All Things Great and Beautiful

Wow, have we been crazy around our place!! Last week I had a couple extra days off that I haven't had for a LONG time!! It was spent trying to get multiple things caught up. I have been mulching and transplanting some of my struggling things into a new flower garden right next to the new sidewalks out our east door. My colorful garden from High Country Gardens will be here next week and I will post pictures after I get it in the ground.

Cami and I had some fun playing outdoors last week. Her most used phrases are now "go outside" and "jump high" because she loves jumping on the trampoline and wandering around in the yard. We didn't get much else done while she was awake BUT the playing. Oh well!

We found some monkey grass bl0oming that my mom shared with me a few years ago! What a shock that must have been from the moist clay soil of central Kansas to the hot dry soil of western Kansas. It seems to have adapted anyway!

The boys had to get their cooking done for the state fair last Wednesday. G took his buttermilk swirl bread, which to his dismay, got a white ribbon. I have to add that he made it completely by himself. . . I was on standby in the kitchen doing dishes and then in the next room doing laundry and was not called upon by him. I'm not sure he got the swirling quite right, at least it wasn't in the extra loaf we ate. But I thought the flavor was exceptional (and I'm not biased in the least!) T got a purple ribbon on his chocolate mallow drops.

G was quite pleased with the purple ribbon on the picture he snapped of his sister eating a popsicle. T got a blue ribbon on his picture of wheat pouring out of the auger on his grandpa's tractor. That one actually beat Grant's photo at our county fair. When I asked G what he learned about that phenomenon he replied "that our county fair judges sucked?!" I had to bite my lip as I replied to him that the moral of the story was that it all boils down to ONE person's opinion when they judge! Oh the life lessons they are learning!!

Here's the Russian garden again! Still getting bigger. But the colors have been UNBELIEVABLE! I know that garden will provide me with many more years of pleasure to come!! SO worth the effort!

The big boys have finished their record books and got those handed in last night. More life lessons going on there! What a character building experience for all of us! Last night was our first meeting of this year. It was so fun to watch the junior high kids start and maintain some discussions. We have really worked hard to build our club up into what it should be and I think we are finally getting there. We only have a few high school kids that attend, so the younger kids have had only a few role models--but they have certainly been good role models. They had elections last night too. G will be a recreation leader again this year. T will be a spectator :-) D gets to join this year--so he was pleased as punch to be able to answer a roll call all to himself! Not sure how I will handle helping get THREE record books done! YUCK!

T played in his second FB game last week. He actually got to play a fair amount and (as far as I know) did a good job. They lost again. The boys on the other team were huge. . and the ones that weren't big were FAST!! On T's first play of the game, he ran up to block his man. The man didn't move and T flew backwards about 6 feet. I thought that was going to be an ominous sign! He is really liking it!

We started our church Kidz Klub last Wednesday. D had a blast there and has been asking frequently when we get to go again. I will help with the worship music again this year. We are also starting a junior high youth group in October since that population of our little church is growing. I will help to lead that music also--so once again our lives will seem to be full! We will kick off with a skating party in a few weeks. That is always fun--besides, I am dying to try out my $13 ebay roller blades that I got last year. I figured that I would be skating intermittently for the next 18 years, so I saved myself from the nasty borrowed skates and blisters!

J and I started a Christian financial planning class put on by Dave Ramsey--a financial guru. That started last Sunday and will run every Sunday evening for 13 weeks. J listens to him on his talk radio programs frequently, but I have never heard him. He is absolutely hilarious to listen too and the first class was so interesting that I started the book immediately. I don't GET stuff like that at all. You know, you need it, you write a check, you're good?!? I figure with the decreased income we will soon see, this will be a good experience for me (and a reminder to me that my husband is smarter than I always give him credit for!).

J is about finished with his Model A now. The paint is on, the motor is mostly in, and he thinks it will be ready in less than a month. I took pictures Sunday to post later this week.

We have been working on my greenhouse for the last few weekends. Usually just while C sleeps on Sunday afternoon, so it has been slow. This last weekend we were able to assemble the frame. We got the door frames made and the windows installed. I LOVE it!! We need to level out the ground, put down the brick floor and then the house can go up and the poly-carbonate panels will be siliconed in. We are headed to my folks this weekend and will need to stop at Lowe's for some supplies for J to finish plumbing in his outdoor furnace to heat the house and the water lines that will run to the furnace and greenhouse. So I think that the greenhouse will be ready in the next month too. I started my tomatos a couple weekends ago. I have 6 varieties (only because I had to have a minimum order) coming up now. I also have basil started (to help keep down bugs) and some cilantro coming up. The bell pepper seedlings are just trying to emerge. My salad greens are growing well, except for the planters on the front deck next to the waterfall. I suspect some little rodents got the new seedlings, because miraculously, they have all disappeared!

I think that I will also try a couple of cantelope vines and maybe a cucumber plant. I have read alot in the greenhouse gardening book that I ordered, and think that I can make this work! I'm always open to a challenge.

The roma tomatos are going into the freezer at a rapid rate now to wait for our salsa making party coming up in a few weeks. MMMMMM! We finally are getting some beefsteak tomatos now--not sure what their malfunction was. The pepper plants are producing like made and the hot lemon peppers are getting ready to pick--I can't wait to try those out--hope they are ready in time for the salsa.

Well, life continues to move at the speed of light here. The early nightfall helps get us all inside at a better time. The guys are planning on doing some dove hunting this week in the evenings and are hoping that papa will take them out to hunt on our weekend there. Mom and I are headed to the big art fair in Hillsboro. I haven't been for a couple years--so I can hardly wait! We haven't seen the cousins since July, and it is always amazing how much every one changes and grows!

Hope everyone is staying healthy and happy. Enjoy the beautiful weather!