Eckert's Apple Orchard

Yesterday, I joined Preston's class and the rest of the 2nd graders for a field trip to Eckert's Apple Orchard in Millstadt. It was our first time there, and definitely not our last! By far, this was the best field trip I've been on with either child. It was a gloriously beautiful day and it was so nice to be able to spend it outdoors. There was SO much to do there and we kept very busy the entire time.
We watched pig races. Preston wanted to participate SO badly but didn't get picked. One of the girls in my group, Riely, was picked, but didn't win. The coveted prize that Preston wanted so badly... a pooping pig keychain.
Before yesterday, I had NO clue where Millstadt was, other than near St. Louis. Well, can you clearly see the St. Louis skyline in the background? That's what I love so much about Illinois is being able to be in the middle of the country, yet still so close to the city.
There was some hay throwing...
some posing...
and a haunted house that they went through 4 times in a row!
Five minutes before we were due for lunch, we went into the corn maze. I just knew I was going to lose a child, most likely my own, but didn't. We did run through as fast as we could, and still cut through the corn to make lunch on time. Thankfully, Preston didn't end up with a horrible rash like he did playing in the corn at Pa-pa's Saturday.
While we were washing our hands after the petting zoo, we saw this poor woman getting wollered by a camel! It was the funniest thing!
Each of the kids got a bag to fill with apples. It was really fun walking through the orchard picking them. I only wish our apple trees would produce like that!

The tire swing was pretty fun, too! Maybe an idea for Pa-pa to make for his house. What could be more perfect for a farmer than a tractor tire swing!

I can't say how exhausted I was by the time we got back. WIPED OUT! We hadn't even left and Preston was asking when we could go back- he really wants that pooping pig!

Preston's birthday

Preston had big plans of bringing in a really awesome Star Wars cupcake cake for his class on Monday. Not only was it big because it was his birthday, but it was an even bigger deal because now that he can have milk, it was his first time to bring in a store-bought treat. Now, we've always been able to bend the rules and bring in homemade (school requires pre-packaged for safety reasons), and he's always loved picking something extra special for me to make for his class, but I can't make a cupcake cake with Darth Vader and Luke and light-up lightsabers. He was so excited! But things don't always go as planned...
Sunday morning, at 1:00, Preston comes in crying that his ear hurt. This, I am totally used to. We're upwards of 30 infections just in the past 4 years. No joke. This was his third since July. We see the ENT in a few weeks and I think we'll be discussing new tubes. Right away, I knew that his birthday would involve a trip to the dr. for antibiotics. So Monday morning, after his French toast breakfast, we headed to Dr. B. His ear was pretty bad. It was his ear that still had a tube, but we thought it had fallen out since last month's infection because there was no drainage at all. Turns out, it was too thick to drain out and was pooled in there. I'll spare you her description. You're welcome. Because of the yucky ear and the congested cough he'd had for 2 weeks already, she said he should stay home the rest of the day.

So Preston spent the entire day home with me. It was pretty special. I know he loved it just as much as me, and it was exactly what we both needed. He didn't get to bring in his cake, but I talked to the teacher and she said it would be OK to bring it in on Tuesday. So that's what he did.

And it turns out that this was a perfect week to have his birthday. He stayed home on Monday, took treats to school Tuesday, we had a big field trip today, they get out at 2:00 tomorrow and at 11:30 Friday. It's been a good week!

Happy Birthday, Baby

Preston, it hardly seems possible that exactly 8 years ago at this very moment, I was cuddling my sweet new baby. You were 5 hours old, our visitors had just left and you'd gotten cleaned up. I remember taking your hat off, and your hair had gone from slicked to your head, to sticking straight up. I marveled at you, at your tiny features, how you looked nothing like your sister. I adored your black hair and that it matched mine. After 9 months of ups and downs, contractions and restrictions, you were finally here, perfect and sweet.
You've done a lot of growing since that day. I can no longer hold you in one arm, worse yet, I can barely carry you at all! Your hair is no longer black, and you look a lot like your sister- or so people say- I just don't see it.

I love everything about you, sweets. You are the most deeply caring child that I have ever known. You blow me away with your ability to learn things, and everything that you remember. You've grown into your own person, and as much as I'd love for you to slow down, I know that there are many more great things to come as you grow.

