Indiana State Fair Coliseum Remodeling

This is what we see when we enter the coliseum but no more this will be gone as we know it which is sort of like going home but now there will be many changes. I am excited for the Indiana State fair to have a remodeled space that can be used in a more profitable way.   You can follow this renovation on the website, face book  and twitter.  www.Indianastatefair.com  You can google the coliseum and follow the progress. A lot of recycling went on with this remodeling.  Stay tuned there will be more

Before they started

The outside will get a face lift and good for it we all could use one now and then

And look at the light coming in those windows that have been buried in the walls we couldn't see them

Remember walking down these corridors  I always thought they were neat my old grade school had this color brick

Not knowing for sure but this is what the bleachers sat on I was  up higher than I thought.

 

Cowgirl Boots

I was at the annual Christmas luncheon at Indy Decorative Artist and these were our table favors.  How did these get this pretty  Directions  buy used boots or drag some out of the closet  we all have a few pair we hate or they are too small hurt your feet etc.  Clean them with some type of soap just what ever you would use on your counter top.    Then use a sealer email me and I will give you some names  same with the paint. Paint away it took 3 coats to cover each section    and then   what ever designs you would like to use   You could stencil something  I thought they were clever and wanted to share

I am cleaning my house and I remembered these pictures and had to stop and blog   Need to finish cleaning Hope you enjoy these crazy boots.

Until the next time take care.

.

"Elsie's"

 This is Elsie she is in the plaid dress above and the lady below is Elsie.  The lady who named the store  runs and owns this business is her granddaughter.  Jennifer Martin  she calls it Elsie's after her grandmother.  Jennifer is from Southern Kansas  she does have a southern accent but she is a joy to do business with.  Below you will see that she has started a clothing store on our downtown square in Martinsville.  She moved in about 4 months ago.   It has been several years since we have had a clothing store on the square.   I like to shop close to home and I hope she will stay for a long time

What is special for you followers of the Confession of a  Pioneer Woman,  Ree Drummond   Jennifer also uses her cookbook and besides her nephew works at the ranch for Tim and Missy you have heard Ree talk about them.  Sure is a small world.  Stop by and check her clothing out and the decorations.  I think she is open 6 days a week from 11 to 4   If you need to contact her I would be happy to send her a message from you.

Take care and stay warm

Farm Bureau Convention

 This weekend we spent a few days in Indy.  Nice place to visit   We stayed in the JW Marriott I really like the hotel we were on the 28th floor and the view at night was fantastic. 1st time I have stayed there the beds were comfortable the staff were very nice and the food was really good..  I was in the trade show with gourds and other painted items. 

 I  approached FB with an offer for  their members to do a make it-take it to paint a gourd snowman and some 63 ladies took them up on this painting lesson.  I have some who would like to do it again next year.  We will see how Farm Bureau feels about it.  A lot of farm shows in years past that I have attended did have activities for the ladies to enjoy.
I was glad I was able to meet some very crafty ladies.  Saw some I knew from the Beef Cattle Assoc. always nice to visit with old friends. Meet a lady who follows my blog surprised me.

Going to a class tomorrow night at out Library subject Face book   Looking forward to seeing what they have to say. 
It sure is wet outside and we got a good rain tonight I could hear it coming down  I guess this will help with our moisture level. 
 Some of my bulbs are poking through the soil hope they don't come to far up.
 The birds are getting feed when they need it  and I have suet cakes for my woodpeckers  I also hear them working on my persimmon trees.
I have now completed all my shows and  can clean my house for Christmas and start baking all kinds of sweet things. We give some away to our landlords and friends.  Love this part of Christmas  time to smell the pine trees.  Until I find more time to blog take care.

What I'am I up too

 I almost forgot how to write a blog.  Been many places and always forget to take pictures just plain forget. This is one of my favorite dogs I adopted Zeus one year and 2 months ago.   He is a darling  had him to the groomers and he has on his Christmas scarf.  He will sit on one step and his feet on the other.  He weighs 170 pounds and he is 3 years old.

 I am recycling again  almost did it earlier but the leaves weren't raked up yet  I wait until the county rakes the leaves from the courthouse lawn and then I bring them home.  I have thought about leaving them in the bags all winter have never done that but I see other recyclers leave the bags in their yard all winter.  Any one who is reading this and has a suggestion please fire away I am open for some advise.  I use them in my garden or around my flowers.  Helps build the soil.

