I'm thinking the seasons are definitely changing.  It's dark out at 8:30 pm and temperatures are below 68 degrees.     I'm not sure that I'm ready for winter to come early but I suspect that it won't matter whether I"m ready or not. 

Life has been crazy busy - I will catch up in another post.  For now...it's enough that I'm writing again

Severe Storm

Chairs in the woods

Under another severe thunderstorm warning but so far it looks like just wind.  Unfortunately we need more rain and less wind.  Friday we had a severe storm move through - lots of swirling wind, heavy rain, power outages...Many people had property damage - roofs peeled up, siding off, trees down - some on vehicles, power lines down.  In all actuality we were very blessed.  We had an empty 55 gallon steel drum (the kind we used to pack in for Africa) blow from the northwest corner of the house the full length of the house and across the road into the woods.  We also had a couple of our porch chairs (plastic) in the woods, plenty of smaller branches down, grills and wooden bench blown over.  But again nothing compared to what others had.  Some people are expected to be out of power until as late as Wednesday. 

Overturned grill

As I've been typing this the wind has already died down - birds are back out and we didn't get any rain. 

Suz and I drove down Friday evening to pick up the boys from church camp - they went and 2 girls went.  We had a good time going to get them - the rearview mirror fell off the van when I went to adjust it to drive.  For a school bus driver not having a rearview mirror was interesting to say the least - and it certainly made for a lot of laughter.  It was neat to listen to the boys on the way back and get their "debriefing" in the van.  They both did have a lot of fun - weren't together the entire time so that was good.  Fridays storms hit them as well - they were all gathered in one building for awhile.  I think one of the highlights was getting to help clean up afterwards - Squirrel was put "in charge" of one group that was stacking wood.  Dipstick was working elsewhere.

Overturned flower pot and grill

I spent the week mainly doing parts runs.  L and I walked a couple times and I did spend some extra time with Suz.  B and I enjoyed the quiet evenings though he worked late a couple nights.  One night we went to the local festival to hear a live band.  That was fun.  I managed to scan a few rolls of negatives into the computer and did make a top for a lap quilt.  Going to take that to Mom hopefully. I wasn't going for perfection - just completion.  I bought some ribbon to use as the binding but it's too dark a red.  So not sure what I will do now.  

Long week

Been a long week - this will be a rambling post.  We still need rain desperately - it is cloudy and cooler tonight.  But so far not a drop up here.  The grass is brown and crunchy - crops are shriveling in the field.  We had some rain over the weekend - seemed like the corn grew inches.  But we need more - the corn leaves are rolled up again.  My zuchinni does have a tiny baby on it - hoping it survives.

I said it's been a long week - Monday morning early Mom K called us to come help her get Dad back to bed.  (Early like 4 am).  We went and got home about an hour later.  90 minutes later she called again - this time to have help getting him up and into the ER.  Ended up with Dad K getting admitted - he was just released today.  He had an infection and broke his nose during the 2nd fall.  That short night took a couple days to recover from.  I will never regret going - to help anyone.  But between the lack of sleep and the memories it brought up...wow. 

Summer is flying by.  Guess the boys will be going to church camp next week.  Squirrel has done alot of work to make that happen - we have no counselors going from our church so it wasn't being advertised.  He checked into it and began making arrangements for those who wanted to go to go with another church.  But now that we are down to the last "minute" he's somewhat ambivalent.  There is no one going from our school and no one that he is close to from church. So it will be an opportunity for him to make new friends.  And he usually loves it.  Dipstick will be going also giving B and I some uninterrupted time together - after work hours at least. 

After church camp comes the 4H fair followed by a trip to Ontario to see my folks.  After that it seems like school will be starting again already. 

If you look closely you can see a woodpecker in the crook of the tree

 My dreams of having a yard that is attractive to birds and butterflies are coming true.  I have more birds this year then I've ever had - at least 3 different varieties of woodpeckers, goldfinches, blue jays, a cardinal pair, at least one bluebird, hummingbirds, doves, tufted titmouse (mice?)...there are probably others that I can't think of.  Unfortunately I am also having issues with raccoons.  They've been into my chickens - have had a couple as a midnight snack.  Now they are coming up and messing with my birdfeeders - that is a new issue with me.  Thankfully Dipstick is willing to set traps.  So far he's caught two coons and at least two cats - the cats are freed with the hope they've learned their lesson.  Last night the coon tripped the trap and moved it but was not caught in it.  Dipstick will need to weight it down tonight.

