Month: May 2019

Where I live in East Central Kansas we’re in a pattern of rainy weather that’s resulted in river flooding during the past few weeks. We’ve also had two events so far, in the last 10 days, where rain has fallen at such a tremendous rate that is resulted in massive flash flooding. Chicken Creek did not go unaffected. Our little creek swells to 3 or 4 times its size then over the next few hours returns (flash flooding). As the nearby reservoirs and rivers take on these massive amounts of water, the river flooding expands swallowing up the highway that comes in and out of Leroy, farms and homes. We are inconvenienced to take long detours where we look at fields, once holding crops, now looking like vast lakes.

Hubby and I are doing extraordinarily well Chicken Creek has returned to its banks we’ve lost no property other than the inches of muddy banks of our creek that have washed downstream. We are safe, the animals are safe, the chicken pen is a lot muddy and quite stinky. I’m tired of wading through puddles, but those are only minor inconveniences. We have fared much better than a lot of other of our countians. There’s a lot more I could write about but really not much more I could say. Hopefully things will dry out soon and life will start moving in more typical patterns. ☀️

In Kansas and I suppose throughout the plains states, when farmsteads and farmhouses were abandoned, the structures often eventually succumbed to the harsh elements. The valuable ground they were constructed on is often cleared and reverted back to farm ground. If a good structure still sat there, all but that structure may be razed leaving only the decent outbuilding or nothing at all. It’s at those sites where homes once adorned with flower gardens once stood that you will find “ghost gardens”. Every spring, beds of Iris, jonquils, daffodils will spring forth in the middle of ditches and on the filterstrips along fields or next to old delapidated barns . A few years ago, The hubs and I went in search (with permission) to dig iris rhizomes so we could add some color to our yard. We dug brown, yellow and a wide variety of purple irises along with the prize of some beautiful purple Louisiana irises.
I just imagine the women and men who planted them, decades ago and imagine how proud they were.
I wonder who they were, and I thank them for sharing.

3 years ago, our next door neighbor moved. His parcel of land consisted of 5 city lots. On it, was a delapidated single story house and
an rickety single wide trailer house. Our fear was an outsider purchasing it as rental property which would leave us with a string of come and go tenants seeking cheap rent and the eyesore of the structures.

After much debate the decision was made to purchase the somewhat adjoining (there is a mostly abandoned alley between the two properties) This gave us a half city block including Chicken Creek.

The razing of the old house and trailer is a long tale in itself, but subsequently the property was cleaned up and we began our “personal park” project. Each year we make changes and improvements, but the little patio and garden area has been quite therapeutic and a joy. Many an beverage has been enjoyed in the relative peace of our little park. Let me share some of my favorite spots.

Continue reading “The gang” →

Hi my name is Tammy. I’m not sure how I ended up in the tiny town of LeRoy, living in a 80′ Single wide trailer…but here I am. I always wanted to live in a Victorian mansion, or a loft in SoHo, or a townhouse or a…well anything but a single-wide tornado magnet in no-where Kansas. But with that said, I do have a pretty, sweet , simple life. Grab a cup of tea have a sit. Let’s get to know each other.

If you don’t like the weather in Kansas, wait 5 minutes and it will change. It’s not just a charming saying, it’s a proven fact. A day could begin calm and sunny turn stormy and rainy by midday and end with snow. Most Kansans have seen it. This spring however seems to have missed that memo. This spring has been caught in a seemingly endless loop of pounding rains. The reservoirs are pushing over the tops of the floodgates. The rivers and creeks (pronounced crick in these parts) are cutting into the banks carving them wider. My garden is a dark mass of sticky mud. I’m quite certain my bean seeds and zucchini seeds have rotted in the ground. My cucumber plants have turned pale, yellow, and are drooping on the ground. There is hope however!! My tomatoes and strawberries have little green things growing on them. Tiny little tomatoes and tiny little berries. It fills my heart with hope enjoy to see seedlings, then plants, then the setting on of fruit, knowing that someday in the not too distant future, I’ll have beautiful red ripe fruit. It’s why I garden. I love watching those tiny green things change and grow. It makes me feel so accomplished, although I know that I have only a minor role in its success. So despite my rotted seeds and dreadful cucumber plants, hope is coming in the form of tomatoes and strawberries. So now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to buy more seeds.