Greenhouse Progress

We are just frantically finishing fall projects around here! The boys got paid "commission" (not allowance as we have learned in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace class) last Saturday for working their little hiney's off! We dug and dug! Last week Jeremy took his tractor and took out the sod in the location of the greenhouse. The bricks you see were my idea for the flooring--A.) They were cheap--FREE as a matter of fact--they were a garage in a previous life. B.) They were SO cool looking--much like terra cotta tiles laid down flat. While we were trying to get a clue, a brainstorm hit--and we decided to "sink" the house slightly into the ground, giving us tall people another foot of headroom.

Whatcha think?? The sand is not quite stuffed in all the cracks yet, but I love the concept. It will take me some more work after everything else is accomplished! The hole with no bricks is the area that now has the duct for heating, electricity and water. This is on the west end of the house.

J had to trench an area from the woodburning furnace to the house and then another the short distance between the furnace and the greenhouse. The boys and I cleaned out the dirt from the tractor started trench while J and Dev fought with some very stiff tubing to get it ready to go into the trench! That took hours! While I spent the same hours on my knees trying to get sand into the crevices between the bricks. The bricks have 2 hollow areas between the ends, so the sand is settling in to the hollow spots.

We moved the frame out to the foundation Sunday after lunch. It was about 94 degrees! Where did fall go?? We clipped the house frame onto the base frame and then we were ready to put up the poly carbonate panals. Now, here is where I need to mention that the directions had no words--just pictures! And not very explanatory pictures at that. So a little religion may have been lost as we tried to figure out what attached to which gasket and went where! Unfortunately, about that time, I had a 4-H planning meeting inside the house that I had to be at. So God sent a good friend from down south up to see what J was doing. He spent a couple hours helping him put the panals on. The directions went out the door, and so far not too many things have been leftover. There was some ad-libbing that went on, but Jeremy has assured me that it will all be FINE! As you can see, we have just 2 windows and the sliding door to go!

Here is another picture viewing from the north side of the house. The shrubs to the left are a lilac hedge with some knockout roses in front and to the right is a forsythia bush. The outdoor furnace matches our house quite nicely and isn't far from the greenhouse. To the north is where our grape vines and apple trees are residing.

Here are the tomato, pepper, basil, and cilantro seedlings. I also started a few leftover sweet pea seeds to have a little color in there too! I repotted the seedlings last week into their own little pots and in few weeks will move them to their bigger pots in the greenhouse. There are actually 6 varieties of tomatos--to help me see which ones we like best. (honestly, I had to have a minimum order on the seeds, so I wanted to try everything that I had ordered!) The nice thing is that there will be plenty of seeds for the next several years after I store them in the freezer.

The lettuce is growing good at least on the east deck. Something likes the lettuce on my south deck--so I decided to start over once I moved the pots to the greenhouse.

My soft colors inferno garden came Thursday (luckily on my day off) so while C slept, I put 29 plants in the ground. Had some sore hands the next day! The plants once again, were beautiful and hopefully will grow as well as the Russian garden did! Here's the little tiny plants in the new garden. At the back of this garden is some zebra grass, 3 crape myrtle plants, and some dwarf maiden grass from Lowes in August and 2 rose bushes that I transplanted from my yard. Neither of them were flourishing in their locations, so I hope this move will help them out. Both bushes have wonderfully fragrant flowers and unique colors (both were gifts), so I would love for them to endure!
Last night I planted some lily trees in a few spots, as well as some "naked lady" AKA surprise lily bulbs that my mom dug up for me a couple of weekends ago. I am still ecstatic about the naked lady bulbs--I just love those and they are such a nice reminder of the impending fall season. I have been wanting to order some, but they are nearly $12 per bulb--so I was very thankful that she was so gracious!! Thanks again Mom--in a few years I will have some nice "baby" bulbs to share!

We also collected some corn husks while at mom and dad's and I beat the lid off this cream can that I had in one of my flower beds. The gourds were all volunteer coming up in my flower beds. Both came up next to the driveway side so were not a hassle to leave in the ground--they just tumbled over the rock wall. We were tickled to see 2 different kinds of gourds on them, lumpy warty ones, and little green striped one that turn different shades of yellow and orange. The big green things were hedge apples that Grant and Dev picked by Granny's house.