Goldfinch on feeder outside window

While I've got both annuals and perennials growing I still have work to do.  My "flower ring" is slowly becoming more full - added some columbine to it this year.  My blanket flowers are back and blooming some, coneflowers are up, pinkish chrysthanamum is up and blooming, white shasta daisy is blooming.  I've added some other annuals - as well as have a 3 ft area that is currently covered in mulch and cardboard.  Oh yes...forgot the salvia.  There is still plenty of weeds to pull throughout this area.  (No picture of the flower ring this time)

The coneflowers are up in the flowerbeds as are the black-eyed susans.  Both are just beginning to come into bloom. Those are slow due to lack of rain.  Zinnias, snapdragons and moss roses are also blooming.  My brake drum flowerpots are filled with blooming annuals. 

This is just one corner of one raised bed.  Irises are in the background here

It is very very dry this year - crops are stunted.  B said this evening that he was glad we did not get a full garden put in.  When I water I use 10-15 gallon milk jugs as we don't have a hose that works.  Therefore if it's not a new planting or in a pot it does not get watered often. 

Tomatoes in the background, zuchinni in the front

I did do something different with my tomato plants - I'm excited to see how they turn out.  So far I'm really happy with it.  S was studying online and find something called a "tomato ring" or a "Japanese tomato ring".  Basically it's tomatoes grown off the ground in a ring that is filled with soil and compost.  I have 6 tomato plants in mine and while I don't have any fruit on them yet they are growing well.  Next year I will put cardboard around the bottom of the ring so that the soil stays in. 

Wow...not sure I'm going to love this new layout.  Seems like a lot of blank space.  But...here goes for another long overdue update.

School has been out almost a week now and already time seems to be flying by.  Last Friday Squirrel and I finished cleaning my bus and got it turned in.  Usually I wait til the absolute last minute to get it done.  Saturday B, Dipstick and I went to a large swap meet that only happens 3x a year and only during the spring/summer.  We left without too many purchases but I think we all enjoyed it.  Then B and I went on a date that evening - went to Sears to look at tools.  I usually enjoy any dates we go on - even looking at tools. We did the tools and then went to a bookstore to look.  As we were heading back to the car to go find supper and maybe a movie I realized we had a flat.  B didn't believe me until we got closer to the car but I was correct.  He told me later he was proud of me for spotting it.  Anyway...we drove the car over to the car repair place to have it fixed.  Instead we ended up with 2 new tires.  All I could do was laugh about it...some date night!  We had supper and then headed home as we were both pretty tired.  Sunday was a day I won't talk about - suffice it to say Dipstick got himself into some trouble.  Monday I walked in the morning with my friend L while Squirrel ran.  Once home I got to spend the day working on my Bible study lessons and starting to clean and organize my bedroom (something that gets thoroughly ignored the rest of the year!).  Tuesday I ended up being gone most of the day - Bible Study in the morning and grocery shopping after that.  I picked Squirrel up from where he was working and he made the choice to go home and help B split a tractor instead of going to get himself an ankle brace and a new pair of running shoes.  Today was another day of running with chai (tea) with S, a massage and a couple of hours of parts runs.  Walked again - think we are up to close to 3 miles. 

The picture below is of the strangest "dandelion" I've ever seen.  The seed head was huge - at least twice the size of a normal dandelion while the flower is about the same size but shaped more like a daisy.  

Brrr...it's cold out this morning. The wood furnace is going full force while the wind is blowing outside. We are under a "hard freeze warning" for tonight. While I've been sort-of hoping we get enough of a freeze to kill off the bugs we have already out I'm wondering how the fruit trees that are blooming will fare and trying to decide which flowers, if any I need to cover. I've mainly put perennials in as I'm not fond of spending loads and loads of money on things that don't come back so most will likely survive. However there are a couple of lilies that I think I will cover lightly...and my rhubarb possibly.

Yesterday morning was gorgeous - all shades of red and pink as the sun come up as a glowing red orb. It was all set against dark dark grey clouds. I really wished I had a camera on bus route.

