought today.
The above picture is Stella; if the blooms are any indication, I should have a good cherry crop again this year.
Several of the Iris plants have buds on them and I can see the color. I took my lists and went around to make sure no one is missing! Even Gypsy Woman that I thought wasn't going to make it, is looking good now. Not sure if I will get a bloom this year or not, but I'm just happy it's still alive. I don't know where I would get a replacement. The Woodland Iris Garden near Modesto is no longer in business. Someone complained about the traffic by their house, so Stanislaus County shut them down. The location was not zoned for a Iris Garden for retail. That is really too bad, the road wasn't that busy. The owners dug up the remaining plants and destroyed them. What a waste!! Shame on Stanislaus County, one complaint and the business is shut down.
Easter is still a few weeks away, but my basket is already filled. Maggie just can't resist getting into all the boxes or baskets she sees.
I know, shame on me for spoiling her like that. When she hopped in the basket, I couldn't resist taking her picture.
O.k., so now it's back to typing up a few more recipes for the Winton Centennial Cookbook. Don't miss this chance to have your favorite recipes published in a cookbook that is sure to be a collectors' item as time goes on. You can email them to me at wintoncookbook@aol.com

This and That

My sisters and I visited with another neighbor from the past and scanned lots of pictures. This is so much fun. The pictures and stories are for the next history book of Winton. I'm glad to have an excuse to call up people and ask to come over and look at their pictures. lol. What excuse will I have when the book is done?
Well, I am still editor of the Winton Hometown News, don't know how many pictures I'll get to look at when wearing that hat, but we'll see.

Had my car checked over recently. Had to get a set of tires for it. They were all original and the car is a 2001. Only have 33,000 miles on the car, so the tread was o.k., but the tires were just too old. Better safe than sorry. Might have to think of someplace to go now.
The backyard will get worked on again this Saturday. The gardener and I will go over the plans and decide on what to do this spring to make it easier to care for.
Can't wait for the changes. Here is a picture of Maggie, she always wants to be right in the middle of things.
Last week I uploaded another 20 pictures of tombstones taken at the Winton Cemetery, add that to the 16 I uploaded before that, so that makes 36 I am hoping to see online soon. I know they need more volunteers. If this is something you are interested in, go to their website and volunteer. They will be glad you did.
I'm almost finished scanning the obits I borrowed from my cousin, then I'll have to look in the filing cabinet and find the ones I saved that I want to scan. These are all from the newspapers. I also borrowed a lot of OLD Messengers in Truth newsletters from my sister to scan some of the obituaries. When I am through, I will put them on a CD. Boy, I need to think up more projects for myself. LOL.
Have you sent in your favorite recipes yet for the Winton Centennial Cookbook? Don't forget!! You can email them to wintoncookbook@aol.com.

Hand Knitted Socks

My daughter knitted a pair of beautiful maroon socks. They were too big for her, so she mailed them to me. I tried them on tonight and took this picture. The color is not right in the picture, they are maroon, not bright red!! I'll have to admit they are too loose on me too. I don't know how that would work with shoes on. They ARE beautiful though. Sandy is a wonderful knitter. She may want to find someone who has bigger feet than her mother though! lol.
My yard of weeds is being worked on. Joe, the gardener has been here two Saturdays so far, working about 3 hours each time. He thinks next Saturday might be the end of the weeds. I don't know, there is still a lot of them left. I am thinking of having some lawn planted, that might be an easier way to keep the weeds down. I'd have to buy a mower for that small patch. Probably an electric one, it would be less bother than a gas one that might be hard to start.
The White Iris has a large bud on it, so the Iris season is beginning. I hope all the new ones bloom, can't wait to see how beautiful they all are.
At the genealogy meeting yesterday, my replacement for editor of the newsletter was there with his laptop computer, updating the next newsletter on the spot!! I thought, wow, he is the perfect person to do the newsletter. I am so happy that I won't have to worry about it anymore.
Now I can concentrate on the next history book of Winton and being editor of the Winton newsletter and collecting recipes for the Winton Centennial Cookbook.
Not to mention the house and yard; both need LOTS of attention.