I did take them all

 And here we are to my favorite thing to paint are gourds.  I will be at the Indiana Farm Bureau State  Convention  in Indianapolis this coming week.  Will have a lot of gourds ready for someone to paint on.  Ever want to paint on a gourd this is your chance.  Paint your own snowman.  I need to get back to work at painting and getting ready for Christmas.  Tree is up and decorated will show on another day.  Take care until we meet again. 

Meetings and Painting

 I have been spending time painting  and going to meetings for not having a regular employment I sure seem to get to attend more meeting than a person should have to. We had our annual fair board meeting and elected some new people and some old ones stayed on for a few more years.
   The picture below is from an extension board meeting where that honored Ted Everett and Kurt Everett as "Friends of Extension"  for their work with 4H and the livestock auction started back in the 1970's and he is still doing the auction for the 4H kids.  Hubby went to a land  sale tonight that Ted had and the sale brought in some where around 3,000,000.00 just had to show all the zero's   Most farmers and equipment owners  know Ted.  He has a big sale barn out on 39 passed Monrovia In  want a day of entertainment go out to see all that he sells no chickens or peacocks like some  places

Chris Parker     Kurt Everett   Ted Everett  Patty Dow

 Do you remember my Christmas trees from last year.  Time is flying by real fast,  next week is Thanksgiving and my trees go up and are lite that night.   The trees are in place now I got to get the reindeer out and make sure their lights are in order.  Then I think I would like to get my Christmas  tree up just something on my list.  This I need help with so I will get on someones schedule

Wishing everyone a happy and a safe holiday.  Until we meet again

Never Enough Time

I don't have any pictures from today's painting group but  the Extension Homemakers  painted a gourd this morning they had their Holiday program.  I believe it was enjoyed by all 24 of them.

After we left the Fairgrounds we went to Johnson County or maybe I should say Franklin to the Salvage Sister's Antique store just east of downtown on 44.  We also rent a space in that building and have  had a successful little booth. We wanted to spruce up and added some Christmas to our  booth as there is a Antique show at the Johnson County Fairgrounds as they visit there we get some lookers also.

This weekend has so many crafts fairs going on  there are some here in Martinsville,   There  is a Fiber Show in Bloomington at a church on 3rd Street  Sorry I don't have anymore than that. 

We are also going to have some great weather this weekend so I am planning on mowing my yard and leaves for the last time this year. 

It is close to Thanksgiving and it is time to put up my White Christmas Trees and my 3 reindeer.   I light them on Thanksgiving night.  I need to check the lights and make sure they are working.

Going to be busy for a while  until we meet again take care of yourself.  Stop and smell the roses they are blooming for the last time this year.

Bradford Woods

 Last weekend the 27 of October we did a show in Bradford Woods.  The weather was sunny and cool It  ran from 10 to 6 with 2 hours of trick or treat night. trails were  lite by candles and a lot of fun from all the children who come to visit.  We did a make it take it for the children and we sold out by 4 O'clock  Next year we will have more of the gourds and maybe do something different.  There was a report of 2600 people who come to visit  They didn't expect that many so we were all overwhelmed.  We also had rug hooking demonstrations  they keep a couple of people busy.  All in all IU should be proud of Bradford Woods and all they have to offer.  We will come back next year with another project for the children to work on.

On another subject  I am happy to say harvest of the crops finished yesterday.  Got some wheat in the ground this last week.   Now field work and fertilizing the fields for next year.  The cows are out back on the corn stalks and the pastures are still green enough for the cows to pick at the grass makes you think it is spring not going into winter.  Hope the persimmon is not a prediction of the weather since it is a spoon which is a sign of snow.  Enough for now.   Take care until next time 

Coliseum Lights Out

 Last night I had the pleasure of joining several fair going folks to say Good Bye to the way we see the Coliseum now.  It was a call given by Cindy Hoye  for Lights Out.   These picture are of the Rodeo that was  the last event in the Coliseum that was attended by 5000 FFA members that were visiting this week for their National Convention.  There were approximately 55,000 in Indianapolis and surrounding towns.  It was a pleasure to have them in Indy and I hope they come back real soon.   I know the convention is going to Louisville but some day they will come back.

lights out

Cindy ask them to go left and right  Looks like a bunch of check marks

Cindy Hoye and Andre Lacy during the program

Andre had to take one last trip around the coliseum

Cheri Daniels and Cindy Hoye I bet they are planning which contest Cheri  will enter next year

 

I am glad I was invited  to help say goodbye and I look forward to the opening of the renovated Coliseum in 2014.  "Light Out"

Fall and Sunflowers

My son took this picture on the way to one of our fields   There are several tree that are beautiful  We are still working at harvesting corn  seems slow but we are moving right along.  Some field yields are a surprise.

