Where is this summer going?

It has been a long time since I did a post. I have been working like crazy.
I have more sewing than I want this time of year! Now that the gardens are starting to produce I am trying to keep the sewing caught up (I am a self employed seamstress) so there is time to do some putting up of the vegetables.
We have been eating a lot from the garden, beginning with the lettuce that is now done. There must be a dozen smallish zucchini to grate and put in the freezer. We had BLTs, for supper tonight using tomatoes from the garden. Boy, they were good along with the cuccumbers in dressing. The beans are just now beginning to produce so the pressure canner will be dragged out of the cupboard soon

Daisy's cats were sick and she had me take them to the vet's for care several times. My hours are flexible and that's what Moms do for their kids. She had to have one euthanized and it was buried here along with countless others. It was not an easy week.

Tomarrow and Saterday the plans are to haul mulch since the weather has cooled off. I have tons of mulch, literally and what a blessing to have had it all delivered when tree trimmers were working in the area last fall. I hope my grandson Rylan will help me. We both need the exercise. A lot of the gardens have been weeded and some even renovated (ripped plants out and put new in) and all we have to do is put a nice heavy layer of mulch on the ground.

I have to remind myself to pray and have faith that all will work out as some things worry me more than when I was medicated with an antidepressant. I am still adjusting to no longer taking the Effexor Sometimes I get scared when before I was always confident that all was well. Funny what a pill will do! I had four days with depression this week that spurred me to start taking sAME. I really don't want to take an antidepressant as it has side effects I don't want to deal with.

Well, this long winded post should make up for the lack of posts lately!

Busy Summer

June just flew by!
The gardens are beautiful with perennials blooming like crazy and roses blooming all over the place. I just love those knockout roses. I got the garden at the mailboxes cleaned out and mulched today. I ripped out loads of quackgrass and put in a couple canna. So that is checked off the list of gardens to mulch.
The vegetables are doing great. Biggest onions ever and the tomatoes already have little tomatoes which is unusual but it is a great growing season with lots of rain, sun and warm temperatures.
Howard and I were worried we wouldn't be able to find a good mower deck for the cub cadet but we found a nice one for $150 that Howard will pick up tomarrow. That's what we get with the old lawn tractors, breakdowns and hard to find parts. We find everything new is junk and spends time in the shop which is a disappointment because the newer mowers aren't cheap.
I have the June bearing strawberry bed ready for mulch. It was a lot of work to get cleaned up and edged. We will have raspberries next year. I am astonished at how many canes came up with just planting 8 plants last fall.
The new raised bed is almost done. I have been filling it with composting organic materials (Lazngia method). I don't know what will I will plant there but it will be ready.
So once I get those two areas done I will move on to the pond. I am hoping to get it in a shape that it won't need much attention for a while, like a few years. then I would like to get some mulch in the perennial beds around the house. I am working towards having more shrubs than perennials for easier maintenance.
The ducklings are very confused about their mamas. Some are running around on their own, sometimes I see one duckling with what it thinks is it's mom only to have her fly away. There have been times that every one of the ducklings are with one mama.
As I have said many times, there is never a dull moment.
I hope I can find a good home for Oscar with the add in the paper offering the free neuter certificate to go with him. Found in the EatnPark parking lot three weeks ago, very tramatized, he is socializing very well. I think he will make someone a nice pet. I just hope it isn't me. :)

Annual sunburn!

So much to do, that I have to remind myself I have all summer to do it!
Last year this time I had Lymes Disease and was very sick, taking 6 weeks to feel real well, making it difficult to do gardening. Plants are all ready to go in the garden and holding well till I have time to get them in the garden. The soil is ready for them.
We have lettuce and spinach ready to eat but the peas grown on the outside garden fence got eaten by the ducks. Duh. No more growing them there.
Planting seeds in the coldframe to start worked very well. I transfered cole crop seedlings to cells to hold and they are doing well except for the slugholes. I had to put pellets (organic of course) out to kill the slugs. I have to stay on the ball and check on all the babies. I was on my way to Master Gardener (MG) job last week and remembered I had left the window down on the coldframe. I was worried but everything was fine, the frame did not get more thatn 80 degrees.
Cleaning up the potting table from the Down to Earth garden club plant sale is taking a little longer than wanted, plants and pots everywhere. We made about $1400 in a day and a half. Hard work last weekend, loading trucks, setting up tables, selling plants, giving advice, packing up and putting everything away. Whew.
I went to the Jefferson Fairgrounds to work on a MG project. We got a nice job on the first flower bed, ready to plant and several tubs planted and ready for our demonstration in July. We worked four hours there is more work there in the weeks to come. Then it was off to the City building, two hours there working on two of the beds. Hence the sunburn. Too much time in the sun.

