HUMMINGBIRD

Usually I don't have a problem with my hummingbird feeder. This year I do.

The hummingbirds come in the Spring as usual. I check the hummingbird website to see how far north they have migrated. They usually arrive at my doorstep around the time the bleeding heart and cherry trees bloom.

So I put out a hanging basket of red or pink flowers and fill the feeder and hang it nearby. Voila! Hummingbirds.

This year they fed for awhile and then I noticed the feeder wasn't emptying. Upon closer inspection I found every hole was packed with mud. I suppose some bee or other insect was the culprit, but why they did it, I have no idea.

I cleaned the feeder and unplugged the holes (not an easy task) and refilled it.

I have discovered the hummingbirds don't like their feeder cleaned with soap an Clorox, even though I rinsed all traces of it.

So now I just rinse it with scalding hot water and refill it with sugar water, made from one part sugar to four parts water, nuked in the microwave for eight minutes. Let cool and fill feeder. I don't add red coloring.

Over the last few weeks I noticed the feeder was emptying at a faster rate than usual. When I was watering the nearby baskets I saw a yellow jacket at the feeder. It was slurping sugar water for at least four minutes without a break. Talk about a sugar-high!

So this time when I refilled the feeder I put vegetable oil all around the feeding holes. Bees don't like the oil but the hummingbirds don't mind it. I also have a black cup above the feeder filled with water to keep the ants away. This I bought at Walmart. Now I see they have feeders at Walmart with the black cups already attached.

I now see the bees circling the feeder but don't land.

If you look closely or enlarge the above picture you can see one of the hummingbirds getting ready to choose a feeding hole for a drink.

I had a difficult time getting that picture. The hummingbirds are camera shy, so I resorted to taking the picture through the door window.

I will leave the feeder up until the middle of September. By then they start their journey south once again.

My, my it's almost like raising children again.

TRAIN STATION AT ELKINS, WVA

"Country roads take me home . . . ". Do you remember that song John Denver sang about West Virginia?

What a beautiful state West Virginia is, lush green forests of the Appalachian Mountains.

Expansive vistas, rolling hills, deep valleys and nice, down to earth residents -- that describes Elkins, WVA. Located in Randolph County at the bend of the Tygart River at the junction of US 33 and 219.

We recently spent a few days there and found it to be a small town on the brink of something big.

Trains like the one above, leave the train station downtown and travel up the winding track to the town of Spruce. All along the way, passengers are treated to spectacular views and grazing wild life.

While aboard the longer trip you are treated to lunch and dinner. The shorter trip will get you lunch.

After the shorter ride we had dinner at the restaurant across from the station. The food was delicious and like everything in Elkins, moderately priced.

Next, we went next door to the American Mountain Theater for a "Branson" type show. The theater was started a few years ago by two sisters. Their family members are some of the professional entertainers.

The show was a wholesome, family production of comedy and music. Two hours flew by and left you wanting more.

The theater is so popular, all the Christmas shows are sold out already and it's only July.

If you are one that enjoys outdoor sports and nature hikes, you will feel right at home.

There are many new hotels and campgrounds, as well as restaurants, all of which won't break your piggy bank.

If you are tired of the rat race of theme park vacations, and want something more laid back and family oriented, try Elkins, WVa, you won't be sorry.

Did I mention how friendly everyone is!

TOMATOES

First of all, blame this blog topic on Amy. She talked about her home grown tomatoes in a BLT. So naturally, after my mouth stopped watering, I got to thinking about the round, red, juicy, luscious vegetable or fruit, whichever you prefer to call it.

No matter where you live, store bought tomatoes can't come close in taste to your own home grown ones.

I remember the years after Mt. St. Helen's erupted in Washington, the farmers realized their crops grew bigger and better than before the eruption. They attributed that to the volcanic ash supplementing the soil.

Here in the anthracite coal country of northeast Pennsylvania, our tomatoes are world famous . . . literally.

Every August, the city of Pittston, boasts to have the best tasting tomatoes in the country.
They celebrate their tomatoes every year with the Pittston Tomato Festival. People come from around the world to attend it. (Well maybe they just happened to be visiting someone locally and got to attend by default).

I grew up in the coal town of Hughestown, which abuts the city of Pittston. My Dad always planted a garden, and his tomatoes were to die for. My Mom preserved them in jars for stewed tomatoes in the winter. She made tomato juice and canned it. The tomato juice on grocery shelves doesn't come close to the taste of homemade canned tomato juice. Next came spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce and chili sauce. I can still smell the aromatic, spicy aroma of chili sauce cooking on the stove.

