Too Hot to Work!

First of all. .the kids had a GREAT week at the fair!! I have some photos and lots of results. .but those will wait for another day. .cause I wanted to share these photos (and it'll be a quicker post for me!)

In among the fair activities this week, Tristan celebrated his 15th birthday. He and his dad have been planning for weeks to take the day off today and hang out at the lake with his buddies. They did some skiing, wakeboarding, and tried out the new knee board. .but the real hit was the tube.

I was excited to try out my Canon XS 30IS on the lake. You may recall that I got it before Christmas and have so far loved it. I was eager to see how well it zooms on the lake. When we hit the lake on our vacation in a few weeks will be the real test. But I was pleased with the photos from today.  

The looks on their faces were priceless. We played on the water for about 7 hours today. .and enjoyed every minute of it! 

About the time we were heading over to pick up Tristan's other friends that were a little late coming. .we encountered a little problem.

Apparently. .Jeremy assumed that because the dial kept bouncing up and down (as we hit wave after wave) that we still had gas! Hmmm. .NOPE! Good thing there was a nice wind to push us into the shore! 

The boys tried to paddle with the skis. . . 

And then resorted to swimming and pulling. . . 

. .and pushing. . . 

. .and walking through the water pulling (unfortunately. .since we have been so low on the moisture. .and so high on heat. .the lake is quite low on water!! As you can tell by how far we still are from the shore and the kids can easily touch the bottom) 

Some of us got tired and rested patiently as we drifted to land. 

Land. . .Sweet LAND! 

I watched a little nature. .as well as the kids while they splashed and swam as we waited on Jeremy to get back from town with a gas can and some extra fuel! Just another interesting memory to go down in our adventure books!

The boys have been watching movies tonight. .and are planning on doing a little shooting with J in the morning. Tomorrow is the last day of our county fair. .And NOW we are ready for summer to begin!

Enjoy your weekend!

Life at the Pond

I don't recall as to whether I have mentioned how hot it has been here?? I think that we are way past 20 days already this summer that have been over 100 degrees. .and many of those days WAAAY over 100. .like over 105. .and several over 110!! Saturday I enjoyed an auction in town until mid afternoon. .and since it was quite hot outside. .I was quite content to sit inside for a while to cool off. The first thing I noticed when I got home was how hot the birds thought it was too! Cami and I really had fun watching all the different bird species come in for water and a cool bath.

This Western Meadowlark was the first one that we saw. These guys usually sit on fence posts along the highway, or at least 1/2 way down our long driveway. They perch on fence posts and wander on the ground searching for insects (I wish they would come up to the garden and get the pesky bugs in there). I have never seen one close to the house, and he rapidly had my attention when I spotted his bright yellow belly at the base of the waterfall gulping!

In fact, as I looked around, I noticed at least 6 meadowlarks sitting on the front lawn under the trees.

And if this isn't pathetic. .They were sitting there with their wings lifted out away from their bodies (pretty much like we air out our armpits when we are REALLY hot!!) with their little beaks wide open. They looked miserable!

Here is another first!! This scissortailed fly catcher came in for water too. I've never appreciated one up close and personal like this. .and they really are a strikingly beautiful creature, with their crisp colors and a touch of red to the upper wing.

Even the mourning doves were up in the yard under the shade of the trees. I didn't see this one at the pond, but wondered if it had been in there. .they don't usually come so close to the house either.

The Baltimore orioles actually come to the pond pretty frequently. .

But I just couldn't resist snapping their pictures because they are just so darn pretty!

I don't know what this little thing is. I looked through my books for quite a while trying to ID her.

I'm sure she is a "her" because she is so nondescript. There were a couple of likely species. .and I'm hoping that she might be a female blue grosbeak. I saw a male grosbeak several times last summer, but not yet this summer. .so I wouldn't be sure. Anyone else have any ideas. .the pictures aren't great. .but she was a very dark brown, with some markings on the wings.

We also saw a pair of eastern Kingbirds come by just for a few minutes. We have Western Kingbirds that reside here. .and I had no idea that they could both be around. .The Western are in the western 1/3 of Ks, and the Easterns are in the eastern 2/3 of Ks. .and we are just about on the cutoff for both! So that was a fun sighting.

We are still working the kinks out of the pond. The water is currently a very disgusting green color. .and my fish are no longer readily apparent. I have tried barley pellets and extract (which take longer to work) and also in desperation have used algaecides. Hopefully once I get the planting balance right IN the pond. .the algae will take care of itself. I ordered a bunch of oxygenating submerged plants last week, which made it here by Friday. Saturday afternoon I put on my swimsuit. .and while the boys were gone and Cami was sleeping (so they wouldn't know that I was performing the FORBIDDEN act of getting IN the pond. .especially with a swimsuit on) I gingerly got into the pond (of which I couldn't see creatures or bottom. .EEEEEWWWW) and stuffed those little bunches of plants into the gravel on the bottom. I also discovered that the skimmer wasn't working properly, but as of this morning early, I think it's going to do it's job. .so maybe things will clear up! Even so, the critters certainly seem to be making good use of the pond. .and last week we did a search and remove of a rather large snapping turtle. The fish are safe and sound. .and getting fat. .so I look forward to being able to look out and see them again.