I absolutely LOVED being able to spend the day with just you today. Even though it wasn't exactly how we would have intended for your birthday, God knew exactly what this momma and her boy needed! Love you, Baby!

Fall is here!

I can't say enough for fall finally arriving! This was such a HOT and miserable summer that the bulk of it was spent indoors. When it's 100 degrees and 90% humidity, we couldn't even breathe, and the pool was like a hot bath. I really don't know what people did back before air conditioning!

Now fall has hit us hard and fast and it's a little brisk waking up and it being 49 degrees outside. We haven't turned our heat on yet, but I think it will soon. And to think that Preston asked to have a pool party for his birthday! Brrrrr!

Speaking of birthdays, Preston's is Monday and I still can't believe it's been 8 years. Tonight as I was tucking him in, I gave him a run-down on ettiquette for his party tomorrow, and reminded him that if he gets something he already has, to say something nice about it and thank them. Then he says, "Mom, remember when I got that light-up hard hat at Los Amigos that I already had, and I didn't say anything then." First off, that was THREE years ago! I had completely forgotten about that until he mentioned it. I remember going to Los Amigos with the kids, and Christopher staying home because he was leaving for a conference in North Carolina early the next morning, but I don't remember why he even got a gift then. He did, though! Crazy!

Dad had his knee surgery yesterday and is doing well. I met him, Annette and Ali at the hospital yesterday morning before-hand and stayed until discharge. The dr. showed us the pictures from the surgery and it was actually pretty neat! You could see the before and after pictures and there really was a difference! He said he should be feeling MUCH better very soon.

My nephews, Glen and Cooper have been sick this week with something really nasty. Glen's landed him in the E.R. for 5 hours on Wednesday, requiring breathing treatments and an x-ray to make sure he hadn't swallowed any rocks, a possible cause of why his sats weren't responding to the treatments. No rocks were found, thank goodness, and he's at home doing better.

And Keith got his foot sucked into the combine yesterday. His foot is bruised badly and he thinks he has a broken toe, but hasn't seen a dr. He's VERY lucky that he escaped with such a minor injury. Farm accidents are often much worse.

So with all of that, I pray that everyone gets well and that fall is easy on everyone!

Customer Service That ROCKS!

We've been fans of Price Pfister's products for years now. We had them in our old house and decided to use them when we bought this one. The main reason we like them is because they are stylish and well-made, but we also like that they come with a lifetime warranty as long as we are the current owners.

Our tub started leaking a while back and I ignored it. It wasn't a bad drip or anything, and since we have well water and don't have a water bill to pay, it didn't bother me. Christopher set to fix it last weekend and found that a piece inside the handle that makes it stop when you turn it off, was worn down. I went all over town and could not find that piece. I finally remembered the warranty and came home to get our owner's manual (yes, we keep them all). Sure enough, it was covered. Christopher checked one more time when he got home and found out that it wasn't just that piece, but the whole valve assembly in that handle. I got on the phone with Price Pfister and within 5 minutes, got confirmation that a new assembly was on its way at no cost to us. SCORE!

We really can't say enough for Price Pfister. We are customers for life, and that's saying a lot because there are a lot of great faucet-makers out there. They made our day and made fixing our faucet so much easier!

Note: I am in no way compensated by Price-Pfister for this post. I just feel that great service needs to be recognized!

May The Force Be With You- Episode 2

I'm a glutton for punishment. I planned two parties for the same weekend. It worked out for the best, though, but that's a lot of work for one gal! I did leave out all of the decorations so that made it a lot easier. But I ended up catching Preston's cold Thursday so by Saturday night, I was running on empty with little reserve for Sunday morning.
The R2-D2 cake turned out amazing! I did NOT want anyone to eat it! Kind of like Preston's Yellow Submarine cake from last year. I originally wanted to use the Wilton R2 pan, but those suckers are EXPENSIVE! I searched every thrift shop, etc. in the area and came up empty handed, so I had to bake 2 cakes, put them together, and cut them to look like R2. Score!
See? I left out the decorations and used this as my cake table. SO glad I got the dresser turned buffet at that garage sale! See the Star Wars bank? That just might be the coolest original Star Wars thing ever. When you put a coin in it, it plays the SW theme song and C3PO talks and R2 beeps and comes forward to push the coin in.
Preston got SW legos from everyone. Really, that's all that was on his list. He did get a pretty cool new lightsaber and Grandpa Ed had a good time with it!
We're currently on day 3 of trying to put this AT-AT Walker together and it's not very easy, but it's neat!
Preston and his R2 cake. He had to have 4 candles in R2 and 4 in Vader. Silly boy!
Now Vader didn't turn out like planned. I was pretty disappointed with it, but it tasted really good! That's really all that matters, right?