Speaking of bus route - hard to believe that yesterday was our first day back from spring break. The week did indeed go by very fast. I never did get the vacuum sweeper working correctly. (Good thing we don't have carpet anywhere except upstairs!) That still needs to go out to the shop to be looked at. I did get my desk cleaned off to a workable spot. Still need to take a picture of that. I spent some time working on albums for Stretch and Squirrel. Wednesday I went for breakfast with B's mom after which we visited some garden nurseries. I did not find any affordable forsythia to plant in the yard. However I did find a new plant tower thingy with hooks and two rings that will hold hanging plants. I'm quite excited about that though I've not got it put together yet. I used to have a spring-loaded tension pole that held inside plants. The spring finally died and I've never been able to replace the pole. Since that time my plants have been on stands - they just don't do as well that way for me. And I'm hesitant to ask B to install ceiling hooks. Anyway...we got home and B took the afternoon off. We went north to an amish town - went into one shop that was excessively expensive for most things but I thoroughly enjoyed it. B wanted to look at windmills but he forgot while we were there. From there we drove to another town about an hour away - maybe a little more - to visit "The Olde Bag Factory". It used to make feed sacks. Turned out to be a major disappointment overall as it no longer makes feed sacks and the little stores in it were decidedly uninteresting as well as mostly closed. I was expecting crafty stuff and there was very little of that. (It was supposed to be a major "tourist" attraction when one comes to this state). AS a result of that trip, B and I will make a list of things he wants to do when he takes a day off - drag races, tractor shows, etc and I will do research to find dates and locations. That way we have options that are not totally spur of the moment and usually end up disappointing for at least one of us. We did have a nice time together though. Stretch came home that evening - that was the end of our "no kid" time.

Friday morning Squirrel got in about 8:30. He was a couple hours earlier than anticipated. However we and 2 others kids that went on his trip went and had breakfast in town and did some shopping before we came home. I enjoyed the breakfast as it gave me a chance to hear how the trip went in a relaxed setting. WE did some shopping before we came home. Squirrel had managed to not get sunburnt the entire trip - that was awesome. However that afternoon he mowed our yard - it was cool and windy and not overly sunny. He didn't even think to put sunscreen on - by that evening he was looking a little pink and was itchy. He ended up with a mild case of sun poisoning over the weekend - just on his face. We joke about that a bit but he will no longer mow the lawn or do other outside work without sunscreen on his face. (He is a true son of his mother in this area. I used to burn on my face even on shady days).

Saturday B and I drove back to Chicago to pick up Dipstick from the airport. That trip went smoother (more smoothly) then the trip to drop him off. We did not get majorly lost even though we didn't take the same route to the airport. I had my first experience on the skyway - and will never do that again. Even though I got my driver's lisence in that area I do not enjoy driving in that traffic. So thankful to live in the country.

One more thing - self-cleaning ovens really really smoke when one cleans them! Especially when it's not been done in a while. And trying to open the door in the middle of the clean cycle usually results in a repair call!

Day 1 - No kids

This week is going to fly by I think. B and I got home about midnight last night from taking Dipstick to catch his plane. The day would have been slightly shorter (and we would have been able to attend church) if I had remembered that there was a time change involved. However we were halfway to Chicago when I remembered it. So we had a good laugh and continued on. We spent some of that time checking out the giant camping supply store that I've passed several times - complete with stuffed (is that the right word?) animals from all continents. Think B enjoyed looking at the African animals which of course were my favorites. Then more of it was spent getting slightly lost. We still don't know if we read the computer generated directions wrong or if they were indeed wrong. Anyway...we had a nice drive through the countryside off the freeways. We did eventually make the airport, get the car parked and get Dipstick on the plane. B was able to go through security with him, get him fed and watch him board. Of course I had left my book in the car so ended up going to purchase a magazine to read while I waited. I understand all the security issues but it sure would be nice if they actually had more shops and nicer places to sit if one has to wait there.

Today I actually spent all day at home - can't remember the last time that's happened. I have finished Dipstick's closet except for the vacuuming. Went to do that and found that the sweeper needed some work. So I will finish that up completely tomorrow morning. I've also started washing the mountain of blankets we found up there and folded all the laundry that had been done previously. Kitchen got wiped down and dishwasher ran. I spent a couple hours working in my craft corner in our bedroom - made noticeable progress there. There's still a couple more hours work to do though. And I still need to figure out a good way to store/organize my beads. I function much better when I can see my stuff and they are out of sight mostly at the moment. In my dream craft space I have a work area for each craft - so there's a sewing area, a beading area and a scrapbooking area at the very least. I spent time outside clearing out my flower-beds - only to hear that a freeze is possible the end of the week.

Tomorrow it's more cleaning, paperwork and maybe a run to town. Not sure I really want to do that...maybe that can wait until breakfast with Mom K on Wednesday. The pile of garage sale stuff in the dining room is getting larger and I have a few books I want to add to that stack.

B is waiting for the computer and I need to finish getting supper put away and spend some quiet time.