The Days Are Just Packed

Started the day by 'running' the family vaca 5K. As I fully expected, I owned the 'women over thirty' category. Hopefully my legs will still work tomorrow.
Bought two tomatoes, an onion, a pepper, 2 dozen ears of corn, and a watermelon at a farmer's market in Yorktown.
Ate lunch at Chick-fil-a.
Went grocery shopping with my 4 children. I don't think I ever took the four of them to the grocery store together. Now I know why.
Made tortilla soup and salad for supper.
Went to Busch Gardens, pushed my favorite grandson in the stroller and watched my favorite granddaughter ride Oscar's Worms in Sesame Street Forest.
Held the STP's hand and watched fireworks.
And I'm on vacation again tomorrow.
Life is good.

Miss Pennsylvania

Things I've missed:
Galliker's diet iced tea
My Mom's porch
All these trees

Things I have not missed:
Humidity
Traffic cones
Traffic.

This Makes Me Laugh Inside My Head

Jokes about female bodily functions are not funny.  Period.

Glowing Orbs in Dodge City

What? You thought the concept of Cowboys and Aliens was far-fetched? 
Remember I moved here from Mars.

And what is that out in my East Side Garden?

Let's venture closer.

If you dare.

I love it when a plan comes together.

(Total cost of project:  $4.00)

Thanks to The Slovakian Princess for the inspiration.  You know my heart and I can't wait to wrap my arms around you.  In like five days!!

The End of One Glowing Orb

I pretty much keep the gazing ball people in business all by myself.  Its not always my fault although one time I broke two gazing balls within one week.  Note:  Gazing balls are clearly not designed to be whacked with a shovel handle or to drop 8 feet onto a paved driveway.

These are pictures of my last two gazing balls.  This one was a gift from my loving daughters.  I've had it over two years.

Right up until the big wind storm in Dodge City last week.  Here are the pieces I picked up from the yard.

The coolest thing about this one was that it glowed in the dark, but I never got a good picture of that.  So I stopped by the garage on my way to the dumpster.  Sad day in Dodge City.

What Are These Doing on the Tour?

 Remember the crispy little yellow and green things in the front pots?

They did just fine for over a month.

And then the inevitable happened.

I left them 2 days in a heat wave and the care of the STP and the Goob.  And they're a whole new level of crispy.

Tour the Grounds--High Points

The portulaca is growing along the sidewalks.  They came back from the ones I planted last year.  These make me happy in a Grandma Weinzierl sort of way.

These are the Abi's lilies from her fourth grade fundraiser.  They have moved three times.  They remind me of the garage in South Fork and the girls on the roof.  (Go in your house and leave me alone.)

I grew these white coneflowers from seeds.  Growing things from seeds is like a miracle thing.  It just makes me happy.  I have them in purple, too.

These red holly hocks are along the east side of the house.  I stole the seeds for these on one of my first walks through town.  I planted them where I thought the fence would be.  Hollyhocks grow like weeds here in Dodge City.  That fact does not make me any less happy to have them growing along my fence. 

These next two are in the front flower boxes on the front porch.  

They are stunning from the street.

And absolutely beautiful from the porch swing.

Solitary Shakespeare

Tonight was Shakespeare in the Park in Dodge City.  I decided yesterday I would go.  The STP decided he needed to work this evening.  The Goob decided he needed to be anywhere but in the park this evening.  The SLD is not allowed in the park.  This has been a park rule since before we moved here.  Evidently some people's dogs can not behave themselves in the park.  Once I get elected to the Dodge City Council I will have this rule changed.  Or at least an exemption granted for the SLD.  Clearly this rule should not apply to her.  The park would be a delightful place for her to run.  And to chase squirrels.  And to keep me company for the Merchant of Venice.  As it was, I had to cleverly place my lawn chair at the end of a row of strangers and pretend I was with them. Happily, I chose some good looking younger couples to pretend to be friends with.  And it was a lovely evening for Shakespeare in the park. 
And a lovely evening on the patio.  There is a little breeze, so the killer mosquitos are held at bay.  The STP is still working.  The Goob is still avoiding me.  The SLD, who does not hold a grudge, has joined me outside.  She is contentedly chewing a bone in the grass circle.  Kind of like her own private park.  I don't think I could have spent a better evening by myself.  But I still missed you.
Tomorrow I am going to tour the grounds in the am.  And buy cherries with stems.  I don't know how you can stay away.

5K

Jogged 5K this am.
Just saying.

Run, Silly Little Dog, Run

Thoughts on running with the dog:
The SLD is eternally hopeful that I will run.
The SLD recognizes my running clothes and my running shoes.
When I am wearing the combination of my running clothes and running shoes, the SLD leaps for joy.
When I mention the words 'go' and 'leash' in the same sentence, the SLD leaps higher.
While I jog at my top speed the SLD walks right beside me.  One her eight-inch long legs.  (The STP says she has four legs to my two, but I'm not sure that explains this.)((I added the hypen in eight-inch after I previewed this post because without it it may have appeared that the SLD had eight inch-long legs--more caterpillar than dog.  Silly indeed.))
While I jog continuously, the SLD stops to sniff things and to pee.
The SLD never makes fun of how slow I run. 
The SLD never complains about how far I do or do not run.
When we get home the SLD waits for me to take my shoes off.
The SLD likes my smelly socks.
Like me, the SLD likes to follow a morning run with an afternoon nap. 

