Find A Grave Adventures

We've been doing volunteer work for Find A Grave and this is the Perris Valley Cemetery. We're on a mission to record all the graves into the database with photos of the gravestones. The weather is getting cooler so its easier to walk around for some time, finding all the gravestones that haven't yet been taken. Its  a nice  hobby and get exercise too!  The grass is rather thick and walking in it is like walking in sand.
 Alan has really been diligent, far more than me in getting pics done..I tend to lag after taking 10 -15 pics but he can go the distance and has already done about 400 memorials already, although we've only been members about 4 months!

A few things I've learned in the last few months..wear comfortable shoes! You'll do alot of walking. I made the mistake of wearing sandals the first time and got bit up with ant bites so always remember to wear tennis shoes and socks with long pants. Those ant bites hurt! Carry water as you will get thirsty and a hat is a good idea. We take scissors with us to trim around the stones, a wisk brush, and a spray bottle of water. Some stones are hard to read, and occasionally getting the stone wet brings out the details.
Another thing, if you go on the weekend, forget asking for help as no one will be in the office. Week days are better, as there is usually someone around to help. The office personnel have always been very nice  after you trudge around for half an hour, several times we've found out there is no stone to photograph. Which is rather sad. I always think everyone should be remembered.
We've also seen stones that are cracked, and/or unreadable. If it was my family member, I think I'd replace the stone but that's just me.
You may also see pennies on veterans stones, this came about some time ago, after the Vietnam War.
According to some, leaving coins on a headstone has very specific meaning for military burials. Leaving a penny indicates that you knew the deceased, a nickel meant you trained in boot camp together, a dime signified serving in the same company, a quarter told the family that you were with them when they died. I like to leave pennies when I can.
Is it creepy being in a cemetery? Not really, I always get a sense of peace, if there are spirits around, they would know we mean them no harm, and just want to remember them.
Anyway, that's what we did this last weekend and again twice this week.

Glad everyone liked the craft project...the sipper tops on the mason jars is a winner!

A Little Crafting!

Alan got a little crafty yesterday and made us four of these lids to go on canning jars. With the popularity of Duck Dynasty, many people are using them for casual drinking and so are we.  You can find the directions for these here. I was thinking of finding some of the new blue pint jars that Ball now has, and also some blue gingham printed lids, wouldn't that be pretty? but in the mean time, these will do.
Right now, I'm sipping iced coffee out of one of these and thought I'd also share a great  recipe for your own vanilla creamer. It gets expensive so this recipe makes almost a quart and is so easy. Just open a can of condensed milk (14 oz.) with 14 oz of regular milk (or 2%) and mix well. Add two or 3 t. of vanilla, to taste. If you use a quart canning jar to store this in, just shake well before using and keep it refrigerated. It lasts a couple of weeks but I guarantee you won't have it that long as its really good in coffee.I used it in my iced coffee this morning and its yum!

Pet Rescue Boutique

Nancy has opened a special selling blog totally devoted to pet items, such as dog and cat beds, toys and more. All proceeds go to pet rescue. She's busy filling it, the kitty above is a rescue named Lucky. She looks like she's posing, huh?  Pet Rescue Boutique 
I use food and water mats under our cats bowls, we have 3 rescued cats and two dogs. The dogs usually eat outside but the cats are indoor so I like to keep the kitchen floor as clean as possible. The mats do the trick.

She has dog food mats also so hope you'll take a look, she's running a few specials for her grand opening too.