Tomorrow is our big day at the fair. We are hoping it goes well! Have a great week!

Stop by soon to see rundowns of the kids' projects!

Mid-Summer Colors

So, I've been whining. .A LOT!! Despite the high temperatures and no rain. .I have a lot to be thankful for. .and some lovely things to look at. .even if I have to wander all over the yard to find them! I haven't lost a lot of plants. .and there are even some that seem to be growing rather than just staying alive. I started these coneflowers last winter in the greenhouse, so they are in their second season. They aren't really tall like many people's, but they are full of wonderful purple color, and the winged creatures are enjoying them! 

One clump of goldenrod is blooming this week. The sunflowers behind it were seeds left over from Red Sun last year. .they didn't come back with the original colors. .so next year any seedlings will be yanked. They aren't THAT pretty. 

The daylilies are starting their show. .though the blooms are a bit smaller than I remembered. .any color is welcome!

This pink moss rose reseeded his little self, and what a vibrant color he is. My mother in law has a pot that reseeds wonderfully each year. .me. .not so lucky. .so I was pretty excited that out of all the plants I had in this corner last year, one plant came up. 

This is Green Envy Zinnia; a packet I ordered from the seed catalog. I thought it would make a great cut flower, but I haven't actually cut any yet. 

One tiny little canna coming up in the front of the waterfall. I've never tried cannas before, and bought a couple packages at Walmart. Apparently, they like more water than they were given. .this one is in the small garden that has black plastic under the dirt to preserve some moisture. I can see it right out the front window, and I am loving the pop of color. There's also some annual red salvia up top that seems to be doing well. I would like to find a periennial red salvia to grow, so that is on a list.

The water plants are really settling in finally. This is a blue pickeral rush, and I was thrilled to see it's little bloom the other day. There are a couple other plants that should flower someday too.  

This plant has been my gardening highlight! I had bought some Denver Daisy rudbeckia last summer, only to realize later that they were annuals. I pulled a couple seed heads off of the old plants last winter and pulled out the seeds and threw them into a flat. About 6 of them germinated, and have survived the weather. I smile every time I see their bright colors! Believe I will be saving some of the seed heads this fall! 

The Zuni crapemyrtle completely died to the ground this winter, and was so slow coming back to life that I was sure they were dead (there are 3 bushes in the garden with the spruce trees. It's blooms are always welcome in the mid to late summer. .it should bloom now for a long while.

Here's another look at my half dead plot of weedy grass, and a bare flower bed. I had bought a packet of the Red Sun Sunflowers at Walmart again this spring. .and was glad a few of them sprouted and lived. The dark colors are so vivid. 

And my final excitement is this trumpet vine plant that my mother in law dug for me years ago. I put it out by the back of the garage and have done nothing to it. .no extra water or anything. .until this year. The hummingbird that we had earlier this spring got me pretty excited about getting blooms on this thing, so I have given it a few extra drinks. .and I was pretty excited to see blooms on it the other day. .Now I'll be ready for that fall hummer migration. .and maybe some summer, I can entice them to stay all season to eat off my garden plants (without filling the feeder every other day. .I am a low maintanence kind of girl. .and the feeder thing and I just aren't getting along!)

With Grant being in horticulture this year for 4-H, we were sure hoping for some flowers he could take to the fair next week. .many of these flowers won't work well. .but we are hoping to be able to take a Denver Daisy, and maybe a sunflower, zinnia or cosmo. Hoping also to dig a few small potatos and some carrots to take. The veggie garden lives on. .but with little produce so far. We have eaten some yukon gold potatos. .but they were pretty small. I pickled a little over 3 gallons of beets a few weeks ago. Both varieties of watermelon are growing well, but no blossoms yet. The pickling cucumbers croaked, but the slicers are growing. .with a few small cukes on the vine. The tomatos are finally growing. .and I resorted to Sevin yesterday to get the beetle swarms that are on them. There are blooms. .but no maters. .I take that back, I had one Brandywine tomato. .but the ants had much of it eaten before I saw it. .I've never had ants eat tomatos before. We also have okra that is taking off, potatos that continue to make tubers, and some carrots that tasted bitter (probably because of the heat) but if they look nice for the fair, we don't really care what they taste like :-) There were yellow, white, and orange carrots in the mixture. The peppers are setting fruits, the two rows of onions were harvested last weekend because the grasshoppers ate the greens down to the onion, and I bought one yellow squash and one eggplant vine 2 weeks ago at Walmart on impulse. .they survive!