So, just a few more things to tidy up before we are ready to hibernate for the winter!! Enjoy the cool season weather!

Look Out Shakespere

Just had to share this. D brought home a little book that he wrote and illustrated yesterday--ALL BY HIMSELF. Grant and I were stumbling over some of the words--but Dev patiently lined us out--even if he was a little annoyed that we didn't know that Hrsis reads "horses."

Try to read it yourself and I will narrate below the picture!! I dare ya!

The Haystack

A Hay A Haystack
Cows like to eat Haystack
Horses like to eat Hay

The End!!

Not sure what this is--but it graces the back cover!!

What a masterpiece!! I don't save too much of the kids school stuff, but I think that this will go in the collection of saved work!

Hope ya enjoyed it as much as I did! Just wonderin if his Papa's stack hay like he does? :-)

The Ole "A"

Well! Here's Jeremy's project. You may remember what it looked like 4 months ago hanging from the wench in his shop. He has been working diligently on it and I think it is turning out great. He's pleased with it too!

He chopped the top of the cab down to make it look COOL! There won't be any covering over the engine either, So the motor will stick out just like it is!

There's no air conditioner, which I KNOW he did to minimize the time that I drive it!! And no windshield wipers either--guess it is good that we live in an area where rain is optional!

He needs seats in it--Only room for 2. And a few more guts and then it will be ready to try out!

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!

DOWN. . . SET. . . HIKE

Tonight was our first of many years of football games to come!! Tristan is #80. They don't do JV games but try to let all the kids play. He was pretty excited for the game. He took money because some of the guys were going to walk down to the little cafe across town after school to eat something before the game.. .but he was sure he would vomit if he ate anything. Poor kid and his nerves! He did get to play several times for a few minutes each. He gave us a run down play by play narration ALL the way home from his vantage point. . .the narration lasted through his eating and then some. I guess he is ready for next week. The kids lost 16-14.

There he is running to do something. . . I'm sure he could tell us. I have never understood football--EVER! I don't know which positions do what--I finally figured out the "first in 10" thing. Maybe after 15 years of this I will enjoy the superbowl for more than just the commercials and great snacks!

C and I had a great day off. This was our first week of the new scheduling in Ok clinics. I am working every other Tuesday until the end of the year. Next week I will have Tues and Thurs off--I can hardly wait!! I'm on call Labor day so that won't really count! We started mulching in the area in the east yard where the new flower garden will be in a few weeks.

J is about to conquer his old Model A car and he had glass cut in Oklahoma. It was ready today, so C and I made a quick afternoon trip down to pick it up. It worked good for me too because I ran out of weed barrier this morning, so hopefully I can finish that this weekend! We also spent some time sitting on the big rock next to the Caryopteris watching the bumblebees and the butterflys. A good relaxing day! We've nothing much planned for the weekend. Hoping to catch a drink and a chat with my good friend Jen this weekend, as well as a little yard work, so Wii time with the kids (we've been having Wii-off's that are a lot of fun) I think J is hoping to paint his A this weekend so will have to post some pictures of that. I think I will look pretty cute driving it around--don't tell him I said that!! I think it will look pretty cool though! Hope everyone has a safe holiday weekend!

August Blooms

Everyone has recuperated well from the camping excursion, except me that is!! As I was getting ready for work Monday morning, I bent over and stood up. That was it. . . bent over and stood up. . .and found that my back no longer felt like working. I hobbled around long enough to decide it wasn't going to improve on its own. Called our friendly physical therapist at home and met her in her office before her first patient. She was able to straighten me up so walking was at least slightly more comfortable. I wandered around a little and decided to suck it up and get on with the day. Saw the chiropracter Tuesday afternoon to adjust the neck from the wakeboard accident a couple weeks ago. I stopped counting after I heard 10 vertebrae crack. So yesterday was better. . a little. And today I am moving at about 75% normal speed. I think I am on the mend. Our secretary giggled Monday afternoon and apologized for laughing at my misery and went on to say that she was just used to me shooting out of my office door like a rocket, and now I am shuffling like an OOOOLLD lady! She kept expecting to see Maxine (from crabby road cartoons) standing behind her! Needless to say, I am getting none of my yardwork done that I slated for this week. I did finally get 3 little pints of jalepeno slices canned last night--sitting at the kitchen table. I had 4 done but one broke in the water bath--never had that happen and I was ticked off about it too!!