I, like Mom, have grown many a tomato in my gardens and canned them all summer along with all the other delicious vegetables. Not to mention the jams and jellies, pears, peaches, and applesauce.

Alas, I now have an empty nest and no longer plant a garden. Once I get past that time in the spring when I should be harvesting lettuce and green onions, I pretty much am okay the rest of the summer.

Although the coal industry isn't prevalent anymore, the coal dust is still in the soil. Perhaps that, like lava ash out west, is why our area grows great tomatoes.

Besides tasting so good, tomatoes are good for you. They are high in Vitamin C,
Potassium, Lycopene, plus a lot more antioxidants . . . but don't tell the kids, they may never eat pizza again!

The tomatoes around here will keep producing abundantly until the first frost. Before that happens you have to pick all the green ones, let some ripen on a window sill, save some to fry up. Have you ever had green fried tomatoes? Oh are they good.

My personal favorite is Bruscetta. Chop up some tomatoes, fresh basil, mozzarella cheese mixed with salt, pepper and some olive oil (garlic is optional). Put the mixture on toasted Italian bread. Sometimes for variety I add sliced black olives. M-M- Good.

So celebrate summer with a BLT made with home grown tomatoes.

Enjoy, enjoy.
Thanks Amy.

A person's word, what does it mean?

It once meant that a person's integrity and reputation was based on their word.

Many business deals were consummated by a person's word and a handshake.

Now a deal is solidified by any number of lawyers drawing up papers, with much fine print, that can mean anything they want it to in the future. This is commonly known as a "loophole".

A recent event comes to mind. The Congress recently passed a monumental health care bill. In order to get the support of pro-life Democrats, the President unequivocally promised them, and right-to life-clergy and all who'd listen that in no way would abortions be paid for with federal dollars. ( By the way, Congress is the body that writes the bills, the President is the one that signs them.) Madam Speaker Pelosi made the statement at the time of passage, "We have to pass the bill before we'll know what's in it." Just think about that for a minute.

Fast forward to this past week. The announcement was made that the structure was being built for federal funding of high risk insurance pools, involving billions of dollars, in Pennsylvania and New Mexico, where abortion is legal.
Apparently the "loophole" I mentioned before, will allow your federal tax dollars to pay for abortions.

Another part of the health care bill is if you don't have health insurance you will pay a fee. Now the President comes out and says it isn't a fee but a "health tax". All through his campaign he promised those earning less than $250,000 would not pay any increase in taxes. The so-called "health tax" will affect those earning way under $250,000.

Seniors on Social Security have already paid what I call a "silent tax". They did not receive a COLA this year and probably won't next year either. COLA stands for cost of living adjustment which is based on the rate of inflation. They said there was no inflation, excluding food and energy. Excuse me, aren't those the two things that continue to escalate. Talk about "fuzzy math". By the way if there was no inflation, why did Congress receive their COLA?

But never fear, the new health care bill is looking out for the health of our young people. A school in Massachusetts now includes on report cards the BMI score of every student along with the grades they make in the ABC's.

So let me get this straight, it's okay to kill off unborn babies with federal funds, but federal dollars are paying for BMI measurements, because the Federal Government is worried about the health of already born children!

Back to what it means when a person gives their word. I was always taught if you say what you don't mean it is called . . . LYING.

Sadly it's the end of an era.

We just learned that the Roy Rogers Museum in Branson, MO. has closed.

The owner, Roy's son Dusty said they had to close because they were losing too much money due to the bad economy and lack of visitors.

My husband and I have been to Branson twice and visited the museum both times.

It was an extensive overview of Roy and Dale's lives.

We spent hours in there and still didn't see everything.

Trigger, Trigger Jr., Buttermilk (Dale's horse), and their dog Bullet are all immortalized by taxidermy in life-like positions.

Nellybelle, the jeep from the TV show was there too.

There was a section showing pictures of Roy's co-stars from the many films he made.

A video of their children talking about Roy and Dale was very moving.

As you may or may not know they had both natural and adopted children.
They loved children and did a lot of charity work on their behalf.

They also had a lot of sorrow in their lives, having lost several of their precious children.

Roy's natural son Dusty, ran the museum and had a show there.
We met him when he welcomed visitors after every show in the foyer and gift shop.
He was very warm and friendly. He talked to people and had pictures taken with them; as though he was a long lost relative.