So I guess that is my garden update for now. The pond has been hopping this afternoon since we've been home with LOTS of thirsty birds. It is now 110 degrees outside. .and birds I've never seen are coming in for nourishment! Hoping everyone has a GREAT weekend!

An Afternoon in June

The summer just seems to be flying by! Last week was a monumental week here. .we played our last baseball game (taking 3rd place in our league!!). .the kids attended the last summer camp (Tristan and Grant had church camp in Oklahoma all week. .and Devin went to a local football camp). .we wrapped up MOST of our 4-H projects for the county fair that starts next week. .AND we took our first field trip with the cousins to celebrate!

Devin missed his school field trip in May. .sick with the stomach flu (the second year running that he missed a trip due to sickness. .the ONLY time he gets sick during the year!). I promised him that we could make the trip with our family when he was better. One of the big boys couldn't go with us the day we planned. .so Devin wanted to postpone the trip until EVERYONE could make it. We postponed it. .and forgot about it.

Until last week, when D brought it up again. I suggested that we take the cousins and go while the boys were gone to camp. .which made his baby blue's light right up!

So we headed south on Thursday afternoon to Alabaster Caverns. .the largest natural gypsum cave in the world. They had new signs in the front since we had been there last. .so the kids ALL had to have their pictures taken with their heads sticking through the hole. Sadly, we didn't see any REAL bats that day. .maybe next time. I don't remember for sure how many bats they project to have in the caves. .but it was A LOT!!

The lighting was really pretty. .and the cave a perfect place to be on a HOOOOOOOT afternoon! We all enjoyed the 3/4 mile guided hike. .including 330 stairs to climb to boot.

Cami was SO excited about all of it. .she could hardly contain her little self!

This domed room was created by swirling water. .and such an interesting formation in the top of the room. .such an intriguing force of nature!

The kids thought the hot tram ride back to the entrance of the cave was ALMOST as fun as the hike itself!

And how does one top off a great afternoon like that???

A SUPER bubble bath in a jetted tub!!

Who knew it could produce a bubble mania like that one!!

Have a great day!

July 4th, Minus the Fireworks

July 4th is one of my favorite holidays! I love the patriotism, the celebrations of freedom, the fellowship with friends and family. .but I especially enjoy the aerial fire displays!! This year was a little different, in light of the severe drought around our part of the country. The fireworks were banned in our community. .and in many surrounding communities. .big and small. So what else do you do to take the exciting place of fireworks??

Lots of bubbles!

And water games!!

And lounging on the deck tanking down gallons of ice cold lemonade!!

We enjoyed a family BBQ Sunday night to celebrate my brother in laws birthday. Jeremy's cousin and family (whom we haven't seen for ever!) came too. The kids had a great time using the bubbles. .and the breeze was just so, that these two 3 year olds could just hold their wands in the air and the breeze blew the bubbles out for them. Hazel and Cami were quick to clique. .and had a total blast playing together.

Granny always buys the parachute rockets. .so we did launch a few of those from the road.

Notice the way Devin is juking to the right. .He was on a mission to retrieve that parachute!

The kids had so much fun running, running, running to get those little army guys dropping from the sky! The other thing dropping from the sky were a handful of raindrops. .not enough to amount to much moisture. .but a welcome sensation on the skin anyway.

We have had so much fun getting to know our family who has moved home from Texas!! It's the first time we have celebrated any of their birthdays. .with hopefully more to come! In a few days, I'll have some pictures of the "cousin's afternoon off" that we shared last week.

We often times host a July 4th party at our home. The highlight of that being a wonderful fireworks display put on by ourselves and our guests. Everyone packs in some fireworks and they go into big bucket. Then Jeremy (the firemaster) and the kids (the punkmasters) enjoy taking turns lighting off the accumulated crackers. .one by one, while everyone else relaxes and watches the show. This year though, I didn't quite feel "in the mood." And put off deciding and planning until late Friday. I'm glad we decided to throw together something. We had a great time! 

Devin and I went to Dollar General and bought 400 water balloons, new water guns, and a slip and slide. The big kids loved it. .the middle sized kids loved it. .and the little girls loved it!

Look at those little flower powers!! The big, BIG kids enjoyed laying around on the front deck, enjoying the company. .the giggles. .the waterfall. .and the cool night air. .of course with VERY full bellies!

And we snuck in a feeeeew sparklers on the endless parking lot by the shop. .

All's well that ends well!!

LET FREEDOM RING!!

Have a great week!