Nicole I love you not because you are from Texas (me too but a transplant in Tn and dearly love both states) I love reading your comments and look forward to getting them. My tip is that I always put my gloves and garden shoes in a zip bag. It saves having a surprise the next time I put them on ….like a spider or little animal.

Hi Nicole,

I loved reading about your vacation. How special it must’ve been. I have always wanted to go to Maine. And, I do love seafood so I would be in heaven! 🙂 Your pictures are gorgeous and I agree – my favorite was you and Audrey tubing! The food boat looked kinda cool – what food did they offer? Great memories.. the kids will always remember it!

– Dori –

Maine is a beautiful state. A lot like Minnesota. I loved it there. And you are right, the blueberries are awesome. Great pictures. I am glad you had a good time.

Sounds like you had a great time! Thanks for a great blog with photographs of your vacation. I too like vacations where there is no TV available or constant radio/music playing. Unfortunately, I need wifi to keep in touch with work obligations. Glad you were able to get away to enjoy the nice summer and take a tour of Maine. By the way, I love Lobster Tail and Lobster Bisque. It is my mother’s favorite meal for her birthday and special occasions.
Love the photograph of those tiny frogs!!!

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for sharing your trip to Maine. I used to travel a lot but never got to Maine and now I feel that I’ve enjoyed a beautiful part of it. Love the boots too!!! God bless

Wonderful, wonderful post! I certainly felt ‘nothin’ but love’ reading this. Thank you, Nicole (and Alison) for sharing this.

I just wanted you to know I really enjoyed reading your love story and how you have decided to continue traveling as you honor Chuck’s memory. I, too, and a recent widow – my husband will have been gone now for a year next month in September. I am older than you, 72, and now riddled with inoperable cancer so made the hard decision to sell our trailer and be content to travel other ways. Just got back from a dream vacation in Mexico, which I did from a wheelchair! Best trip I ever had. I am an artist and this trip served to show me I still have some artwork in me! I send heartfelt wishes for your happiness and the joy you spread wherever you go. I pray the Lord is in your life as well because He opens up so many more doors and possibilities. Hugs from Sister #820 Paige Bridges

Love her story, keep on doing what makes you happy!

Alison is a remarkable woman and I hope you can fulfill your dream. For five years, I traveled in an 18′ motorhome named Wendy (because Wendy went everywhere with Peter Pan and I was Peter Pan) and for two years in a 27′ motorhome named Lucy (because even though she was a pain at times, everyone loves Lucy). There is nothing like traveling where you want to do what you like and then coming “home” to enjoy your life. I also hope Alison has many happy years on the road.

This story made me cry. Allison is so pretty and I love her pictures and her “glamper” with the car in pink! Very sweet story of true love. I have my own with Richard.
Audrey looked so mature in her picture that I did not recognize her at first. I thought “what a pretty girl” and it was my granddaughter!
Love,

Mother

dammit, you made me cry at work….very moving I will be looking for that pink teardrop on my travels.

What a beautiful, loving story. Loved every word and was sorry when it was to the end. I think there is some ‘nomad’ in me also….currently keeping my eye out for an small, older trailer that I can ‘doll’ up. How can I follow Allison to read about her adventures? Thank you for the great post.

Love your story,happy trails sister and if ever in the Ozarks your welcome to my little nest on the river.

Wonderful, wonderful post! I certainly felt ‘nothin’ but love’ reading this. Thank you, Nicole (and Alison) for sharing this.

I just wanted you to know I really enjoyed reading your love story and how you have decided to continue traveling as you honor Chuck’s memory. I, too, and a recent widow – my husband will have been gone now for a year next month in September. I am older than you, 72, and now riddled with inoperable cancer so made the hard decision to sell our trailer and be content to travel other ways. Just got back from a dream vacation in Mexico, which I did from a wheelchair! Best trip I ever had. I am an artist and this trip served to show me I still have some artwork in me! I send heartfelt wishes for your happiness and the joy you spread wherever you go. I pray the Lord is in your life as well because He opens up so many more doors and possibilities. Hugs from Sister #820 Paige Bridges

Love her story, keep on doing what makes you happy!

Alison is a remarkable woman and I hope you can fulfill your dream. For five years, I traveled in an 18′ motorhome named Wendy (because Wendy went everywhere with Peter Pan and I was Peter Pan) and for two years in a 27′ motorhome named Lucy (because even though she was a pain at times, everyone loves Lucy). There is nothing like traveling where you want to do what you like and then coming “home” to enjoy your life. I also hope Alison has many happy years on the road.

This story made me cry. Allison is so pretty and I love her pictures and her “glamper” with the car in pink! Very sweet story of true love. I have my own with Richard.
Audrey looked so mature in her picture that I did not recognize her at first. I thought “what a pretty girl” and it was my granddaughter!
Love,

Mother

dammit, you made me cry at work….very moving I will be looking for that pink teardrop on my travels.