Another fun party down and a whole table full of SW legos to assemble. Preston had a great time! Episode 3 will go down Saturday night at my dad's. We're having a weiner roast and according to the weather, it might just be a little chilly. R2 will be making another appearance while Vader isn't invited this time.

May the Force Be With You- Part 1

Or maybe this would be more appropriately titled, Episode 1.

Preston's friend party has been in the making for months. I'd scoured the internet searching for anything Star Wars that really stood out. Luckily, there are some great mom blogs out there that had some FAB ideas that really made the party extra special! Sarah at The Thriftress gave me a lot of ideas, particularly the lightsabers.
I can NOT fully explain what a hit these were! They made the party! And they were really simple (and cheap) to make. I just took a $1 pool noodle and cut it in half. Then I wrapped one end in silver duct tape and used black electrical tape for detail. I will admit that Preston, my perfectionist, wanted to model it exactly like Obi-Wan's lightsaber, but this was as close as it got!

I also made Jedi robes that I forgot to take a picture of, but you can see them below on the little Jedis. I took a $5 brown flat sheet from Wal-Mart, folded it length-wise, and cut it into 6 sections. I then sewed a hem up the sides, cut a triangle out for the neck, and cut some rope for belts. The boys went crazy over these, too!
A small sampling of our Star Wars collection that made for some cute decorations!
I came up with this little idea myself. One of the kids' cousins had something similar at one of her parties and I thought this would be really neat in the treat bags. I snagged 6 bags of Jet-Puff star marshmallows a month ago for just 25 cents a bag, with no intentions other than just eating them, but they just happened to make a stellar party favor!

Now, something I totally overlooked, or rather shoved to the back of my mind were party games. So at 9:45 Friday night, I was down here scouring the web for ideas. I found a really fun idea for a scavenger hunt somewhere (don't ask, I didn't save it). The next morning we gathered up anything space related, and I took a picture of it and printed it with a list of what needed to be found. The boys had a BLAST! Turns out though, that it was the only game we actually played. Those boys weren't into games.

Preston and his balloon wreath before the party.

Within 5 minutes of the first boy arriving, our house went from peaceful to mayhem. Two boys were "playing" the piano together with the radio accompanying them. They had drug out every toy they could find. So 10 minutes later we went outside.

Those boys... rowdy doesn't even explain it! Ha! At one point, one of the boys found a large rubber snake and a toy shotgun and yells, "Let's go snake hunting!" Oh, boy...
Here are our cupcakes and lightsaber pretzels. The pretzels were also an idea from The Thriftress and they were a hit at both parties. Although if you do try to make these, don't try it with red food coloring- it will take your bark from nice and runny to play-doh in seconds. Sarah had the most tdf Princess Leia cupcakes on her blog, but I went the easy route with picks in the top and they worked out just as well.

Overall, the party was great! I was SOOOOOOOO ready for 4:00 to come though, just for some peace and quiet, but they all had a fun time and went home with their treat bags, lightsabers and robes. And the birthday boy, he had a good time, too!

Phew

I am SO, SO glad that this weekend is over. With two birthday parties, one of which included 5 VERY rowdy boys for an entire afternoon, I am mentally and physically exhausted. Not to mention that I came down with Preston's cold Thursday and haven't felt the greatest since. We still have one more party this weekend, but luckily, it isn't at our house! All I have to do is bake the cake and show up. Hopefully that means a little bit of down time and a little less stress. Stay tuned for pictures. I'm just not up for that tonight!