I can understand why the visitors have waned. The younger generation of today don't really know Roy and Dale, including my children.

Their popular TV show from the 50's never made it to reruns like "I Love Lucy" has.

The contents of the museum including Trigger will be auctioned off by Christie's

At least we have memories and Dale's books.

Happy Trails Roy and Dale. It was a pleasure to know you.

Saturday was quite the day.

Hubby and I arose early in the morning to go to his Uncle Charlie's funeral in NJ.

Uncle Charlie was 91 years-old and lived independently; then he fell and fractured his hip.

The hip replacement surgery was successful, but a few days after the surgery his 91 year-old body had all it could handle and shut down.

Back to the trip to NJ. When we left home at 5:30 AM it was raining gently.
This was a good thing, since the ground was parched from the previous week of ninety-plus temperatures.

We stopped in Wind Gap, PA for breakfast. When we left the car, there were only a few drops of rain. When we left the restaurant there was a deluge.

It poured like that almost all the way to our destination. The water wasn't ponding on the roadway, it was forming lakes.

We passed one accident scene in the opposite direction, where an SUV rolled over. Not a hard thing to do in that weather.

In NJ we passed a mini-van on fire. The emergency and rescue vehicles were out en masse trying to put the fire out. I sure hope everyone got out okay.

By the time we arrived at the funeral home the rain ceased and the sun came out.

Hubby enjoyed visiting with all of his cousins he hadn't seen in a long time.
It was amazing how many of them looked like their parents did at the same age.

The ride back home was enjoyable. Sunshine all the way and traffic that was tolerable.

On the news that evening, the weatherman told of the area we were in as having an enormous amount of rain in a short time.

He was absolutely correct. The good news was, we didn't see an Ark.

Narrowsburg, NY, a lovely town just across the PA border along the Delaware River.

The people who live and visit there are warm and friendly. It's a family-kind of town.

Every July 4th they have a celebration with a parade and fireworks.

The main street is lined with vendors selling all types of goodies.

The quaint shops are open for browsing and finding just the item you've been searching for.

In the evening after the fantastic fireworks display, families would slowly walk back through the maize of vendors seeking the treat they missed earlier.

However, this year's celebration was a great disappointment.

Someone had a better idea -- or so they thought.

The vendors were scattered all over town. If you were looking for your favorite food item, chances are you didn't find it.

If you were the least bit handicapped you were at a great disadvantage.

After the parade many people left. In the past years they would have stayed and yes, spent money.

This year the weather was spectacular. I suspect many who would have stayed and enjoyed the festivities went southwest to the town of Greeley, PA, and helped out the fire company by partaking of their chicken dinner.

Whoever was in charge of this year's event I would suggest they pay heed to the old adage, "If it ain't broke don't fix it".

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend.

There were fireworks all over our neighborhood last night.

You know, the kind that whistle then explode, in an assortment of patterns. All colors of the rainbow against and inky black sky. WOW!!

It certainly feels like July here in NEPA (Northeast PA).

The humidity and temperatures are heading upward.

Predictions are for 100' or more.
It's July after all.

It seems once the 4th of July comes and goes the remainder of the summer flies by at break-neck speed.

Remember last summer, it was cool and rainy most of the time.
So enjoy this hot weather while it is here.

Now if only we could preserve it in jars for January...sort of like tomatoes. Could you young scientists work on that please?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA

A big thank you and God Bless you, to the brave men and women serving in the military on the battlefront and in support positions all over the world, for keeping us safe.

If you could talk to one of the founders or signers of the Declaration of Independence whom would you choose?

I would like to talk to Benjamin Franklin. Not to interview him but just to sit down with a cup of Earl Grey and a cherry scone and chat.

I would ask him what he thought about how far our country has strayed from the original Constitution and how he would fix it.

He was a brilliant self-educated man and was responsible for many inventions such as the lightning rod and iron furnace stove. But did you he invented swim fins and bifocals?

Learn more about our founders at www.ushistory.org

Whether you are traveling, enjoying fireworks, grilling, camping, swimming or whatever your activity this weekend remember what Sgt. Phil Esterhaus from "Hill Street Blues" told his fellow police officers, "Hey, be careful out there".

We want you back to enjoy America's next birthday. For that one I think I'll have a chat with Thomas Jefferson.

God Bless America and all her citizens. May she ever be the home of the free and the brave.