Pancho - the early times!

Wildernest Treehouse MusicFest

See the Musicfest website here!

The dates for the MusicFest are May 4-6th.  Buy tickets on the website or call 903-342-1854.

Only 250 tickets will be sold.  

See the website for important information about attending.

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MusicFest on the internet

A Google search just turned up these hits on the MusicFest:

Winnsboro Online Guide weekly email

Winnsboro Online Guide

Wood County Electric Coop website

Winnsboro Center for the Arts website

Winnsboro Chamber of Commerce Facebook page

Heather McCready's press release in several locations

Mineola Monitor

Heather McCready;s Facebook page

Tyler Lenius website

American Classifieds website

Crossroads Music Company website

and all kinds of things on my blog where you are seeing this!

The treehouse tree after its' cut back yesterday

. . . lot's of wood on the ground to burn -

MusicFest posters going out today!

 

And the website www.wildernestmusicfest.com is already up!

Louisiana Iris

We've told the irises that they can have the whole lower pond now and they are working hard to fill it up.  I also moved some cuttings to the BOD pond and they are doing well - even after last years' drought that almost dried up the pond.

I think this is the worst flooding we've seen in Jacobs' Creek!

The pond from the BOD.  You can see the "V" support at the end of the zip line if you look very carefully on the left side of the picture.

"New Creek" - new because it wasn't there before!

"Lake Oscars' Pasture"

We had about 5 inches of rain in a little less than 12 hours.  This is as close as I could get to the west bridge without wading more than shoe top height.  The bottom posts of the stairs show almost two feet of water depth. Along the path to the Treehouse, the water is over 200 feet wide!.

MusicFest

There's been a lot happening with the MusicFest and we're now beginning to put some check marks on the to-do list.  The website is up, tickets are designed and ordered, the Chapel Worship Service program is in final draft.  The community is being very supportive and we are signing up some sponsors!!  Next on the list is working on the CD cover - looks like either a six-panel or the standard jewel case with an insert. Lots to say!  Gus is still working on the musician line-up but we've already got enough confirmed to put on a great show!  And still a lot happening that I can't put out here yet.  My blog used to be a personal/family thing but having referred to the MusicFest in previous posts Google is now sending quite a few people here.  If you're one of those I hope you enjoy your visit but note that you can get all the info on the new website.  The page up above is a link.  And remember to check the Crossroads Music FB page for future updates.

And if any of you are coming up on retirement and wondering what you're going to be doing with yourself, my recommendation is to find yourself a Gus (Gustafson) and put on a music event.  You will stay busy!

Wildernest - Featured in the (February 29th, 2012) Mineola Monitor Spring Lawn & Garden Section!

"Master Gardener Wields Light Touch on Natural Masterpiece" - What's not to like about that headline!  This lady knows a lot of adjectives!  After reading the article I had to go walk the trail again to see what she saw!  I'm really happy with the write up - it touches on most all of our favorite outdoor things about our home. Five nice color pictures too.  (If you double click the pictures you can read it.)

Nostalgia overload!!

This little place used to be the library.  I went here a lot! 

So we've driven through Irving several times in the last few years but yesterday Glynda attended a Dulcimer festival that was in, of all places, the First Methodist Church in Irving which is where I went to VBS when I was a kid - they didn't have things like that at the Christian Science Church.  So yesterday I spent a couple hours walking around old downtown Irving and our old neighborhood.  Overload!  Anyway - here's some pictures I took - with captions. 

Irving Shoe Repair - It was just a couple doors down from dads' "Ray Willis Paint Store" in the early 1950's and it's still there now and a guy took in a pair of shoes while I was there.  Who repairs shoes anymore?  Back then you always re-soled shoes at least once!

Not at all as it was then so I just took a photo of the number - 120 S. Main Street.  Used to be dads' store.  Now it's a florist that looks sorta like a head shop once you're inside. 

Big State Drug store - opened in 1948.  Glynda had lunch at their soda fountain and later in the day I had coffee there.  Lots of old folks eating there - looks like their clientele will die off in a few years.  I also took a picture of a shelf of old prescriptions - looks like they have them all from the beginning!

306 High School Lane - Dad had it built while we were living next door at 704 E. Third Street - a house that he had built using concrete blocks.  Both are still there.

704 East Third Street.  I was probably 4 or 5 when we moved here.

On the right - Griff's Hamburgers - they were 5 for a dollar.  Straight ahead - the Irving Theater - movies for a quarter.  And to the right a convenience store - nickle candy bars and nickle cokes.  For $1.00 Linda and I could go to the movies and have a hamburger and coke afterwards.  (No sales tax then either.)

One of my favorite stores was the Army & Navy store.  It's still there only it's now called the Army & Navy Pawn Shop.  I bought my back pack for school there - army surplus - and they still have them and they are close to the same place in the store!

Different building and even a different denomination now - but it used to be the Presbyterian church.  My Cub Scout pack and Boy Scout troop met there and Suzie and I got married there.

A community building - it's where I went to take my tests to get my drivers license.

Around the corner was the fire station

The little white building was a barber shop and was where I got my hair cuts.  The house on the right faced one street and the little building faced another street.  It was just a few blocks from our house on High School Lane.

519 Union Bower Road - Herb and Meree sold it to us when they moved and it's where we lived when Bambi was born.

Dads' lodge - the same sign was there then.

I know I'm sounding like an old guy here but that's the way it is! 
And now I'm learning why old guys act like old guys and don't even care!

February Gardening - Floral and Vegetable

 Here's a mid-February post about the gardening activities we've been enjoying this month.  We started a few seeds towards the end of January - those that say on the package to start indoors 6-8 weeks before the last expected frost. All have now been transplanted into 2" pots. Those included some Butterfly Weed (the taller ones in the picture below), some Salvias, ornamental peppers, early jalapenos, and Big Bertha bell peppers.  The last four are all out in the greenhouse now.  There was not enough room under the lights for everything so some of each variety spent some time in a southern window.  Those that were kept under the lights did noticeably better!

The taller plants to the front of this picture are marigolds that were planted about 7-8 days ago.  They came up in three days and are reaching too much for the light now.  I'm going to lower the lights before today is done!

Not in the picture are four flats of six packs of another variety of marigolds, two varieties of zinnias, and some pickling cucumbers!

Starting seedlings in the house with supplemental heat (a pad) and light.

Some seedlings just moved from the house where they were started to the greenhouse

Some of the plants over-wintered in the greenhouse

The bougainvillea - enjoying the greenhouse

An experiment - some peppers (only four) into a cold frame in mid-Feb

  A couple years ago I used a small frame structure covered with plastic to start seeds.  I've made it into a temporary cold frame now and have put a few peppers in it to see how they'll do.  I've got extras so this will be a good experiment.

First plants into the garden (purchased plants)

 Yesterday I was at the co-op/feed store in Quitman and bought six four packs of some of the cold weather plants - lettuce, spinach, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower.  They are now in a raised bed that I prepared several weeks ago.

Rose of Sharon

daylillies

I've also started in the greenhouse some Rose of Sharon trees from cuttings, some ferns, sweet potato vines, a few succulents, a tray of daylillies, and a few other plants.

  
Here's a detail from one of the pictures above and it's still hard to see the subject but between the little heater and the reddish pots is Shadow!  She loves it in the greenhouse and would stay there all day every day if I would let her - except when she got hungry enough to go hunting!