Poor kid

Preston's allergies are no secret. I don't know any other kid that has had more allergies to different things in his 7 years. Between food, drug, insect, and environmental allergens, it seems like he's allergic to everything. It's rough. Remember the mystery reaction back in June? We still haven't figured that one out, but we know it wasn't a bug.
And he's highly allergic to mosquitoes. This picture does him no justice as his ear was sticking clear out from his head and was as thick as my thumb. Any other mosquito bit leaves behind a welt the size of a chicken egg. Lovely.
Since the first day of school, he has been terrible congested. At first, I thought it was a cold, but being that school has been in session for almost 4 weeks, and he's gotten no better, I'm thinking there's something in the school- most likely mold. He takes Claritin every morning, but I don't think it's working. He started a soupy cough this morning, which could be from a cold, or he's coughing up what's draining down. I'm watching him closely because we can't risk his asthma flaring up. And I'm surprised his ears are still OK. He has his well check next week, but we might be going in sooner than that if this keeps up. And there might just be a post sometime about his reflux returning. Sigh... I think we keep the specialists in business.

Marshmallow Pie

Saturday afternoon, I made a cherry pie. Those that know me well know that my cherry pies have to be homemade and made from Granny and Pa's sour cherries. No exceptions. Period. I had a little ball of extra dough leftover after rolling my crusts, so I offered it to Preston to make a small pie of his own. Granny used to do this with us when she made cherry pies and we loved it, although hated our creations. YUCK!

So Preston rolled his dough into a small circle and we decided to fill it with marshmallows and a few chocolate chips. With limited dough, he just folded it over into a small pouch and we stuck it in the oven. Well, this is what we came up with...
Somehow, the pouch opened up and the seam resembles a mouth, and there are two eye holes above it. And look what's coming out of it's mouth... melted burning marshmallows. It was so gross looking (although not as gross as my old nasty won't-come-clean-anymore pan). Preston did eat it, so it must have been better than when we used to just add chocolate chips.

FREE!

I love garage sales. Love the thrill of finding something someone else doesn't want anymore and making a new home for it. But I rarely get out to garage sales, even now that school is back in- I feel like I waste too much time (and gas) driving around all morning. So I scour the classifieds each Thursday when the paper comes and see if any catch my eye. Well, this week I found one advertising quilting fabric and I was SOLD!

So with Kate helping at the food bank, and Preston with Christopher, I set out to the sale I was determined to make it to. I get there and see that running it was my brother-in-law's mom and aunt! After talking a bit with them, they said to take whatever I wanted. I didn't have any intention of taking anything, but found some vintage fabric and a few neutrals, along with a big enamelware soup pan, and went to "check out." Well, they wouldn't hear of me paying for anything. It was overcast, late, and they were getting ready to just give it all away anyway, so I walked away with a new stash of fabric and a pretty neat pot. For FREE!
See these two fabrics? The yellow my great-grandma had and made a pillow with some of its scraps and I recognized it immediately and snatched it up! The red fabric is so mod and retro that I couldn't pass it up, even though I probably won't ever think of anything to make out of it. But it's neat, and I'm a sucker for vintage fabrics!
This was my big score! Lots and lots of yardage and a few scraps. And that pot is to die for. Except I have no clue what to do with it. Right now it sits in the laundry room with the fabric still in it. It may be there a while.

And while this isn't a freebie, it's a pretty good steal! I was at Wal-Mart Friday and came across a table of fabric bolts marked down to $5. Our WM closed it's fabric dept. this spring and I guess they had a few bolts leftover and wanted to clear them out. I got some CUTE fancy fabric- please excuse the fact that I've had it since Friday and still haven't looked to see what kind it is- that will make some fab shabby rosettes, and I have all kinds of ideas for them! There's at least 3-4 yards on the bolt, and for $5, that's nearly a steal in itself! Now as soon as the birthday parties are done, it's time to start in on that puppy!

A Godly heart

Ten years ago today, I was preparing to leave for my classes, busy getting myself and Kate ready for the day and feeding her breakfast. Grandma Lou was due to watch her and would be showing up at any time. It was like any other day.

When Grandma Lou asked me to turn on the tv, because planes had flown into the WTC, I did so immediately. It only took maybe 30 seconds to look at it and knew we were under attack. I wanted so much to stay home with Kate at that point, but had an important exam that had to be taken. It was all I could do to leave her. I didn't know what was going to happen the rest of the day. Being in the midwest, we weren't a direct target, but being near St. Louis, I was afraid that they were targeting more cities.

I got to class and took my exam as quickly as possible and got out to my car to listen to news coverage. I just had to know. I wanted so badly to just go home, but another class loomed that afternoon. I spent the time sitting and listening. It was all I could do. Thankfully, our professor cancelled the next class, so I was able to go home, to be with my baby.

