There Is Good in My Life

As the sun was setting on July 4rth this year. The sky was lovely.

Ah, the dog days of summer. Now I remember why Spring is my favorite time of year. Does anyone know where I can move that it's Spring year round? Then of course, without a change of season, it is possible that I wouldn't appreciate it so much. Maybe a place where it's Spring 1/2 of the year?

The front plant is the lettus. Never grown lettus before. But you need something to compare to see how tall they really are...

This year's garden is the best we've ever had. I never knew that tomato plants could grow so tall. Doog-boog and I spent two whole days driving in stakes to stand them up. They were already canges but it was like putting a childs sock on a hippo. Really didn't do much good.

Forgive the blurry picture. B-bug took it and I think she had trouble keeping her hands still. Should see it close up, it's comical.

Each day the girls and I go out and gather in the garden, it has become twice a day now. The smaller tomatoes, Romas and Cherries are keeping our fridge well stocked and teh bigger tomatoes are just now coming on. How busy will we be here in a couple of weeks? I am SO looking forward to it. I already plan for spagetti sauce and we are canning green tomatoes as well. Of course there will be salsa, that goes unsaid.

We are growing peppers to be proud of. They are the length of my hand already and have a bit of a bite to them. The potatoes are about ready to be dug up, some will be harvested today for potato soup. The corn is going to keep us busy, busy, busy on freezing. I figure by the end of it, I will be happy to see it tilled under.

We didn't plant bird gourds with year, but they came back. I would make houses out of them but I was told they would run off the blue birds we enjoy so much. So far we've raised four of them.

The hummingbirds are my favorite. We keep feeders full the best we can. One day instead of the four we normally have, we had 20 of them. They must have stopped on for two days on their way elsewhere. They drained the bird feeders twice a day. It was marvelous. They are so beautiful. It was funny hearing them crash into each other. One even bounced off Doog-boog's cheek!

I had to stand really still on the side of the house to get a picture that the screen didn't interfere with. This doesn't show the 10 that were sitting on the barb wire.

The same day the bird feeder on the fence was full of company as well. We have a gorgeous yellow finch that has stopped in from time to time as well. I may need to do some research on how to encourage more to stop in.

Bubby crashed at the resturaunt so we wrapped him in a tablecloth the waitress gave us. Isn't he just so cute?

Today we will make a blackberry cobbler. I'm so excited. They are just now coming on so next week I will be very busy. Never had the privelege of making blackberry jam, but we are going to try it this year. Last year was my first attempt at salsa and it was a bit hit. The green tomato salsa was a hit as well. Yum!

The girls at our favorite resturaunt, The Siame House.

We're enjoying the outside even though it is HUMID! Wow! The past two days it's been so humid that the moisture just sits in the air, leaving it hazy. Yesterday morning there was clouds sitting in the trees. It was beautiful.

We went down the road a piece to hike down the paths. The boy absolutely loves walking down creek beds. He was in the lead and away he went with a stick twice as long as he was, jabbering away at his sisters non stop. It's fun to see his reaction to crawdads in the creek, and with the fish, he just loses his mind. His much like his mother in that neither of us like to wear shoes.

The kid is a monkey. I keep waiting for him to fall and break something. He does love being outside.

This was after our mudding trip. He loves to see this picture. He says, "Bubby dirty?"

It's nice becuase these are the times the girls talk and tell me what's on thier mind. At one point we saw a very long black snake slithering up the side of the hill in front of us. That was kinda neat because you first saw the vegetation moving before you saw the creature.

Bubs is getting better at potty training but he has to do it his way. That means he doesn't want undies on and he doesn't want you to prompt him. Just out of the blue he starts yelling, "I pee-pee, I pee-pee!!!" and then goes tearing down the hallway. It was so funny. He does this while ripping off his diaper and goes to the bathroom. He stands on the torliet and you could hear the 'tinkle' noise. Then he yells "I poo-poo!" he didn't get sat down very well because I saw both feet went up in the air. I had to laugh. Sure enough, he earned his candy. Now he is learning to put his own diaper on. Hmmm....maybe we should look into pull ups?

Dink is my blackberry picking fool. That girl gets inbetween the tomato plants that I planted WAY too close together and under the branches of the blackberries to glean what I have missed. That beautiful long hair of hers just flows over her shoulders and her eyes light up when we talk. She likes to pierce tomatoes with a fork and suck the juices out. She tells me she's a mama's girl. Awww......

B-Bug has such a personality. Of all the girls, she's the only one that opted to join my ex in Florida. Not that she wanted to be with him, she says, but that she wants to go to Florida. Could I possibly call my 1/2 sister in Florida and she stay with her? Sure. Now, how are you planning on getting down there. She also likes to mother her brother. We've noticed that she teaches him more than anyone else in the house. A...ah....apple. See Bubby? B...bah....balloon. Then she teaches him how to count.

Doog-boog harassess her mercilessly. She's becoming her own person quiet readily and it's fun to watch. She playfully picks on her mother and I'm not so sure it's as playful with B-bug. I think maybe it's cause they are so close in age. Thank goodness she's taller than me because I needed her help with the tomato plants.

It was pouring down rain while we were picking up the tomatoes that were blown over in the storm. Here were all these branches pouring out of the cages and down across the ground. As were standing in the mud we were sinking and laughing. We'd get done with one plant and couldn't pull our feet back out to get to the next one. It was fun!

Fireworks from fourth of July. I took these with just my little camera. Can't believe how good they came out.

Bubby now keeps yelling out in the dark that he wants his "booms".