What a beautiful, loving story. Loved every word and was sorry when it was to the end. I think there is some ‘nomad’ in me also….currently keeping my eye out for an small, older trailer that I can ‘doll’ up. How can I follow Allison to read about her adventures? Thank you for the great post.

Love your story,happy trails sister and if ever in the Ozarks your welcome to my little nest on the river.

Nicole,

Great post. My daughter and I had a major infestation of aphids in our flower garden, which is a big deal as it was completely wiping out our zinnias…. rows upon rows of gorgeous zinnias. We tried Neem Oil and had some success. It was so important for us to go the organic and safe route. We were finally able to get it under control, but in the mean time I really worried about the good bugs that were being effected even by the Neem Oil. And we also picked off beetles and put in soapy water… by the thousands! 🙂 I’ve heard the same thing about the beetle bags – you’re just asking for trouble by inviting the whole neighborhood of beetles for supper! 🙂

What an awesome class the Master Gardener class must be. I’ve always dreamed of taking it. Someday! 🙂 And yes, there is a whole lot to gardening that most us of have no clue about. Thanks so much for sharing!

I think being in the garden with the butterflies, bumble bees, and other bugs is just about the happiest place to be!

– Dori –

What a coincidence! I have scores of squash beetles this year, though I usually have them in various quantities. Any ideas for a natural deterrent? I also thought that I had dodged the millions of tiny flies that hatch on my grape vines the last several years. I purchased Neem oil to spray on in the spring, but didn’t follow through. Drat…

I know that yellow jackets have their place in the garden, and I usually can coexist with them. Last weekend they became very aggressive and I got stung on the back of the hand. I finally had to remove several nests under my potting shed patio so that they would quit bombing me! I made a natural spray with peppermint oil, with little or no success. Is there something natural to use that will keep the yellow jackets from rebuilding at the same site of the old nest? We have hundreds of nesting sites on our outbuildings!

Thanks for all your photos and information. I’m at the very beginnings of learning about gardening, in pots only for now, but I’m excited to always learn more. Thanks for sharing Nicole. I look forward to seeing and reading more about gardening 🙂

You are so I intelligent about plants and bugs….wish you could yell me about this……I have this plant that has been showing up in my garden. It has a yellow flower that looks like a Hibiscus but grows like a tree….three flowers on the top…then two, then one big flower.the leaves look like OkrA.I wish I could show you. But can’t send a photo. I know it’s a weed but is so pretty I let it grow.

What a perfect gift – and she is beautiful!

Yes, my husband thought I had accidenly tossed his bible in the recycling bin several months Go.because he had a habit of putting it in a walmart garbage bag with his newspaper he bought every sunday after church. I was sure I had tossed in the paper bin. In THE meatime. He died not knowing he had brought it in the house. Two days ago, looking for my quilts, uncovered a Wal-Mart bzg….and gurss what was in the bag? His bible! It was like I found…..a treasure! I was so overjoyed. Be cause…I found his tgouhts in the margins and he u derlibed what he read. I never knew he even read souch of the bible. But it helped me find some peace. ..knowing he did read it.I just wish we had found it sooner. Because he suffered so. Much the last two months of his life. Praying my prayers and word’s were so comforting.

Gosh what an amazing story. I love that you love your mom so much you never gave up looking. I’d say that this new box will be so much more to her than her first with the love that it holds as a gift from her dearly loved children.
I’m on the look out for a record plYer and cuckoo clock from my childhood memories.

for me it was a cookie jar, my sister accidentally broke the bottom of it when we were still at home and I have always wanted one for my own memories. My Mom kept the lid which was an animals face. Then I found it on ebay and have been thrilled with it ever since! that is so cool that you found that one for your Mom!!

Nicole! Such a beautiful story and very well written with such heartfelt emotional love! You are very blessed to know the history of your family ! I come from a very loving family too! Although I was adopted and very lucky to have been raised with so much love! It’s strange not knowing where you come from . Well anyway ,I’m sure your beautiful Mom was thrilled! I love what you said that your Mom said” we didn’t have much but we cherished what we had” such a simple life in the past! Happy thoughts,Cindy

What beautiful pictures to go with a beautiful story. I have an identical twin sister. Marion and I are the best of friends. Having a twin is a guarantee of a best friend for life!
Marilyn

Yay for healing. I’m glad you are mended!

Such an inspiring story with the best ending.
So glad you stood up for yourself and kept searching for the right answers
and diagnosis and you won!!
Ive been praying for you from Noel, Mo…..Sending hugs from the Ozarks, Diana

Not b-2 sorry misspelled! B- 12 ! It runs our entire nervous system !