I am running because of a plan I made for vacation.  I planned to run a 5k with my kids.  I would have called them all this weekend and said I had changed my mind except for this.  Ah, Princess Amidala, how you motivate me.  I will be competing in the women over 30 category.  (The key is to limit the field.)  I expect to be a contender.  I can not, however, muster as much excitment about this running thing as the SLD.  She's in a class by herself.

Slather and Reapply

And try not to miss a spot.

Rocketman

 The Goob (and the STP) built a model rocket.

Today was the launch date.  (Randomly chosen based on the fact that it was time to get it off the table in the big room.)

The first attempt was less than impressive.  3-2-1 nothing.  (Maybe it was because we used rhubarb leaves for the wadding.)

A few adjustments to the detonator launch controller.

3-2-1 again.

And we have liftoff!

It went so high it was out of sight.  (I would share the next picture in the series but you know pictures of the sky are not really my thing.)

What I'm really good at is capturing the moment.

And today had a lot of good moments.

In Search of Glowing Orbs

The Slovakian Princess sent me this inspirational picture because she thought it was a great idea for my east yard. I thought it was genius.

I could just imagine the possibilities. 

Then I remembered the size of my east yard and I priced these little glowing orbs at $325-$1000 each.  I have to admit they were still attractive because they would float in my pool.  Then I remembered that I don't have a pool. 

So I was back to the original idea from the Princess.  Her orbs were made from a string of Christmas lights and 2 round white light fixture covers supposedly available at most thrift shops for $1-$3. Dodge City has thrift shops.  So while I was at work the STP located two perfect sized globes at $2 a piece and then he went fishing.  I found one on the kitchen table.  The other one was in the garage. 

 The spooky garage.

In a spooky bucket.

Let's be brave and look inside the bucket.  At the spooky soon to be glowing orb.

AAAHHH!!!With the spooky painted clown face!

Nice try, STP, but the paint was not as easily removed as the STP imagined.  So while the size was perfect, the spooky clown faced orb had to be returned to the thrift store.  And I am still searching for the second orb for my east yard.  Because the idea is still genius. 

In the meantime, the first perfect orb is out in the east yard.

( Just trying it on.)

I'll update you when there are two of them and they are glowing. 

A New Perspective on the SFG

I hardly ever show you the SFG from this angle. 

My favorite farmer's wife (FFW) saw my SFG for the first time last week.  She said she has never seen such a little garden.  Ever.  Coming from a farmer's daughter and a farmer's wife who has seen a lot of gardens over the years, I am taking that as a compliment.  I have been harvesting lettuce for weeks.  I have planted a second planting.

 

The rhubarb, which up to this point I believed was a miniature variety, is coming into its own in the front corner.  I am thinking I could make a quarter recipe of rhubarb crunch.

The peppers have blossoms, although mostly they just drop off the plants after they bloom.  Maybe they are late summer producers.


I harvested some uber-baby carrots today.  Uber-baby carrots are about half an inch long and about an eighth of an inch thick at the top. (Which is another way of saying that I thinned the carrots and ate the ones I pulled out.)  I shared one with the Goob.  It is the first time in his life he has eaten a whole carrot.

Possible the most exciting development is in the zucchini square foot.  The plant itself does not look good. It is growing slowly and the leaves are turning brown.  I did not expect this, as zucchini seems to be a crop that never does poorly.  But today it too had blossoms.  Oh, baby, I have visions of zucchini bread dancing in my head.

And then I have the lemon basil.  I cut some of this fresh on Friday evening.  I used it to season the fresh trout that the STP and the Goob brought home from the lake.  One of those three ingredient recipes I am so fond of.  Trout, Lemon basil, and butter.  It could only have been fresher if I had churned the butter after I came home from work. 

 But it is summer and I don't want to get in the habit of cooking.

No Words

The Patio Debut

The patio was finished by the Fourth of July.  So we invited the neighbors to have lunch with us.  All of the neighbors.  Unfortunately, we had to wait until the patio was actually done, so we didn't actually invite them until the evening of July 3rd.  Most everyone already had plans.   But I had prayed that the Lord would bring whomever He felt should be there for lunch.

  So at noon on Monday the STP and I were alone on the patio (with enough food for about 15 people).  We had already decided who we would invite for supper to help us eat up the leftovers.  And when the Goob went to extend the invite, there was a question of whether they should come for lunch or supper,  and we said if they had no lunch plans (at half past lunchtime!), then they were more than welcome to join us for lunch.  Immediately. 

By the time they arrived 3 neighbors also showed up and so the inaugural use of the patio was lunch for 10 family, friends, and neighbors.  Hamburgers, hotdogs, and sparkling conversation. 

I hung the candles in jars, previously known as the centerpieces from the progressive dinner. 

And I fashioned clever little wire thingys and hung more jars with flowers.

I filled the old washtubs with ice and drinks. ( I have two washtubs because, even though I didn't invite anyone until the night before, I have been planning this patio party for years.)

And I let Dixie use a green glass bowl for her water.  Because that's how much I love that dog (and how classy my patio is).

My neighbor brought me a frog.  I love that woman.

In the evening we had invited our church family to stop in for ice cream. 

When it got dusk, we lit the candles in jars, and the little Jamaican lanterns.

And then we walked to the park to watch the fireworks.

If you missed it, the patio will be here for awhile, so feel free to stop in. ( Don't worry, I have lots of bug spray. )

 Because, by far, my favorite things on the patio yesterday were people.

Oh Deer!

It amazes me that one car traveling North to South and one deer running East to West in a big open space, with no other cars or deer in sight, could manage to occupy the same space at the same time. 

This didn't turn out well for either of us.