Kate was asleep when I got back, so I sat down to watch the news, a first since that morning, before the towers had even fallen. Quietly, Kate came from her room and snuggled on my lap. She had undoubtedly seen the coverage earlier in the day, and when she saw the tv, she asked, "What happened, Momma?" I told her that some men had flown planes into the tall buildings, as easily as I could to a two year old. I turned the tv to a kid show and we snuggled. I prayed as we snuggled, for protection in a troubled world, and for guidance. I prayed that somehow, her life in this new age, would be normal, and that some good would come out of it. Still, that fear of raising a child in a world that was instantly and dramatically different than it was just a day before, was overwhelming. When we finished snuggling, we dug around in her toy box for a small flag given out of the street corner, no bigger than a 4x6 photo, and we taped it to our mailbox.

Ten years later, that sweet little girl is now 12 years old, and her Godly heart is shining through. Always helpful, always thoughtful, she is learning to put others before her. She is learning that she is fortunate, and that giving back gives her a high like no other. And to listen to her all afternoon yesterday, rave about helping out at the mobile food bank was peaceful.

God is always with us. While we may never know why things happen, we have to trust that He will see us through. While I didn't know what life would be like after 9/11, I trusted God would get us through. I feared that life for my children would never be the same as what mine had been (and in some ways, it has changed), and I feared that it would somehow make them hardened and less caring, but not so. He was with us, and with sweet Kate, and because of that, she has turned out just fine.

Dreaming big

Earlier, I was perusing a blog that asked what your dream job would be. Not your everyday career, but what you would do with your life if money were no option, what would truly make you happy. Me, I'm a mixed bag. Right now, I'm a stay-at-home mom, and I couldn't imagine at this point in life, doing anything else. I'm truly blessed to be able to spend time with my children, especially now that they are in school. I couldn't imagine rushing them out the door in the mornings, and then picking them up in the evenings, rushing home to fix dinner, do homework, and then find some time to just be with them without putting them to bed at a ridiculously late hour. At this point, this is where I want to be. It also allows me to do things I really enjoy, like my photography:


As much as I love taking pictures and sharing them with people, there's the post editing, and that's not always fun. Especially when I can turn out 400+ pictures of sweet Abbie and Issie in an hour, and have to go through them all and weed out what doesn't work. Yes, the end results are SO worth it, but it's a lot of work. Work.
I also love sewing. LOVE sewing. I could sit down and sew everyday if I had a place to park my machine besides the closet or the dining room table. I find it relaxing, and I like taking something and turning it into something completely different. I made the above pillow Friday night for mom's birthday and she loved it! It was so much fun to do. Like it, too? You can find it in my Etsy shop for sale. I'll even let you choose the fabric and flower color if you're extra nice! ;)

But if I truly could do anything with my life, I'd LOVE to open a tea room/restaurant. I have a name in mind, and a menu lined up. When I cook dinner each night, I imagine serving those dishes to other people. I imagine the wording that will appear on the menu with that item- Parmesan Crusted Chicken- a chicken breast seared to perfection, topped with a garlic and chive cream sauce, served over a bed of rice with garlic green beans. Maybe someday I'll get that chance.

But I'd also love to travel the planet, live in Europe, and take pictures. I can't imagine a more carefree life. And did I mention that I told Christopher we should move to Sweden? He said, sure.

Missing Pears

Look closely. Do you see the multitude of pears on our tree? There were tons. So many in fact, that the day that we picked them, we filled a bucket and left probably 30+ pears on the tree until we had eaten what we'd picked. That was Tuesday.

On Monday, Christopher went to pick the rest, and they were gone. Now, I know pears fall from the tree. We always see them on the ground. But there was not one pear on the ground. Not one single pear. It was obvious that someone had picked them. Even the squirrels only carry them so far before they drop them. Christopher was quite upset about this, not just because all of his pears had been picked, but that someone had come in our yard and taken them- and you can see where someone tracked through the freshly laid mulch around the bottom of the tree when they tried to climb it.

