Camping

Well I haven't done much blogging lately lol..I have been doing a lot of camping though!

I love this picture!

My very own Paul Bunyon! Ben and I love hiking when we get the chance. He made Connie and I walking sticks like his one year. Yup, we still have them!

My favorite little subjects!

They are really enjoying camping with NaNa and PaPa! Alex even has fun gathering wood with PaPa!

Gots to have a pic with PaPa!

Alex poses saying "take my picture" lol

Danny poses whenever he is outside and NaNa has a camera!

Autumn..time for leaf fun!!

Racing PaPa...

Little ones are fascinating creatures!

So cute but Danny was scared!

Strictly a PaPa's boy!

Ashley

We got to take the boys to see their sister Ashley again on the 25th of May, We were supposed to go today but I am out of money! So we will go in two weeks.

 Rofl..the last one is classic kids!

Clothes line!

I think Ben got the hint when I started putting swim towels to dry over the deck rail!
He has been planning to do this for me since the ice storm in 2007 took down my clothes line!..
I love it! It is just the right length for summer. I love putting rugs out and hate wet swim clothes!

Broccoli and Peas

I got this a couple of days ago and today got one just a little smaller. Crappy camera phone picture lol...

We put up a cattle panel between salad beds.

Peas are growing fast! Supposed to have plenty of rain and cooler the next few days so should grow even better!

We have peas!

STRAWBERRIES!!

OH YEA! I am going to can them tonight. And pick more tomorrow!

 

I hated to get the big canner out for a small batch. It heats the house up so bad. But while I was at Pamida today I found this starter kit and thought "if it works it will be cool"..I can just use my small stock pot with it!

I looked all over for a jar lifter after mine disappeared. I finally found this kit that had one. It also has a magnetic lid lifter too. That will be nice to use instead of burning my fingers or having to use tongs! Of course I already had a funnel and I always used a knife to clear air bubbles but I guess I will use those sometime lol..

Bits and Pieces

We have Baby-Face Danny

On his way to a heist! I hope it is diamonds! NaNa needs a new ring!

His first time in the pool. Before we had it filled. Now he has to wear a ring.

This is Bowser, now known as Dexter. He has a 5 year old owner that adores him! He is one of the litter we got last October. Brother to Anya, Sophia, and Kira.

Bikes

I guess I never showed the process of getting bikes ready for summer did I?
Well we have several bikes. Ben, Connie, Ashley, and my two-wheeler. Then I have a recumbent trike and a kid trailer and Heather has a bike and a kid trailer. Alex has a bike now and Danny has the starter bike.

It takes an assembly line approach to get them inspected, oiled, fixed, and tires aired up.

First we go get them from the garage at the little house. This takes the pick up of course!

We get a lot of looks going down the road with a truck full of bikes!
Connie will ride hers back and forth from my house to hers. Heather's bike and trailer are going to
be at my house due to her being in an apt. I am only half a block away.

I do the moving of the bikes from one person to another.
Connie does the oiling.

Then I move it to Ben for the tires.

Then we check to see if anything needs adjusting or repairing and Ben takes care of that.

I ride a recumbent trike Ben bought for me a few years ago when we realized I couldn't ride my two wheeler (the one Ben is putting air in). So my old bike is here for the grandkids since it was only ridden a couple of times by me.
Sorry I don't have a pic of my bike handy. I'll add one later if I think of it but you can google it.

This year was pretty good. Connie's bike needed brakes adjusted and will need tires by the end of summer. Ashley's bike need a lot of tlc but we have till the end of summer to do that for her. She will be back around time for school to start.

Weekly Odds and Ends

I thought I would start a new category for misc pictures.

No part of my house is safe from trains!

Chase, my dog...I think he may have lost a LITTLE  weight...still a longs ways to go!

Swimming pool will get filled this week...we go to the water dept and pay for the water, so we don't have to pay sewage fee...then we call the fire department to fill it. It will cost about $50 total. Can't wait! Ben just put a little water in it to keep it from blowing away.

Hardy gloxnia is blooming this year.

Lots fo weeding to do lol...

Misc flowers....

Train Scenes

Just a few pics of the layout.

Ben planted more elfin thyme on cemetery hill.

Hicksville...I need to clean up. Wonder if model train towns have clean-up day?

Ben's pinks (diantus) are blooming so pretty.

I don't remember what kind of dwarf tree this is...cypress something I think.... It grows real slow and stays small.

Refuel yard....water tower and coaling tower...

Hot and Wet Week

The garden has done well and growing even through all the rain this week.

Pasta Basket doing well, tomato (patio tomato) is blooming

This is a bush Early Girl. Only supposed to get 24" tall, I wasn't paying attention or this one would have been in the basket. Because I don't know how tall a patio tomato gets. We'll see.

Been picking about a handful of strawberries every day this week. Don't mind the shop vac, Ben uses it to suck up maple whirlygigs.

New Cherry bushes growing like weeds. This is the tallest one.

Salad beds growing, peas going up the trellis. I eat a lot of greens lol....seed I planted last week not up yet of course.

Zucchini and butternut squash growing, still impatient to see them grow up the trellis!

I have two out of three Mammoth Sunflowers coming up in the blueberry/asparagus bed.

I wonder if I'll get any scapes. I will have to try to make sure I plant the right kind of garlic this fall. The garlic leaves are just starting to turn yellow so it will be a month probably till garlic harvest.

Everything growing good. Even have a couple of little broccolies developing! And pole beans are starting to come up! Ben is going to put up the frame for a trellis this next weekend.