Summer Flowers

This rose bush is still hangin' on with the bugs and the heat.

As I was watering last night, I noticed there were flowers that were still hanging on in this summer heat.

My Mums bloom twice a year - they are blooming late this summer.

Rose of Sharon blooms, eaten by bugs, but least they are in the shade in the heat of the day.

                                                    

These tall philox struggle every year.

 

I transferred these brown eyed Susans to the woods edge last fall.

I cannot believe this cinnamon fern hasn't "died off" for the season.

Happy Birthday, John!

Hope you have a great day!

Happy Birthday Grant!

Grant you turn one today.  Happy Birthday!

Summer Bounty

We are starting to get food from our garden, our peach trees and even wild blackberries. Looks like our pecan trees are pretty heavy with nuts this year.  Most of this stuff I picked out of the garden tonight.

Wild blackberries.

Beets.

Green beans.

Peaches and cucumbers.  Jim will be getting the ladder out to pick the rest of the peaches soon.

Fresh Eggs!

Our neighbors have chickens.  The oldest chickens are starting to lay eggs.  Jim helped build the coop and donated some windows and I give all my fruit and vegetable scraps to the chickens.  It seems like I'm not wasting any of our food now.  When I made out first omelets, two of the eggs had double yolks.

This is Brewster, the rooster.  He watches over all the chickens.  When the coop door is open at night, he makes all the chickens go inside and he lays in the doorway to protect "his girls."

This is Betty.  She was their first chicken born.  She is the Queen, no other chicken picks on her and if one tries, Brewster and Delores (both Rhode Island Reds) will be right there is protect her.

Brewster is a busy rooster.

Here are the two double yolks.

Swimming, Swimming, Swimming

Jackson and Mckinley are both taking swimming lessons.  So during their stay spent a lot of time in the pool.  Sara played and practiced with all the kids.

Jackson was practicing his swimming.  He is good for just beginning.  He works really hard to do all the strokes correctly.  He even ventured into deeper water.

Meeting the Chickens

Last week Sara and the kids visited and stayed a couple of days.  One of the things we did was go to Nancy & Ed's house to visit their chickens.  These chickens were hatched and held every day for about the first two months they were born, so most of them are pretty friendly.  Mckinley was so brave.  She was determined to let the chickens eat out of her hands.  She said it tickled.

 Nancy is teaching Mckinley how to hold a chicken properly.

  On the way down the hill to see the chickens, I saw a box turtle making his way up the hill.  Mckinley and Jackson were both interested in the turtle.

Happy Birthday Logan!

Logan's birthday was actually June 29th, but we celebrated it on July 2.  The day was too hot to have the party at the petting zoo, so we ended up The Dino Science Center very near to my sister's house.  We had not been there before so we were surprised at all the activities and the size of the place.  We had cupcakes and ice cream cups instead of a cake.  That worked out really well.

Logan got a huge surprise...his own 4 wheeler.  As he walked toward the 4 wheeler, in a whisper, he said,"Awesome!"

 Once on the bike, Logan was all smiles!  He had a really good birthday....just sayin'.