So who would do this? Our neighbor boys. We've had trouble keeping them out of our yard for 4 years, now. We've seen them climb the fence and steal bricks. We've seen them stand 5 feet from the fence, swing at a golf ball so hard that they swung around two times, just so they could climb over it to retrieve the ball. They even plowed our fence to the ground when they rain into it with their 4-wheeler. Their parents send them out on their own and don't care what they do. We have had equal amount of trouble from the father, as well since we moved in. He's the one that planted grass seed over our burn pile just outside the fence and them irately called us when Christopher put branches on it. Needless to say, they are NOT our favorite neighbors. It's all we can do to keep the peace.

Flash back to a few weeks ago when I was tying up my black berries and Mr. G. stopped and casually asked how my berries were doing. He then went on to tell me that his berries had been picked by someone, mysteriously. I got the feeling that he was accusing me of stealing his berries, when we don't even eat the ones we grow. I had a hunch it was his own children, but of course, he'd never believe it. So after that incident, we feel that he told his kids to climb our fence and pick our pears. The next time he's outside, I've got a little talking to do with him.

Labor Day Weekend

Our long weekend was busy, but fun. We were all up bright and early Saturday (Preston was up at 5:30...) so we headed to Effingham to buy some plants for out front. We wanted to go to the flea market in Altamont, but it was already too hot just walking around at Menards. 100 degree weather is no way to start September! We got home and Christopher got the plants all in the ground and we headed out to the cabin in Ramsey to see all of Christopher's family that were down from Chicago. We got there, and no one was there. We left, went to the library, and tried again at 5:00. The kids were SO excited to see their cousins. They just don't get to see them enough. They ran around the pond, played and had a great time. They begged to camp, but thankfully a storm blew up and gave us the perfect excuse to go home! While that storm brought us less than 1/4 inch of rain, it brought MUCH cooler temps! We went from 100 for a high on Saturday, to just a high of 70 on Sunday! Glorious!

Sunday we celebrated mom's birthday at Granny and Pa's. Now, if seeing your cousins from Chicago wasn't enough to make your weekend great, being able to see your other cousins makes it even better! The kids absolutely love seeing Glen! They played so hard all evening. And evidence of fall's eminent arrival...
Preston and Glen wanted to rake leaves into a pile. Little Cooper wanted to help SO badly!
Kate, well, she just kept climbing in this tree and getting stuck (or so she claimed).
Cooper decides he can help.

Monday, Seth and Diana were still in town, so we all went up to Ramsey to do some fishing. Little Glen obviously inherited Pa's fishing abilities as he caught 6 fish and Granny (he got her coat with his hook) within 20 minutes! I told Pa it had to be the name! I caught a fish, a really nice one, but caught it a little too well because it swallowed the hook and no matter what Pa tried, couldn't get it out. When he finally did, he threw it back in, but it didn't stand a chance at that point. Poor Preston didn't have much luck catching anything. The only thing he did catch was the fish that I had caught that had washed up on the shore and got caught on his hook as he reeled in his line. He did manage to catch two trees and had to have his line cut to get it out...

We roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. Sorry Diana and Granny for the stuffing your face picture.

Preston, Glen, Cooper and Seth.

Seth had brought some kittens up the day before to keep in the shed and catch mice and that held more appeal than fishing did for all of the kids! Glen had named them all- Spaghetti, Mommy, Tom, Mac & Cheese, and Otter. Four year olds are so fun! I remember a certain four year old that insisted we name her brother Alladin or Shoelace!
Preston, trying so hard to catch something.
And because Blogger keeps screwing up my order, Little Cooper raking leaves!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

I mentioned the other day that we did some landscaping around here. When we bought this place 4 years ago, there was more pea gravel around that you could imagine. It was around every single tree (mind you, we have at least 30), bush, pole, you name it. Over the years, grass has grown up through some of it, around the trees and shrubbery, but we always kept the grass away from the house. Well, we finally decided that something needed to be done. So we decided to get new rock. I went to the landscaping place, found some nice rock, and we planned to go back on Saturday to pick it up. Keith went by on Friday to see what they had and their rock was GONE. Nice... He picked up a grain truck full of mulch that we needed for the trees, but that didn't solve the problem about the rock. Well, against my better judgement, we decided to get another grain truck of mulch and just do it instead of rock. I would have preferred rock, but this looks better than pea gravel!

Before:
After:



Again, Blogger got my pics all out of whack, so there's some before's and after's out of place, but you get the idea. My berry patch also got some needed TLC, so I liked, that, too!