Summer Nights

Thursday evening, as soon as my last DC child left, we loaded up the car and headed back out to the lake. This time D went with us, and we packed hot dogs to roast and s'more makings for dinner. Not really that nutritious, but fun!!

Isn't D cute? (Don't tell him I said that, ok?)

We had better luck this time around.  D caught 4 catfish, J, 2 catfish, and T and I...well, nothing.  BUT I did have a monster catfish (REALLY--J saw it too!) almost to the shore before he got off the hook and gave me a little wave with his fin before he swam away. Ah well.

J in his summer attire--no shoes, camo hat and the "FREE GAS" shirt his mother HATES. *SIGH*

I am really really REALLY loving this summer.  It's  how I feel like summers SHOULD be.  No schedules, no where to be if we don't want  to be. Slow paced and fun.  Even the boys have picked up on it and have been commenting about it. Which really concretes the decision to not play ball this year.  (I had been having serious mommy guilt listening to other kids talk about their ball games.)  

The summer heat seems to have arrived! Hope everyone is staying cool! 

Fishing With Granny G

Ahhh....the lake in June.  I'm not sure it gets any better than that!!   Last night we loaded up with my mom...aka Granny G...and sister M to do a bit of fishing.  D didn't get to go because he wanted to get the last of our new bunny cages hung.   The weather was perfect. The water was calm and the sky was that beautiful pink color. 

We didn't catch anything, in fact I don't even think we got any bites, but it was still fun.

On the way back into town we saw something in the road.  It looked like a small dog, but as we got closer we found it was SKUNKS!  A little family of skunks.  Mama Skunk was obviously trying to get them somewhere, and the car in the middle of the road had her frantic.  She was trying to get them to the other side, they would go the other way--she just couldn't get them to cooperate.   The picture came out blurry, but there was NO WAY I was getting out of the car to get a better shot!!  Baby skunks are adorable.

Adventures In Mulberries

Every spring that we have lived here, my boys have gorged themselves on the Mulberry bush that grows in our side yard. Purple hands and feet are pretty normal around here for about a month.  My daycare kids have also discovered the bush, and the bush is usually bare from 2-5 feet up all the way around.   I've got a few that will run out the door and eat as many berries as they can while their mama and I stand on the porch and talk at pick up time.

Ever since they  have spotted them this season my boys have been bugging me to make jelly with the berries.  Ick.  You can't make jelly with MULBERRIES!  Why not, they asked.  Because...?....Well, just because.  After of few weeks of asking I finally just looked it up and  learned you, in fact, CAN make MANY things with Mulberries. Cobblers and jelly seem to be the most popular. I printed off a recipe that called for the least amount of ingredients as possible.

If I was going to make the jelly, they had to pick the berries.

After I washed and soaked, washed and soaked, washed and soaked, and washed and soaked those things, smooshed them to get the juice, cooked them, and added some sugar;

It became this.

 I had my reservations. I was turned off to those berries the first year we lived here. D and I were picking, talking, and tossing them in our mouths and I looked down to find there are tiny white WORMS on them. ALL over them. Never again I have eaten them. (D just shrugged and popped another in his mouth.)   I did try the jelly though and it is pretty good!! It tastes a bit like Blueberry jelly to me.  My boys are in heaven and wanting to share with their mulberry loving buddies.  I might...or might not...try to get another batch in before they are all gone. The berries were free and the men think it was awesome that we could turn something grown in our yard into jelly, and it was nice to be the "cool mom" for about 10 minutes for making it for them.  ;-)

I Hate Weeds

This afternoon found me out in the garden.  Frustrated.  I didn't put newspaper down a couple of weeks ago when I was mulching. Just laid the straw over the dirt.  Isn't working. At all.  So I started raking up the straw and got about 1/8 of the way done before I just burst out in tears and went inside.  The wind was blowing so the newspaper wouldn't lay down. I kept looking all the rest I had to do instead of what I had gotten done.  Some of the weeds now are taller than some of my pepper plants.  *Sigh*  D finally took pity on me and told me this week we would all work out there for just a little bit each evening and get it knocked out pretty fast. 

I did get my gourds and pumpkins planted though.  And my herb garden weeded.

Otherwise we had a nice relaxing weekend.  On baby watch for Rosie. Dad and I think it will be Memorial Day, J thinks Wednesday, and D thinks it will be whenever she drops a calf.  hehe  It's almost as exciting as waiting on a new human baby!!   My boys are really getting an "education" as we watch and start to see the signs of impending labor.  Some they thing are amazing, others they think are gross gross gross!! 

