tired

Yes, I am exhausted today. Yesterday we had around 35 people for a barbq. My hubby belongs to a Vintage Car Club and he is the captain for the past 2 years. It is the captain's "duty" to host the annual barbq. I love doing it but at the end of the day we are both exhausted. Today is cleanup day. We served steak and chicken. The steak was amazing thanks to my stepson. He was our chef and boy did he do a wonderful job. His gift to his dad on Father's Day was spending time being the cook. Everyone brings something to this supper and the food was amazing. Some brave souls sat on the deck while some sat in our garage. The bar was set up there so most of the guys hung out there. Here are 3 of the brave beauties battling with mosquitos...which were quite terrible. All in all it was a great day but I am glad it is over.

animals

Someone has been in my garden and ate my beets.....Last night a deer went through my garden. So far she ate some tops of my beets and ran through the carrots. I dont know if the beets will grow where she ate the tops off. I love living in the country but the deer were here first and they run the show. Then we found another critter on our front deck. This moth. It is huge. That dirty finger is my thumb. I am not a great fan of moths and spiders. I hope he flies away soon.

Windows

Wow, it sure has been a while since I wrote anything here. Have been pretty busy working part time and also working around the yard. We are having an annual Vintage Car club bar-b-que here on Sunday so there is a lot of stuff to do to get things ship shape. Hubby bought this "Miracle Cloth" for cleaning windows. At first I thought ...Sure, sure just like all the other stuff out there.. but it works. It feels like a thin chamois and you have to wring it out until it is almost dry. It cleans beautifully. Good thing I cleaned the kitchen window ....just look at this little hummer visiting us. We also had a hummer in the garage last week. She just wouldn't leave. We left the garage door open but she just kept flying around and around. Finally we moved the feeder and hung it on the open door and by the time we got back from the city she was gone. Poor thing.

Oh, and it wasnt me that washed the windows....it was my dear hubby.

My Gardens

What's going on?? It is a cool morning. Feels like late fall. I went out to check on the vegetable garden and everything looks o.k. I was a little worried after that hail we had last evening. First we had one hail storm pass...just little hailstones and then another shortly after and it lasted longer and the stones were double the size of the first ones. The clouds seemed to be clearing but then dark ones rolled in from the east and it started raining and lightning again. But thankfully no more hail.

My vegetables are doing great so far. This is what they looked like before the storm a couple of days ago.





This bed has radishes and the teeny plants just coming up is Rainbow Swiss Chard. I stopped planting radishes in my vegetable garden at my last house because they were always wormy. So hoping I have better luck this time. The Swiss Chard is only because I like the colours of the stalks. I don't really like to cook with it. This bed has 3 rows of beets. I planted tons of beets. I love to make beet borscht and freeze it. My kids and stepkids love it so I need a lot. I will also make pickled beets. I planted some yellow beets just for fun. Have never planted them but they might be good for a variety. My beets are in 2 other beds and so far look good. The 2 beds here are my herb bed. I have dill, borage and chamomile in them. The bed close to the composter had 2 pumpkins. One for each of the grandsons.








The beans are doing great. I have a couple of beds with yellow beans and green beans. They will produce more than enough for everyone. Last year I had just 2 rows in the terrible soil and I froze tons of them. Couldn't keep up.

The peas look very healthy and should produce enough, provided the bunny doesnt get at them. I have noticed a couple of bunnies visiting my garden and hopping through the paths. Last year they ate the strawberries and left the peas alone. Hopefully that will work again. I have 5 beds with potatoes in them. One of them is in the background by the peas. I planted around 25 plants, some white and some red potatoes. Yummmm, fresh little potatoes with tons of butter and salt. Can't wait.

This is a picture of the garden looking towards the house. Sweet peas, more beets , strawberries for the bunnies, tomatoes too. I am really enjoying the way we set it up and am looking to all the canning and freezing in the fall. A lot of hard work but hubby is looking forward to helping too.

Carnival

A WONDERFUL DAY FOR A CARNIVAL

CUTHBERT GRANT DAY

Yesterday our little village had a carnival....Cuthbert Grant day. First there was a parade with kids bikes and wagons.

Hubby felt like a celebrity because everyone was waving at him and calling his name because he is one of the school bus drivers in our village. Then we went over to the community club grounds and spent most of the morning there. Nothing tastes better than a hot dog at a carnival. Spider man was a big hit...Snow White and Sleeping Beauty were there also. Of course, little grandson was more enamoured with Spidey and had to have his picture taken. Wow, Spidey even allowed them on the picnic tables for pictures.

We then went for a tour of our local museum. Our grandson was quite fascinated with all the old antiques in the house and I had to explain what each one was used for. Makes me feel really old when I remember having a couple of them

when I was growing up. They had fiddlers and jigging. And what is a carnival withour carnival games for kids. Do you remember tug of war and potato sack races and wheelbarrow races? The tug of war was cute with the little kids and then they challenged the dads. The funniest thing happened.....when the dads started tugging, my hubby says, "Watch the rope is going to break." and it did. I wish I had taken a picture of that. So it was a great day and we went home tired and a little sunburned.

rainbow

It's kind of early but when I can't sleep I have to get up. My hubby will just lie there and try to fall asleep again and he usually succeeds but I just can't. We are babysitting his oldest grandson Max and I am hoping they are both exhausted and will sleep for a couple more hours. Last night the two of them watched 3 movies and ate tons of junk food and made a mess of my living room but we love it. Today there is a carnival in our little village so we are planning on going with Max.

Last night I saw the most beautiful rainbow. The sun was shining and the sky opened up for a little shower. Perfect conditions for a rainbow. Pictures never do it justice (at least not with my camera) but it was beautiful. The first one I have seen this year. You could see all the seven colours of the rainbow very distinctly.

Remember learning them in school....ROYGBIV...??