So happy to hear of your ‘return’!! God bless and I hope the ridding of the pesky plant helps.

Also fighting Lyme and doing better. Glad you found a Lyme literate doctor!

Nicole, I am so thrilled you are better and that you found a doctor who took his time with diagnosing the problem. May the Lord continue to bless you with great health. Neta

Wow, Nicole! You finally got your answers! I also believe that it is important to be your own advocate. So happy that your health is continuing to improve….

Hi Nicole,
I am so relieved to hear you got to the bottom of why you weren’t feeling yourself! Lyme disease is nothing to fool around with and can often be hard to diagnose as you have learned. Wishing you many happy, healthy days ahead with your beautiful family!
Hugs,
Deb, Beach Farmgirl

Hi Nicole,
I’ve been thinking about you with all of this and I am sure glad you found the right doctor! I have had three major tick born illnesses and know of the dangers thereof! This is a real scourge that needs much more attention from the medical community! You are such a vivacious individual with “Moxie” and the world needs you at your best!!

I hope you, Audrey, and your husband have the best summer yet!!

Nicole. I am so happy for you to find the source of your problem. It took me a long time to find out I had fibromyalgia because I also have arthritis and I felt lousy for a long time. But thanks to the right doctor I feel better again. The picture of you and your daughter is so lovely. Take care.

Seriously? Are you sure you arnt pregnant?i have hypo thyroid too! I have to take synth rood every morning! I don’t like it either but it is a nessessary evil! You should NOT! Be putting on weight like that! Have your doctor adjust your medication or go to an intern specialist! Let us know how your doing! Best wishes! Cindy

Hi Nicole,
I have taken medication for low thyroid ever since our son was six months old. My thyroid went wacky right after he was born, 19 years ago. I’m grateful for the medicine because it really does regulate the thyroid and helps to keep your adrenal glands and organs healthy. That being said, when I started going through menopause I had many of the same symptoms, ( add hot flashes and anxiety attacks). Not fun! I’m so sorry to hear you aren’t feeling well and I hope you get to the bottom of it and find some relief soon… Now you have me worried and guessing…Shame on you!!!
xoxo
Hugs,
Deb

My Dear Farmgirl Friend,
I loved your post this morning, not that you are feeling low and not well, but your honesty. I know just how you feel, it is just like someone knocked you over and then over and over again. I’ve had two r.a. flare ups since 2013, had to use a walker to walk
but I slowly started my own physical therapy starting with 10 steps on my own and now I can walk 3 miles on my own.
Keep your chin up, life will get better and better. Spoil yourself, surround yourself with everything that you love, and pray. You are in my prayers from the Ozarks…hugs to you this morning, Diana, Noel, Mo.

So sorry to hear of your ills – not sorry you shared about it though because there is always a ‘person beware’ factor to everyone’s story. Am hoping all is well now and will look forward to hearing from you. God bless.

So sorry to hear this. Our bodies do strange things even when we try to do everything right. My sister has this same condition. I’m anxious to get part 2 and I hope it works out for the best. Take care.

My very good friend’s daughter is going through something similar and has had many, many tests and has been put on a variety of antibiotics for Lyme disease. There is definitely something else wrong, but so far no one has been able to pinpoint the problem. She is also from Connecticut and is in her 30’s. She has had a fever that won’t go away and suffers from extreme fatigue. I will be passing your information on to her; perhaps she will use this as an avenue to pinpoint what else may be happening to her. Thanks for writing this. I felt quite similar when I had a bout of Epstein-Barr in my late 30’s and early 40’s. Meditation, yoga and changing my eating habits (along with wonderful and supportive friends) helped me get through it. Hope things will turn around soon for you. Stay strong and stay positive!

Dearest Nicole,
I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis over 13 years ago and have done pretty well other than a few flare ups a year. Last year I started feeling just like you. I wasn’t myself, no energy and not sleeping well plus I gained 30 pounds in just three months. Went to Doctor and had the normal TSH test for thryroid. I was low so he prescribed Synthroid and I started to feel a little better but still not right. So I started doing my own research and have been treating with Natural Desiccated Thyroid from pigs. I am dosing myself in accordance with my symptoms. I will tell you more after I hear your part 2. It is great of you to share your story and look forward to hearing more.

I don’t think I saw anyone mention this, but there is a wonderful site called Hypothyroid Mom on Facebook that is loaded with information and encouragement for all types of thyroid diseases. I have hypothyroidism and it has been VERY helpful. Best wishes for you!

Have been thinking about you like crazy and hoping that all is well. I’m sorry to hear about this bump in the road and looking forward to Part 2. Love you.