I found that one of my very favorite baby Hotots has what is called Simple Malocclusion of her teeth.  This means she can't be shown nor be used for breeding.   It seems to ALWAYS be something with our hobby!!   It's the first time we've ever seen it in any of our bunnies, and dwarfs are prone to it because of their head size.  We love to learn, but it stinks when you see something on one of you favorite animals and think OH...so THAT'S what that looks like." 

Loving the season!! I have a ROCKIN tan on my feet where my flip flop straps are at! ;-) The pool opened yesterday and last night/all of today found me with a red-eyed, sun burned, water logged, grouchy, grumpy, 10 year old. The first day always kicks their butts.   I'm loving having them home, and loving not having anything to do at the moment!!  We've got plans to get out fishing sometime really soon!! 

Signs That It's Here!!

Tents and sleepovers and non-stop laughing.

My very favorite wildflowers blooming everywhere at the farm.

D's smoker all fired up, and an ice cold BUD while waiting.

Grilled corn on the cob!

Update

I feel as though I have not blogged forever, but I guess it's only been about a week!!  Life is busy, but hoping it will wind down very soon with school getting out for the summer tomorrow!  I am really looking forward to not having to get these dragons out of bed every morning, and for 4 days a week, I get to sleep in an extra half an hour!!

I am not sure if it is just us, but we have already killed 2 BIG snakes this year, as well as a teeny tiny ring necked snake.   UGH.  Lucky for me, my men have gotten to be pretty good shots, and they like to "protect" their screaming, sobbing mother.

Bunny Barn News:  All babies have been weaned.  Its a sad time out there as the babies are really upset for a day or two, and the mom's come up to the door and act like they are trying to tell you something is wrong. "Can you help me find my babies?"  =-(  J will be re-breeding all Cal does the first part of June for his meat pen for State Fair. He didn't qualify to show in the 4-H show there,  but decided he would like to just show it in open.  
T decided he would rather go to the rabbit show than hunt rocks so that is what we are doing.  It's a double show, with a bunch of specialty shows.  They are excited and *I* am excited to FINALLY get to show my Hotots! We are taking everything we want to show to these shows and will have to take 2 cars. One for the buns, one for the kids!!

STILL waiting on Rosie to have her calf.  We figure she will have it the day AFTER we leave for vacation.

Garden Ramblings

This wonderful rain has really helped our garden and yard!!...and also the weeds. Everything is growing!! D's potatoes seem to be doing the best, but the 50 tom. plants and the 25 various pepper plants are really taking off too!! Honestly, I didn't mean to plant this much, but if someone gives you something or you find you accidentally bought 9 pks instead of 6 packs, whats a gardening girl to do?? ;-)

T planted broccoli, cabbage and sunflowers this year.  The cabbage he doesn't even like, but claims its lots of fun to grow. 

J didn't  really plant anything out in the garden this year, but does have 2 blueberry bushes he planted in early spring.  They are doing really well, and he's anxiously awaiting for those 2 berries that the plants might produce this year.

All I have left I want to get in is some pumpkins and some birdhouse gourds. They have been on my list to get planted for a couple of weeks now, but so far I haven't got it done.  

Last year we laid newspaper down and then laid straw on top of that for mulch and weed control.  It worked really well, with the weeds finally poking through the very last part of the season. This year, since our garden was a "second" year, the weeds/grass hadn't really been a problem, so I only laid out straw. *sigh*  There is grass poking up through the straw all throughout the garden now.  I guess weeding will be a major part of my life this summer, and I know now that the newspaper really is worth the extra time it takes to lay down.

This is my first year of having an herb garden, and this weekend I cut Basil and Parsley and dried it in the oven.  Our house smelled like pizza. (Admitting it DID become a bit overwhelming the longer it was in the oven...it even gave T a headache.)  Having little jars of herbs you grew yourself is ALMOST as satisfying as canning!  I have some rosemary I am going to do next.  FUN!!

My new flower beds are doing great!! Most everything I've planted from High Country Gardens has doubled in size, and my
bee balm is about to bloom already!!  I ordered 3 "Frenzy" Gaillardia plants and only have one left. The other 2 leafed out a little bit, and then suddenly died off, within a week of each other.  I am kind of wondering if they got stepped on (There is one plant on each side of a rock path that one of my dc kids LOVES to walk on everyday... and T has been known to ride his bike through my beds. Ugh) .  I guess I could wait and see if they come back next year.