From the past...

I saw this in the Livery Stable Antique Barn I posted on Time Stand Still...
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When I was growing up, we had one similar to this in our kitchen. The one we had had the place for the flour on the left side....like the one shown here. Mom kept her flour in it, and her pan she made biscuits in sat under it. dishes and serving bowls were kept on the shelves in the upper right side, I think....glasses sat below behind the roll-up door. Some, if not all the pots and pans sat behind the big door on the bottom

I don't remember what were in the drawers when it was actually in use...

Besides it, we had a big, metal kitchen sink...similar to this one. Maybe some of you remember them...maybe not. The whole thing is made of metal, there is only one basin. We always used a metal dishpan to run water to wash dishes in, and just ran water a bit at a time to rinse with.

Oh, being in the country, we had well water. Which means we had an electric pump. After so much water is ran, the pump kicks on. Well, our pump was in the basement and we could hear it kick on. I don't know what happened and don't remember if or how it was fixed, but there was a short in the wiring somehow. And if we were running water, and the pump came on, when we touched the faucet to turn it off, we got shocked! I can remember that as if it happened yesterday.

Beside that sink, a homemade table sat that had the same height as the sink. It fit between the sink and the wall. Mom hung a curtain across the front of it, and behind it sat a big lard can...that is where she put her cornmeal. What else was there, I don't remember, but it did have more room. The top had linoleum on it to make washing it easy.

For a long long time our kitchen table was a home made one...again the top had linoleum on it--and it had this metal trim that went all the way around the edge...it capped down over the linoleum and kept it from curling up or getting torn I suppose. And we had a bench that two of us sat on...again, I am sure it was homemade, but I don't remember any details of how it was made.

Mom saved and had kitchen cabinets made...this was probably before I was in high school. She first got just the base...they were custom made by a cabinet maker. They were simple made, but they were made well. They filled the wall that the sink and other table were on and extended half way down another wall. A while later, not sure how long, she was able to have upper cabinets made.

Either when she had the base made or when she had the upper cabinets made, she also had a base made with two bins that tipped out...one for flour and one for cornmeal...I think I have talked before about how everyone down there used to always buy their flour and meal in 25lb sacks...so the bins were really used.

It was just so exciting to have all that room....it probably more than doubled her storage room. I really don't know how she made it before as far as space. And all that counter space to work on. Though we still used the table a lot...by then one of my sisters had given her a nice table with matching chairs.

The Mama and the Papa

I have not been feeding the birds this summer...but decided I best use what is left before bugs get into it. The cardinals are some of the most frequent visitors...
They even started to build a nest right by the front steps, but decided against it this time before they got it finished. I do know why they even think about it...the cats are always out there. The cardinals would just fuss at them or us if we came out...

I heard a Carolina wren 3 or 4 morns, but did not see it. I hung up a gourd, but no luck. Actually hung up two gourds...but both are failures so far.

I seen the hummingbird pass by my new flowers again today...it may have actually been there for more than passing by, but I didn't see it till it was flying away.
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I was busy today...hung out 3 loads of laundry...it dried in less than half the time it would have taken to dry in the dryer. I cannot believe how quick it dries when the humidity is down.

We are anxiously waiting for our tomatoes to grow and get ripe...we have little ones...almost the size of a marble. And we have one bell pepper that is approaching golf ball size. I am sort of worrying about if everything got pollinated good. I sure hope so.

From Goose Pond

It has been such beautiful weather the past couple of days, we decided to get up and go for a little drive this morn. Actually had a longer drive in mind, but did not make it as far as I planned. But we did make it down to the Goose Pond area south of Linton, Indiana.
First, we saw Great Egrets....this one circled over us several times. He was not the only one there, but he was the only one close enough to get a shot.
After it flew away, I walked to the water's edge and there sat this big fellow. I tried to get closer but he hopped out into deeper water.

Now take a look below...
I am almost 100% sure these are Black-necked stilts. When I looked here at All About Birds, we are not even in their migration range. I couldn't remember what their name was but thought I had seen them somewhere else in blogland...actually I knew just where I had seen them.

If you want to see some really GOOD photos, check here at Montanagirl's post. Her photos are always super.
We also saw lots of blue herons, but none close enough to photograph....but did not see much else. I was in hopes of seeing an eagle, but nothing was in the air except for the herons and egrets moving from one area to another, and some red-winged blackbirds.

We both threw our lines in the water here, and at another strip pit or two we passed on the way home, but did neither of us got a single hit. I take that back, I did have a little bluegill--and I do mean little. I could see it trying to get my lure and it wasn't a whole lot bigger than the lure...so it doesn't really count. At one of the places, I did see a bass that was at least 18 inches long, but he was not interested in any lure I threw out.