60 pounds?!?!?!?!?!

WOW. Who knew these things could get so big??? I purchased the "giant" watermelon seed this spring on a lark but I really didn't think they would get huge. I figured it was a marketing ploy and I fell for it. I half way thought they wouldn't even sprout!

First we planted the seeds very late and the package said they had a long growing season. STRIKE 1!

Then we had the hottest, driest summer in forever. The weather people called it SEVERE drought. I don't think it rained after the first of June... STRIKE 2!

Lastly it was "crack gardening". That means planting seeds in the cracks of concrete on an old hog lot and letting it grow. I didn't even know if that was going to work.  STRIKE 3!

Well I was wrong. (See I can admit it hubby!)  It worked and watermelons grew. This is the result.

That is my foot in the lower left for a sort of comparison of the size of this thing.

This thing is only 10 pounds less than the quarterback on my son's football team!

I put the yardstick in front just so you can get a feel for the length of the watermelon.

OK, so technically it was 59 pounds. I am still amazed. We could have had a 100 pounder if it had actually rained! Anyone wanna come over for some watermelon?

I guess this will be my last gardening post for a bit as we have nothing left to harvest.

Out my dining room window...

I love fall.
I love the colors.

I was sitting at my kitchen table this morning and smiled a big smile then I gave a contented sigh. The oak tree was changing colors by the hour. It currently has about 4 shades of leaves. It is beautiful. I had to take a couple photos. These photos in NO way do justice to the beauty of this tree. The colors are way more vibrant than the photos show.

There was green, yellow, orange, brown, and red.

Life is good.

Cross species interactions

This is what happens when a Canadian goose falls in love with a domesticated goose.

It is the one in middle with orange feet and bill, huge eyes, combined black and white tail feathers. The regular Canadian is to the right. It is the best picture we could get of it...

Gives a new to meaning to an ugly duckling!

Coping - just a teaser of sorts...

As I was going on a short walk today I got to thinking, I need to start talking about the crap in my life but give something to others to learn from this and hopefully help others cope with the same kind of crap and maybe ward off problems or help others in this entire process. Heck I am even hoping someone else going through the crap would comment and give me new ideas to try.

I don't even know where to start. Let's start with parenting. Anyone that has kids knows how very hard it is to raise decent, productive kids these days. It almost seems like a crap shoot some days. After saying this, I do believe it is still being done and can be done but it is hard and takes two involved dedicated parents, both a mom and a dad.  I don't believe these parents need to necessarily be married (divorce introduces an entirely different set of problems to discuss in another blog) but need to be there and want what is best for the kids. This also includes sacrifice on both parents parts. I can't stress enough how both a mom and dad point of view are required and a serious commitment from both to succeed. I also believe if the biological mother or father are absent, a dedicated step- or parent figure can accomplish the same thing. The point being it takes time and dedication.

Right about now the questions/excuses/buts should start flying out of your brain at me.

I'm a single parent.

My ex and I don't see eye to eye on parenting.

I think you only need one parent.

Let them out.
Go ahead take a minute. When you finish your - YOU ARE WRONG BLOGGER excuses keep reading.
Done? 
Good!

Kids need you or someone you trust with your whole being in their lives 24/7.  That is one of the big problems today. Parents are not willing to do this simple step. Yes, I believe parents need to work on their relationship to be good parents but that is where the trustworthy surrogate comes in. There can be a sitter for a couple hours so you can have date night. You can enlist grand parents or siblings for longer weekend duties. There are solutions to all the excuses. YOU have to decide to give your kids the best YOU can give them for 18 years. If you have multiple kids, this time frame will increase by a LOT. When you become a parent that should be your number 1 job. Not work, not exercise, not drinking, not TV, not Not NOT. Be a parent plain and simple.

Sacrifice - you will sacrifice until you think you have no more to give. You will give beyond any giving you have ever done in your life before. This is not bad. Repeat, this is NOT BAD. This is being a good parent. No Olympian ever got that far without a lot of sacrifice. How bad do you want great kids? Only you can answer that question but often the difference between good and great is  answered by am I going to watch "my favorite TV show" or am I going to go read a chapter book with my child?


What are you willing to sacrifice to raise a great kid?

Next, what do you, the reader think? I am trying to see if there is interest in this topic for me to continue such blogs. Please comment. Which things should I expand upon? What is of interest to you? What am I way off base on? Why? Input please.

 

This and that

When I am feeling out of sorts I turn here to write and maybe figure stuff out in my head. The post may or may not have anything to do with what is disturbing me but just writing helps. I am sure a lot of you feel the same way out in blog land.

Since this blog IS called Ocean of Thoughts we are swimming in turbulent waters today.  Anyway.... first up insightfulness.

It is so much fun to see a brain develop. My daughter shared one of her thoughts the other day and I would like to share here because it really does make one scratch their head.

She says, "Mom, you are the most HEALTHY person I have ever known in my life. How come you aren't super skinny?"

Life is like that sometimes isn't it? I have to agree with her. I eat pretty darn healthy. I exercise regularly and I am still F-A-T. Not really fair but there is more to life than what I weigh. I do not have high blood pressure or cholesterol. I have all my pieces parts. I have a brain. I am able to work and help others. I do not take medications. Not half bad for an "old" woman.

What I came up for her, "I agree but I guess that is how God made me and wants me to be."
Right/wrong??? I don't know but it is all I had. I love her thinking and contemplating issues. Makes me happy as a parent.

Views of the world.