I planted some sunflowers early this summer the biggest is 13 inches  I had one several years ago that was 19 inches and I entered it in the State Fair it got a second.  The one below was planted in August and they are trying to put on flowers but 3 days of cold temperature sure slowed them down.

Gourds 2012

It is that time of year again so off to Ohio I went today my daughter Debbie was so kind to drive.  We made several purchases  I am like a woman in a dress shop I want one of each.  .I did  buy what I needed to paint for my fall shows.  I will be at the Farm Bureau convention in December with the painted gourds in the trade show so please stop by and see me.  

I really like eggs and our friend Joe Rode brought me 6 eggs and told me they have double yolks,  can't wait to crack them to find out.  They came from southern Indiana.  Thanks Joe

Tomorrow is rug hooking day so I will be at the shop at 10:00 need to finish my project  it is a chicken will show you when I am finished.

We are cutting hay so I am praying for a week of sunshine.  I am sure we are not the only farmers trying to get another cutting.


    

This is what you see out the back   Happy gourds.

View from my Kitchen

This is what I see when I looked out my kitchen window.  Since we have had our resent rains the grass has greened up and the girls have some beautiful grass to eat   Talked to neighbors who are wanting to cut hay again since we have had some real growth.  We even moved some of our cows back to the summer pasture which was dead in July.  It  is rainy today but I hear we are going to get some sunny weather.  Sorry these pictures are so foggy but that is the way it was here today.  

Just wanted to share my pictures  Debbie and I have dome a couple of gourd programs the last couple of weeks and I am trying to paint some Christmas gourds as the show are going to start the 1st part of Oct.

There is a  Fall Festival at Bradford Woods on 67 south of Mooresville  on Oct 27  from 10  to 6.  We are setting up in a booth where we will have a spinner gourd that children may paint and have rug hooking going on at the same time.    You may go to Bradford Woods website  and look at all  the activities for children.

Have a great day and stay safe

 

Annexation And Farm Opportunities

Last night was our annual Farm Bureau meeting.  We had a very good speaker  on how to accept the resent annexation that has taken place in out town,  They are taking  a lot of farm ground I know they have their reasons but for the farmer the reasons are not good enough.  I live in the buffer zone and have for 30 years and we have a feed lot but a river separates us from the city.  I am glad they stopped at the river.  
A lot of towns go through growth  We are expecting I69 to come past the East side of our town and that is what they want to control.
We have been in the field for 3 weeks  Not a pretty sight.  Every day we hear something different about what is going on with the quality of corn that is being trucked home,  Indy and other places.  Are we suppose to dry it,  are we to ship and not dry.      Hoping we will find out in the morning there is a meeting of several who are in the know and maybe they have all the answers   None of the field around here are worth anything as far as yields go.  Spending more on fuel and wear and tear on equipment. 
Have a safe harvest until another time

Barns

The barns are finished and as you can see they are occupied by some beautiful calves it  is weaning time.   They have a lot more room in the barn as they changed the length of the feed trough  and a few other things.  While the feed lot is empty they have decided to remove a old board fence and put up a new one looks great.  Your doing a good job.   Keeping a eye out for the rain that we were to get  a few sprinkles is all that came by the farm today as I was finishing up mowing the place. Take care and have a safe  Holiday

 I know it has been awhile since I have blogged but with the State Fair and then I took off to Virginia with my Daughter and Granddaughter.  We went on a girl trip so I could paint with my favorite National Decorative Artist, we painted for 3 days while my family went shopping and wine tasting I was told there 15 wineries in the area.   Beautiful area  we were about 20 miles west of D.C. Below is one of the pieces I painted while there. Still working on the other piece.

Some of my class mates decided to meet for an evening of conversation and some good food.  They don't look very excited  but the conversation did pick a little later. My sister came in from Palo Alto Ca the other night and she will be here until the 10th of Sept.

 

This is a Rosemary West folk art design and the class was held the Pampered Palette in Gainesville Virginia.