Monday, June 20, 2011

Oh Happy Day!!!!

Hopefully, just hopefully, I will be a winner.......hopefully you will all see this before it expires!  It would be so amazingly awesome!!!  Someone HAS to win....hope it's me!!!!  Go here:http://ohhappyday.com/2011/06/goes-to-paris 

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Well Looky Here!

It seems it wasn't the quail that had gotten into the garden to eat the tomato.  Yesterday early morning, I was standing in the bedroom, looking at the garden, and saw the leaves of the tomato plants moving.  I made a noise, and out jumped a rabbit.  Grrrrrr!  I thought I would be proactive and plant all the things that I had heard would keep them away......marigolds, green peppers, and even some jalapenos.  But lo and behold, it's all malarky.  It (they) had found a way thru the bird netting that we thought we had made it secure.  But the little bugger found a gap, and apparently found a way thru.  So now, down low,  I can see from one end of the garden to the other.  But I THINK we have it fixed now.....with some fencing to go along the sides.  We have decided we wouldn't mind if he wanted to eat the zucchini leaves, but he seems to have bypassed those for the prettier tomatoes.  There are still plenty of tomatoes on the vine, just waiting to ripen....hope they do before it gets too hot! (which won't be long, now).

But on a brighter note......look what we found this morning!........
There are about 3 more that will be ready for picking in a couple of days.....besides the ones that we haven't "found" yet.  We are such big cucumber fans around here...they are a welcome sight!  They are spreaders, and next time we will definitely put up a bigger trellis/grid, for them to climb, rather than taking up the floor of the garden.  All a learning process.  But at least it's getting to be a tasty one!  

Monday, June 13, 2011

A Nightly Visitor

Well, it was a quiet weekend around this house.  Not exciting, trust me.  A trip to Target was the highlight, so you know it was uneventful.  Saturday I went out to check on the tomatoes, hoping for AT LEAST one.  Down low, I noticed some orange, and was very excited.  There were 2 tomatoes, one more ripe than the other, so I picked that one, thinking I would wait for a couple of days to pick the other.  Then I had been watching this zucchini, so i could catch it before it got huge like the last one.
It looks like it's a mutant!
Today is Monday....I went to check on that "other " ripe tomato.  Boohoo.....it was half eaten!  Despite having birdnetting over the entire garden, I think maybe a quail got in and had some dinner.  She had to feed her babies, of which they are plentiful at this time of year.  
But this post wouldn't be complete without mentioning how beautiful the nights have been so far this June!  Down in the 70's...so unlike other Junes that I can remember.
When Doug got home from San Diego last night, we were out by the pool, looking at the stars, catching up on the weekend's happenings, when all of a sudden, Doug started yelping, and jumping, followed by running to the pool to put his feet in.  He was sure a scorpion had stung him.  We couldn't see anything, as it was so dark, but this morning, we went out to look for the culprit......
Sure enough, there he was, sitting between the two lounge chairs, deader than a door nail.  We did all of the first aid things that ask.com said to do.  One site said to watch for a roving eye....so he periodically would roll his eye around and said it was roving.  Funny at the time.  
Anyhow, to put it into perspective, this was a BIG scorpion, thankfully! 
Hopefully we won't be seeing any of his relatives for the rest of the summer!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

The Kiddos.....

I always bring my camera to events.....
I don't post often enough....
And then the pics are old.
So I'm deciding to post as I go.....
Here's Nolan on his 9-month birthday when I was watching him for a couple of hours!  I LOVE this boy sooooooooo much!
And then on Sunday, coming out of church, I noticed that Logan and Jake looked extra cute in their Sunday finest....this is Logan's Easter dress, which I didn't get to see before this day, so click,click,click, and here they are!
Love all of my babies.......we are sooo blessed!  :)

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

How Does Your Garden Grow?

So I know that most recently, I've been hyped about my garden, and for those who have talked to me, it's pretty much the topic I've been talking about most!  So I take you back to the beginning....

Doug did all of the measuring and construction....
it started coming together.
....
and it was finally ready for me to check out my green thumb.
This was in the beginning.....April 19th.
I took pics every Monday, as things started growing like crazy. (But I'll spare you from ALL of the updates)
This was 2 weeks later......
these plants REALLY started taking off....especially the zucchini!  
Not sure if it's the all-organic soil, or if it's the perfect spring weather we've been having, but whatever it is, I'll take it!
The first Early Girl tomato appears 3 wks after planting...the zucchini keeps getting bigger....
and the first squash blossom appears!  Exciting for no one but me, I know!
So 2 weeks after that, the zucchini leaves kept getting bigger and bigger....wider than the length of my forearm...
I went exploring under the leaves to see if I could see any actual zucchini growing...and I gasped, as one almost hit me in the head!  I had NO idea how these grew...if they would be lying on the ground, or hanging from a stem, or where.  Please excuse the pic of me....but this is the very first product from my garden!  Kind of exciting! (OK...this was at 6 a.m.  What can I say?)
Look how big it got!  Can't believe I didn't see it before this! 
Now we are 7 weeks from the original planting.  I have learned a lot.....
First, I won't plant zucchini in the main garden again.  It's GIANT, and covering a lot of the other plants that truly need full sun to thrive.  Secondly,  I'm going to have a LOT of tomatoes, and if the blooms on the cucumber plant are any indication of the crop, look out!  Yikes there are hundreds!
Thirdly, I LOVE gardening!  I know it's only a 4x8 plot, but I feel so good knowing I played a part in growing such healthy veggies.  
But mostly, I thank God for all of the goodness he provides us everyday!  Amen and amen!