The Family Life I Never Had

Howard and I went to Fort Erie to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday with him this past weekend, May 11th is the actual birthday. It is first time that I remember ever making a fuss over his birthday, going to dinner, making a cake, giving gifts, etc. It was a look into my family dynamics I never had before.
Paul, my youngest brother drove up from Texas and his son drove down from Cambridge, Ontario to spend the weekend. I have never been there at the same time as one of my brothers, yes and Dad is 80. Over the years, I have been the only one to consistently visit my father, wherever he lived. I don't think Jay or Dona have been to my father's house in the last 20 years, it's probably been longer than that if ever for Jay.
You are probably wondering why. It is as simple as brain disorders and alcoholism running rampant in a family and no outside the family support for a military family. Dad was very abusive, emotionally and physically for any number of reasons, to my mother and us kids. My mother left him when I was 13 years old, driving from Mobile, Alabama to Lebanon, New Hampshire in three days with four kids. We got back together within six months but a final break was established within another year.
There was a lot of pain and anger in there for all of us. Some have managed to get over it and some not. Paul has been sober 16 years today. I found a good drug for the bipolar disorder about that time also and was able to recover my life.
Paul and I have been able to express our wills to Dad because of an interesting incident that happened Sunday before noon. Dad said "I think I'll have a shot of brandy". Paul said "I'd rather you didn't". I said " I'd rather you didn't either, Dad. I love you dearly but I don't like you when you drink". So bless him, he skipped the shot of brandy and we had a great afternoon.
I do grieve the family life I might have had but will cherish all the more the times like this past weekend.

What a life!

I was not up long when the phone was ringing concerning a problem with the job in the wood shop supporting the floor of the apartment.
My intentions were to work on prom gowns (8 to be altered) when Paul (my brother visiting from Texas) left for NY and visit our brother living there.
Debbie Renner stopped to see about us planting some corn in the newly worked up garden that was Bill and Mildred's old garden 20 yrs ago. So I got the tiller running after I pulled a mouse nest made of duck down out from around the motor. We got rows set up and while Debbie planted five rows of corn I went out to the shop to see how the job was coming along. Ron had jacked up the floor 2 3/4 inches, making progress but what a mess! LOL.
Well I was dirty now and there was no going in to work on gowns so I spent the next hour or so pulling dandelions out of the new garden over at the pond. If I were to let all those seed spread I would really have a mess to deal with later. I rationalized the gardening by telling myself I needed the exersize. Yep.
I finished up in time to go in to the library to be part of an "expert" panel in a gardening program Friends of the Library was putting on at 1 pm. I wore my Master Gardener name tag. Woo Hoo! I was there mostly for moral support to Jan.
I made a mad dash for home thinking I would get some serious sewing done. Not! There was a young woman here that God had sent to me for help with depression. I had a talk with God. "You know I have all this work to do sewing and I know you want me to talk to this woman and help her. So You have to help me get this work done so I don't get stress and sick myself".I think I gave her the support she needs. I sent her home with Bcomplex, Omega three capsules and an audio on fighting negative thinking.
We ate supper and it was still crazy here. I decided to pay a couple bills and balance the checking account when Fred and Linda stopped in, then my 7 oclock appointment got here and left satisfied. Whew.
Well, what do you know. I finally got to working on a couple gowns at 8pm, got two done around 1am.
Now my head is swimming with what I need to do tomarrow.
Praise God for another day!

Glorious weather.

It is actually hot in the house tonight. I was the only person that knew that windows had to be opened and fans turned on. Two hours later it is getting bearable in the beadrooms.
There was lots to do outside so I did a lot of messing around in the gardens. I worked on potting plants for the garden club sale May 22nd and 23rd.

This is the first bed I took over at the City Building in DuBois for the Down To Earth Garden Club. There was a 15" Blue Spruce growing where the Japanese Maple is now. This a bed at the side of the City building. There are three Knockout Roses, not blooming yet but the tulips are beautiful. I am thinking about taking the shrub out at the left. I don't know what it is but it does not add to the bed.
I love doing these gardens but do not understand why I do them. It seems like a craziness.
I am working at making them sustainable, so they look nice with a minimum of care.
I know that the people working in the office that overlook the garden enjoy the view and people who work in this building take an interest in the gardens. I feel that I am making a possitive contribution to their lives as wll as my own. The work does give me enjoyment and a sence of accomplishment.