So decided I would show off what is blooming in the garden lately! Initially I thought my little friend in the first 2 photos was a mutant grasshopper, but farmers around say that they are a species too. YUCK. I thought he might be tasty dipped in chocolate--a full meal!

We are getting ready to mulch in the area for the new flower bed on the east side of the house along the sidewalks. That is where I intend to put another preplanned garden from High Country Gardens and I have several rose bushes and some grasses that I want to move. I thought they would work in that patch as well.

The flower below is a double click cosmo that I started by throwing seeds out on the ground. I love the double petals. Think it needs to repeat here next year!

My golden rod has done very well. It came as 3 little pots from Roots and Rhizomes last spring, and has really gotten tall and bushy. I have never grown goldenrod nor have I seen pictures of it, but had read about it somewhere and thought it would be a good choice for our climate. I haven't been sorry yet!! (And contrary to popular belief, it doesn't invoke allergic responses!)

The blue mist spirea are BEAUTIFUL!! They have made a nice little hedge of periwinkle blue. What a magnet for flying creatures. There are probably 30 or more bumblebees on them at a time. As well as monarchs and other little bees and butterflies. I don't notice the scent like I used to, but love the colors!!

The Russian Garden is still just flowering its little heart out!! Will snap some more pictures next month--it is fun for me to see how much it has grown too! I got the Avena grass today to replace the one that died. So C and I stuffed it in the hole and watered it in.

Here's the Dark Knight butterfly bush that I planted this spring. I got it as a memorial from my grandfathers death last summer from the hospital. I have poured the water to it all summer and it looks like it's out of the woods till next spring. Hopefully the root system will be good enough to have some reserve!

Finally got some pictures of the butterfly week or milk weed that I started from seed this past winter. They have really taken off, and should bless us year after year now (and the monarchs! This is a host plant for them, so maybe we will see some hatch next year!) I FINALLY saw a male cardinal in my yard the other night! I have been waiting for 11 years for that to happen!! I have seen a female several different times, but never a male. The birds are easier to spot since the drastic "elm tree masacre" that took place here a couple weeks ago! The poor little things didn't know what to do or where to go!

Our fall projects are quickly beginning! J ordered an outdoor wood furnace that will heat the house in the winter and minimize our usage of propane. It came last Friday after we left to camp. The guys mixed and poured the cement base tonight. I suppose he will work on that this weekend. Next my greenhouse showed up today! YEAH!! We need to unwrap and inspect packages this weekend to make sure everything looks okay! The little outdoor furnace will also hook into the greenhouse to heat it. And since the furnace needs water to circulate inside, J is going to run a line to the greehouse too, so watering will be a snap! So, sounds like a lot of work coming up. Too bad my back hurts so much! Hope it is better in a few weeks so I can gather limestone to haul out from mom and dad's. I am hoping to change the western Kansas topography enough that we will be able to enjoy that eastern Kansas rain!!

The kids survived another week of school. D is TIRED!! and GROUCHY! T loves football and his first game will be next week already! G still loves junior high and seems to be thriving in his school work! C still has better things to do than to pee on the potty. Well, that's our lives in a nutshell. Hoping for a cooler, quiet weekend around here!

Annual Lake Trip

We made it back from the BIG camping excursion this evening!! We had a great time, as always! We discuss every year just how many years we have been going down there, and every year, we are never sure--it just seems like a looooong time. So, I did a little research through my scrapbooks and found that the first time we ever went to Canton Lake was in 1997-and Tray and Kayla went with us. Tristan was the only little guy then! I even giggled when I read my journaling--there were a few things that we learned on our first-ever camping trip--
1.) Nights get cold--bring sweatshirts (we have every year since then, and I don't think we have ever NOT needed them--at least for a little while!)
2.) You should bring your own firewood--sticks and leaves you pick up off the ground don't burn very long!! Kayla--do you remember as well as I do, running around and picking up all the wood pieces we could find?? HAHA! Now all of us bring some chopped wood to use!

