Monday, June 29, 2009

Playing Catch Up

Today was a day of catch up; my chickens and garden were neglected over the weekend since we were so busy visiting with family and friends. This morning, while pulling weeds, I spotted a small watermelon.
After taking a nap, I was catching up on my sleep, a storm blew in; it began with high winds, then blowing sand and ended with wonderful rain.
Today was a perfect end to a perfect weekend.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

A Full and Fun Filled Weekend

This weekend was filled with lots of family and friends coming to town to celebrate at a retirement party for grandpa from Slaton.
Lots of cousins were at the retirement party;
Aunts, uncles, neighbors and friends were at the party too.
Everyone had a nice time visiting;
Catching up on gossip;
And eating good food.
Parties are always so much fun!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Garden Confusion

Today as I was working in the garden I became confused about one row of plants; I had thought these were cucumbers but now I am not so sure; they are too big to be cucumbers.The leaves are giant and getting bigger each day; they remind me of squash plants but I didn't plant any squash. Pat thinks maybe pumpkin but I thought I had planted the pumpkins several rows over.... Oh well, time will tell!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

King Quilt pt. 6

Working outdoors has really cut into my sewing time; but I am determined to complete the King Quilt by fall. Here is a pile of stitched strips, 20 sets in all, needing to be ironed so they can be cut into blocks.Last month, for our anniversary, Pat gave me a Naomoto industrial strength iron. Yesterday I ironed all 20 sets of stitched strips with my new iron.
The iron works great! It has a nice feel to it and the steam feature is wonderful; no unwanted water spitting when you least expect it.
The water for the steam is stored in a gravity fed container and seeps through a filter system at the bottom of the container.
I really like how well the iron handles; it is very different from other irons I have used.
After all the ironing was complete I cut the stitched strips into more quilt blocks.
I now have 46 of the 90 blocks needed for the quilt.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Orchard Park

This morning I mowed a path in the last weed filled area in the orchard. The old dead weeds were so tall and thick it made pushing the mower almost impossible.
When Pat got home this evening he and Elizabeth drove over the dry dead weeds several times with the big tractor;
Breaking them just enough to make it easier for me to finish the mowing.
The only area left to be cleared now is one edge; this edge will have to be cleared using the weed eater and that is Pat's job.
Keeping the orchard maintained should be petty easy since all the grass and weeds are short and tender.
I love how the orchard looks, it reminds me of a park so I have decided to name it "Orchard Park".

Saturday, June 20, 2009

A Tiny Turtle

More rain last night and this morning made for perfect walking weather; while on the walk Elizabeth spotted a tiny turtle crossing the road.
We picked him up and brought him back home;
To live under our trees.
In this last photo you can see a fly that landed on the turtle's back showing just how small the turtle is.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Stormy Weather

In this part of the country it is usually dry; normally clouds collect above us and then float away to drop rain on others. Last night dark clouds were headed for us but instead of rain we got a sand storm and very high winds. The wind blew down several of my corn stalks.
But I am not too sad since this afternoon more clouds floated by and left some wonderful rain.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Homemade Hay

In the chicken house the egg boxes were in need of new bedding.
So I mowed some dried grass;
And put it in the egg boxes.
Now the hens have fresh homemade hay to lay their eggs on.

Orchard Progress

The orchard is really coming along; I have about 80-percent of it mowed now.
Only one long section still needs work;
But this section is taking a bit longer to mow since I have had to begin mowing a second time on the first section of the orchard.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Garden Bliss

Thanks to last weeks rain my garden has taken a turn for the better. The corn I replanted has begun to come up;
And the other corn plants are getting taller and fuller and beginning to look like a corn patch.The green beans I replanted are coming up too;
And some of the bigger green bean plants are looking very healthy.
The tomatoes I purchased from the store are getting tall enough for a cage;
And one of the tomato plants has two small blooms.
One of my cucumber plants has doubled in size, but no blooms on it just yet.
And this evening, while watering the garden...
Elizabeth found a cute little frog.

Monday, June 15, 2009

The Clothes Line

After we completed the chicken yard yesterday we had just enough time to replace my broken clothes line with another;
And the best part to my new clothes line was extending it to a third tree; now I have twice the space for hanging a full load.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

A Bigger Yard For The Chickens

Today after church we began fencing in the newly cleared area next to the chicken house.The chickens now have three times the space as before;
And twice as much shade.
What a nice feeling it is to have another big project completed!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

A Very Full Saturday

Soon after Pat finished cutting down the tree/tree branch we lost our power for just over two hours.So while the electric company was repairing the lines I took a nap and Pat and Elizabeth watched the portable DVD player;
And Jonathan watched his IPod.
Once the power was back on Pat decided it was time to go back outside and begin working on cleaning up near the chicken house. I had started this job back in May but it never was completed since I have been so busy with the garden and mowing the orchard for the chickens.
Today was so hot and we added to the heat when we began burning small branches and brush.
Working outside in today's heat was the last thing I wanted to do but now that the day has come to an end it sure feels good accomplishing so much.

The Big Tree/ Tree Branch

Pat has been so busy lately with work he didn't have time to help me cut down the big branch until this morning; and instead of taking the hard way and using a hand saw, he used an electric saw and had the branch cut in less than 3-minutes!
Here is one half of the tree/tree branch;
And here is the other half of the tree/tree branch.
As the tree/tree branch came crashing down it looked like it was going to hit Elizabeth's swing but thankfully it landed on my clothesline which is cheaper to replace.
I am so glad to have this job completed; now Elizabeth can play on her swing once again.

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