Isn't is amazing how two or more people can look at the exact same thing and see totally different things? This has been documented with accidents, crime and many other things. The car was blue from person 1. The car was black from person 2.  Not only does it give people a lot to discuss, it makes for a lot of discord in life in general. How does one recognize and reconcile more serious non-tangible thoughts that are emotionally filled?  An example I can give on this: I say, I don't want my kids to see "R" rated movies until they are 17. I am saying this out of concern for my kids brains and as a parent.  The next person hears that statement and thinks, What an over protective parent!  The third person thinks, Yes, I agree, children see to much adult content too early. And finally when the X hears it he thinks, Oh there she goes trying to control me and what I do with the kids!  One statement and many views.  No wonder communications are so hard.

Politics.

Can we have a do-over on who I vote for president?  Enough on that...or you may stop reading!

Music.

I love music. All kinds. Depends on mood of the day as to the genre I am listening to. Today is as mixed up as my brain. Thank goodness for iPods that hold 1000's of songs. One for each mood! :-)
Music is a great way to vent emotions you are feeling.

THANK YOU READERS.

Couples Retreat

Let's just say we were wayyyyyy overdue for adult alone time away. We finally made special plans to do something over Labor Day. There were no kid commitments. There were a LOT of home commitments but we said they could wait as our marriage needed some nurturing.

Let me just say it was a WONDERFUL day away.

It started out by getting up early and driving about an hour and a half to a small town in Iowa. I had received a gift certificate for an hour massage so we both had hour massages that were great. While hubby was getting his massage I wondered around and found a "stuff" store that seems to be popular now and found a candle I couldn't live without.

I also got to spend a little time visiting with and old friend. We don't get as much time to chat these days so it was great to talk for a while.

Next it was off to the family farm. My dad wanted us to stop by and check on our "crack" gardening and to see how big the watermelons had gotten. Mom fed us lunch and we were off to new adventures.

First stop, Albert the Bull. Now hubby is a big guy - 6ft 3in or so and as you can see by the photo he looks tiny compared to this bull. I had not seen it since I was a kid so we had to try and find it. Luckily the town was fairly small and we found him after only 1 detour. I had some what I call "funny" photo poses with Albert but those might not be considered "funny" by others, so I didn't include those. Let's just say Albert is an anatomically correct and intact bull!!  :-D

 



Down the road a piece, (wow that is a phrase from the past) was a small park called Plow in the Oak. We  H-A-D to stop and see what that was about. Before we found the plow we stumbled upon this tree. I found it fascinating that it was completely hollow and still alive and doing well. Look I fit inside with lots of room to spare! What an old tree with so much knowledge and history hidden in its rings of life.

And here we have it - the plow in the Oak tree. The tree has gotten so large over the years that there is not much left exposed of the old plow. Still it was very fascinating how the tree just grew around this old plow that someone left leaning against a tree probably a century ago or more.

Before it got to late it was time to get our tails moving to the bed and breakfast we had rented for the night.  It was called Heavenly Habitat .  Now the name has meaning because this place used to be a Lutheran church!  The outside was still church-like but the inside had been completely renovated to be a bed and breakfast. They also had a "stuff" store in the basement which us and the other guests were allowed to browse through Sunday morning. It was fun and I of course had to make a purchase.

Here are a couple shots of our room:

I enjoyed the stay, innkeeper, and other couple that were guests that night. ***WIN***

Back to our journey...

After we arrived and checked into the B&B, hubby and I went for a bike ride. I wanted to see the town and since it was not a hilly town the bikes were going to get some use.

First we headed over to the city park. We happened across our first bridge. These are old covered bridges built in Iowa in the 1880's. This particular one had been moved from its original home to the park and restored.  I think that is hubby on the other side of the bridge on his bicycle... There was a nice park and small campground here. We also discovered this is the home of the delicious apple. It was also discovered here in the late 1800's.  I was having a blast discovering all this old history in a small town.  In case you didn't know, this town also sports the birthplace of John Wayne. That's nice but not worthy of my blog.

By now hubby was famished and thirsty. The innkeeper had recommended a sports bar for dinner so instead of going back to the B&B we just rode there on our bikes.  I giggled as I pulled up to the bar on my bicycle and hopped off like it was a Harley or something. We went in had a greasy bad for you dinner and some adult beverages. YUM.  After that we got back on our bikes and finished touring the town. We found some beautiful old Victorian homes and planned which one was going to be ours someday. Fun and silly couple kind of things. We needed it.

The next day, Sunday was back to finding more bridges. They were all within a reasonable distance so we saw them all but one.  I am sorry but I can't remember all the names of each bridge. You will notice they are all slightly different in how they look which makes them all the more fascinating to see.  This one here was rebuilt after a fire so you are able to drive on it. The others have been closed to driving but you are able to walk on them all and take pictures.

I just had to put this into the blog. EVERY time we go on an adventure, hubby ends up finding some low maintenance road to drive us on. All the bridges were located on dirty gravel roads!

This bridge name I do remember - Hogback Bridge. I grew up on a pig farm so the name stuck in my head.

The final bridge we saw was Roseman Bridge - of movie fame The Bridges of Madison County with Clint Eastwood. I loved the movie so I had to see it in person. It was worth it.

 

After this we headed home and back to reality but with smiles on our faces!

Just one more reason to work where I do!

Never underestimate the cost savings our company enjoys by supplying us half a kitchen sponge.

 

 

I can't mention the company or anything else that could possibly get me in trouble and fired, which they would do but trust me these people make a LOT of money.

 

Thanks for the contribution co-worker. YOU know who you are :-)