And this lesson was our first on lake restroom etiquette
3.) If you send your husbands out to fish all morning, you should send lots of bottles because they don't come back to camp to pee. YUCK! You should have seen our faces when they told us where the TRUE fisherman do their business--I've never felt the same about hanging out in lake water again!

Oh the things we have learned since then! We still camp the old fashioned way--using tents and dutch ovens and cast iron skillets to cook in! But our camp fires now look a little bit like this

You may notice the odd green and blue tinge to the fire--Lane brings a copper pipe and stuffs an old garden hose in it and puts it in the bottom of the burning wood-it burns the most beautiful blue, purple, green, pink and yellow flames you have ever seen. We got a kick out of Tray last night, because he hadn't seen this trick before. Finally when the guys told him the secret, he admitted that he was mighty relieved that he wasn't seeing things caused from the effects of his drink!

We have continued going to the lake about once every summer since then. Tray and Kayla have missed only a few trips down. In 2000, after I started working at the hospital we invited Lane and Cindy to go with us. They also enjoy a love of camping. They have been going down with us every summer since then. It is Cindy and I's routine to compare our call schedule in June and come up with a weekend to get away.

Here's part of their family above. Maggi (left) is a senior this year. Marci (who was in the pink chair behind Cindy) just got married to Rob (in the shades) in May and Harli is on the right. He and Grant were just 2 when they went the first time! Lane is quite a food conisseur--so we always eat pretty well. This time he brought some tuna, which we grilled Friday night--YUM! We have eaten shrimp and scallops before on our trips too! No same-ole, same-ole camp food for us--that just isn't ANY fun!! This year he fixed chili and cornbread--the evening was cool--and it was delicious.

A few years ago, Tray's brother Ty and his family came down with us too. They were able to make it again this year. So in all we ended up with 11 adults (I count Maggi as an adult because she will be 18 in a couple months!!) and 10 kids. Brecken was the littlest-(Tray and Kayla's) at 5 months! Devin enjoyed playing with her. Kayla is his 1st grade teacher! I don't know if he has called her by her first name yet or not--but I wouldn't be surprised if it slipped out a time or two!

Each family was in charge of a meal--and it is fun to watch each couple work together to get everyone fed! The guys cook as much as the gals do on our trips! We ate tacos, pork chili and two flavors of corn bread, biscuits and gravy, breakfast burritos, chicken fried steaks, and grilled tuna and sausages--oh yeah--as well as jalepeno poppers (fresh and grilled to perfection) and peach cobblers in the dutch oven!

Fish you ask?? We don't ever seem to catch fish-so we don't eat it anymore. I believe we stopped counting on fish for a meal, the year Kayla and I had to go into the little grocery store and buy stuff for sandwiches. We periodically get to eat fish on our trip--but we NEVER plan for it! This year the boys caught a handful of minnows, which somehow got thrown into the brush next to OUR tent-whew! powerful scent that sushi had!

We enjoyed a lot of time relaxing in the lawn chairs. The kids (the big ones too) tubed, skiied, and tried out the wakeboard. Even the 2 six year olds got up on the wakeboards!


A first on this trip was animals in posession. Usually the only animals we had were our own children. We decided that Missy had been such a good little dog since we got her that she wouldn't be a problem at the lake. She got along great! Rob and Marci had their little dog Levi and Cindy had their new 10 week old puppy Leroy. Poor Cami--trying to keep their names straight. We heard "No Leroy" a lot!

At one point Grant even put Cami on Missy's leash, because she was moving so fast trying to see everything! She wasn't impressed. And in the next picture she was instructing someone to take it OFF!

Canton also has a beautiful sandy beach that the kids LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. So we usually take some by boat and some by land and all meet up over there eventually. We can boat right up to edge, so we usually swap riders and skiiers around there!

Even Brecken enjoyed the cold water!

It is always such a fun, relaxed get away. The kids will never forget those weekend trips down to Lake Canton!!

And the memories for us "Old folks" just get better every year!! Thanks for a fun trip crew!! Can't wait for next summer!