Hi Nicole,
I flying through reading your post. You had me on the edge of my seat wondering what what was coming next.
I just wanted to say, that my daughter has Hasimotos thyroid it’s too. She was diagnosed at age 11, with it. Thyroid issues run in my husbands mothers side, both my husband and his mother are on the thyroxine. If she doesn’t take her meds she goes down hill very quickly with her energy. With my daughter too, Shias all her growing and me trial hormones to deal with too on top of it all as well as iron deficiency issues, she gets that one from me, isn’t she so lucky x:)?. But I think there is a natural way of dealing with it that some patients of mine have told me about, but it can’t recall what it is.
I wish you all the very best in your health life story and pray for good health for you and patience along the way,
Hugs
Denise

Interesting – simply interesting!!

This is a really good tutorial about raising worm compost! The pictures are so informative and goes along with the well written commentary.

When I first heard about this book I was curious because the lady who wrote “Worms Eat My Garbage” was from my home town. It was so cool because as you read in the book, she taught students to use shoe boxes and the garbage the students generated to teach them about this. I’m so glad that book is still around.

The bins I use are commercial and catch the “liquid gold” ( worm tea : ) in the bottom of it which is a really good by product, too.

I did try a container with the holes in the bottom and didn’t realize there would be liquid. It made a real mess on the basement floor and my hubby (understandably) was not real keen on my continuing to use THAT kind of bin. But I think you could just put some kind of catch basin under the kind of container you use shoe box or storage bin and it would do the same thing.

Nicole,

This is AWESOME!!!! I cannot wait to do this. Going to include my grand-girls on this project. They love worms, so they will really love this! Super post and so informative!

Dori

I need some advice.
I have two bins. One is a Worm Farm 360, square bin with 4 tiers. The other is a Can O Worms, 3 tiers.

The 360 has an excess of PotWorms. I’ve tried adding lime, egg shells, more paper and aerating. The red worms just don’t thrive. I feed them the same food as the I feed the Can, just smaller quantities. I did buy new worms, and they do appear to be living so far. Should I keep adding more lime? Try to remove the potworms?

The Can works great but recently I was checking the tiers and found literally hundreds of worms congregated in the very bottom, where there is no food, no nesting material, mainly just liquid. I moved them to the top tier. Why do they go to the bottom? Should I be checking this more?

Love ice cream…..Perry’s is the closest to the real homemade thing, except I wish there was no added ingredients . I used to live Maple walnut but can’t chew nuts any more, so o settle for caramel and chocolate with those little Rollo treasures inside. Love it!
I remember when my mother made homemade and each of us kids would help turn the handle ( we weren’t fortunate to have an electric ice cream maker. But we had ice cream every Saturday.) We didnt care if it was pain, just hard and cold. And it took a long time to make a gallon of it. After she made one batch she made another. It took two batches to have ice cream fir my family. Never knew how fortunate we were as kids….ice cream every week.it tasted good….now store bought ice cream is the substitute. Don’t enjoy it as much as the old cranked kind…I guess it was because we all participate and had to wait fir it that made it more delicious and healthy. I always felt rich having ice cream. It as like having a party very week! Dont feel that way about ice cream these days! Its what caused me to get FAt! Because I would have ice cream every day. Now we just have it on occasions….. Birthdays!

Oh YUMMMMYYYY!!! brings back memories. I come from a very large close living family, we had our own cream so — ice cream it was – winter or summer, our machines were mostly hand cranked. I can almost taste it —- thanks for the memories in picture form.
God bless.

I have only had ‘real’ ice cream a couple of times, but really is nothing better. It was fun to read through your blog and see the results of you efforts. Looked so yummy! Sure you will enjoy using this frequently throughout the summer months. My favorite time for ice cream is December…….not sure why! Happy summer to you and your family.

Love this story. Homemade ice cream is the best!i never get perfect consistency and don’t care. The flavor is so good.

Sounds yummy! Glad you gave the vintage ice cream maker a new home and are able to put it to good use! What flavor will you try next?

Nicole, How fun takes me back to being a little girl, and we always made homemade icecream pretty much every weekend. One of my favorites but have no idea how tomake it was one of my aunts’ recipe for Peanut Butter, and then probably my second favorite is Peaches YUMMY! Makes me want to go out and find an ice cream maker and make my own. I see lots of ice cream days this summer for you. 🙂 Be Blessed.

We came from farm families. My husbands family lived on a farm and my grandparents lived on farms. We used to make ice cream like that when a large group would get together. We are both in our 80s now and we live in a small town so it’s easier to buy it. We have 3 children. 2 boys and a girl. The oldest boy Dan married and had 2 boys. One of his boys married a gynecologist and they have 2 girls. Our other two never married. Our son Bill lives with us. Never married. Our daughter, Peggy never married and lives and works in Denver, Colorado with a girl friend. She taught high school for a while. Now it is office work.