Monday, July 11, 2011

Halfway thru July??

Good grief...July 11th already? It's been so hot and miserable lately, the days have simply blended one into the next without much variance. Supposed to reach 112 today with the heat index.  Already heavy humidity out there. Yuck. I am so not a summer person. Give me blizzards any day!

Dewey was working closer to home (only 4 hrs away most of June and into July, but this morning that ended as he pulled out and headed back up to Indianapolis again. Of course, that means attitudes all over the place this morning :(  Chores were haphazard at best, feed barrels left without lids -- great in this humidity --and I've had mouth and backtalk since they opened their eyes.  Always a joy when Dad leaves :(  So, we have BootCamp again here it seems.  Funny how many times they can go thru BootCamp and still act up to the point we have to repeat it.  I tire of BootCamp :(

The garden is looking pretty sad right now.  Drought is pretty much everywhere, and despite heavy mulching and watering, the zucchini has pretty much run it's course it seems.  The tomato plants are sparse looking green twigs with tomatoes hanging around them. The purple hull peas came quietly, offered less than a quart jar shelled, and they are drooping in the heatwave as well.  I'm not complaining...too much...because folks, WE HAD A GARDEN THIS YEAR!!!  First decent growth in 6 years of attempts in this clay.  Our first garden was ok, but since then it's been miserable to get anything besides weeds to grow in the cracked clay ground we have.  This year, pay dirt...literally!


During some recent tractor-necessary work in the woods, we came across this little bit of outer space weirdness...
Apparently, it's a Passion Flower, and it has some really useful properties in the herbal meds world.  What a great find out here!! 
Yes, that's our view here.  I love the woods out here...don't care for the ticks, or the snakes...but I do love the woodland features of our property and the surrounding area south and west of our place.  Acres and acres, hundreds of them, of nothing more 'civilized' than this view right here.  Much of the surrounding woods don't even have horse trails through them. One direction from us has normal roads and house and all, but for the most part, once you climb into our little neck of the woods here, it's all beyond rural boondocks out here, and I love it.
And, of course, being wooded like that, we have some neat wildlife potential.  Last week our local newspaper reported on several black bear sightings, one of which a mere 3-4 miles down from our homestead. Talk about perfect timing...we are reading Little House in The Big Woods, with plenty of adventures concerning bears with Laura and Ma and Pa :-)  He's travelling around, coming from Alabama and being tracked, and doubtful he'saround here anymore, but it was interesting. This link here is a bit better, out of Memphis...ignore the fact they know little about bears in general, they're news folks, facts aren't always priority. 

In town, I stumbled on some great 'jelly roll' fabrics and some baby yarn in the half-price bin at WalMart.  I have some baby gifts to be made in the next few months, so it was perfect timing.  Now to get crafting! I've already done a newborn set in the yarn, and I've laid out the jelly roll strips

Aside from that, life has pretty much been just run of the mill around here lately. Lions, and tigers, and bears....well, just the bears, anyway...

3 comments:

Dana said...

Glad your gardening was a success, even if a small one!!

I know your in drought conditions right now but have you thought of rain barrels to catch the rain off of the house,barn,and storage buildings?? I would love to do it here. Although this is the first summer in a quite a while where it hasn't been an issue. I've researched them a bit online and they are expenive so I am now looking towards more of a do it yourself kind of contraption!!

Love the yarn and fabric colors!!

Have a great day, try to stay cool.

Anonymous said...

Wow, that flower is beautiful! I love coming across wild plants that you wouldn't think of growing in the woods. We have a black bear that lives in our woods, I love to watch for him, it is harmless so far, and he loves to eat the neighborhood tomatoes!! God Bless!

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

Hooray for a garden! Our zucchini is already spent too, but it did produce a ton for a while there. Now we're deep in yellow squash. our tomatoes are really slow this year though.

Jer.6:16

Jeremiah 6:16
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.

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