Winton Cookbook

Did you see the mention in the Merced Sun-Star today about our Winton Centennial in 2011 and the request for recipes for the Winton Centennial Cookbook? I hope a lot of people did. Especially those who meant to send in recipes a couple of years ago for our first recipe book and didn't make the deadline.
Look for your favorite recipes now so you don't forget and either mail them to Winton Historical Society, PO Box 554, Winton, CA 95388 or e-mail them to wintoncookbook@aol.com. We have some yummy recipes collected already, but we need a lot more.
It looks like we have a volunteer to do the newsletter for the Merced County Genealogical Society. Hooray!! I was getting overwhelmed.
Saturday, Joe the gardener will be here for a couple of hours to help me with some of those weeds. So, things are looking up.
I need to get busy with typing up the notes from interviewing people for the "Memories of Winton 1950-1975" book, some of the information will go into the Winton newsletter, so the ten pages fills up quickly. It's a fun and easy newsletter to do. We are looking for more pictures of Winton and the people of Winton from the earliest time up to 1975 that are not in the first history book of Winton. You can contact me at CalifNative37@aol.com Thank you.

Flower Plants?

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, How Does Your Garden Grow. . . . My flower plants are growing like weeds!!
Oh wait -- those ARE weeds. Good grief. The ground has been so wet that I can't hoe or pull the weeds out yet. I tried to do just that today. I put water in the blue bucket to wash the dirt off the roots before throwing the weeds in the recycle bin. I decided to wait a couple of days and if it doesn't rain, it will be easier to whack at the weeds. I especially want to remove the weeds from around the flower plants and give them a better chance of growing.
Near the bucket you can see one of the new Iris' I got last May from Superstition Iris Garden in Cathey's Valley. Next to it is a Ranunculus. The larger plant to the left is a Perennial, one of the very few you can see above the weeds. I took pictures to remind myself to buy some Preen next year!!! I plan to use a little Round-Up, but not by the flowering plants. In the foreground is a larger, Iris plant that I've had for several years.
The house, the yard, everything seemed overwhelming. I finally got the courage to say I cannot do the newsletter any longer for the genealogy society. The Winton book is definitely a priority right now. Along with the house and yard.
I hope this good weather keeps up.

Birthday Party

Yesterday was Ernestine's birthday party. Her great nieces, Sharon, Karen and Margie were the hostess' for the event.
Ernestine and Lars were married in 1936 and they moved to Winton soon after that.
I will be visiting with Ernestine again soon to get her memories of what Winton was like back in the 40s, and 50s and so on. This will be for the Winton Historical Society's newsletter, but it may also be in the next history book of Winton in the reminiscing pages.
To see more pictures from Ernestine's party, go to flickr.

First Tuesday in March

Another month has gone by so quickly. It's the first Tuesday of the month again, and you know what that means -- the Winton Historical Society meets.
We had a pretty good turn out today, better than usual. A very good meeting, I think we all enjoyed it. I should have taken everyone's picture.
We talked about the Spring Festival, the parade will be Saturday, April 25.

Carolyn and I had fun lately, visiting with a couple of people to get their information; actually it was for the "Memories of Winton 1950-1975" book, but part of it will end up in the WHS newsletter.
Took a picture of your friendly, local barber shop today. My family has known the barber and his siblings since they were little kids. Hard to believe he's going to be 65 years old next month. But don't tell anyone.
Today I reported that we received 67 recipes so far. Only 433 more to go. Don't wait to send in your recipes for the Winton Centennial Cookbook. I think some people had the mistaken idea that we just wanted OLD recipes. We want the recipes you are currently using, as well as some older ones.
Oh yeah, do you recognize your barber in this 1949 photo? He's the 2nd from the left. The others are his brothers and sister.