The Red Beast

Last week, our old mower died. FYI, it was a sad event. John had that mower for 25+ years; longer than he's had me. I know the feeling. (my tiller)
The other day, a brand new mower was delivered to the house. The guy unloaded the shiny red beast and drove it into the garage. I looked at it and went indoors. I was still mourning the loss of our mower.
John came home and started the mower up. He tried to get it out of the garage, but couldn't. Look at the steering arms. We're used to steering wheels!
This weekend, he succeeded in getting it out of the garage. He headed for wide open space so he could practice driving the beast.
FYI-2, John, like a lot of men, does not read directions.

He seemed to be doing fine. Getting a little cocky even. I was braiding garlic on the patio. Mower dude decides he wants to mow the small section between two of my garden spots. (we usually push mow this section) Next thing I know, he's backing up into my cucumber trellis! Luckily get got it together enough to stop the beast from completely mowing over my cukes, trellis and all.



He looked like the little boy that just did something bad and was about to get yelled at. He got out lucky. I was able to put the trellis back up, since these are portable iron ones. No harm was done.
Maybe next week, I'll hop on the beast and give it a go. Wonder if I 'll hit anything in the process?
Until next time.....

~~~~~Welcome Summer~~~~~

Today is the official first day of summer. The computer's getting shut off for the day after this blog post. I'll be in the garden this morning. The rest of the day John and I will hang out. Ah, summer~

Enjoy the season.

Until next time.....

Happy Birthday Etsy

I joined Etsy in January of '06 after hearing about it at a Christmas party. You know all of those stories that your grandparents told you about the old days? That look in their eyes? Now I know how they felt. I think about how Etsy was in the old days and smile. I'm so glad that I was a part of the community then.

Happy 5th Birthday Etsy. My, how time flies!

xoxo,

Katie and Althea

June Jewels

Summer's heat is on! My mornings are filled with gardening, but when the thermometer climbs to 90, it's time to head indoors. It's nice to hide away upstairs in the studio surrounded by my beloved vintage beads.

New jewelry is hitting my Etsy shop. Stop on by.

Until next time.....

Wordless Wednesday

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I harvested our garlic yesterday. After the spring flood, we weren't sure if the garlic would survive. I'm happy to say that most of it did.

The lavender will be ready to cut by the end of this week. I love this time of year. The smell of lavender hangs in the air. Dried bunches will be stored with our wool sweaters to repel moths.

This morning, I have to get our tomato stakes down from the garage rafters and begin staking them. When that's finished, it'll be time to mulch them with the bags of leaves that we hauled last fall.

So, how does your garden grow?

Until next time.....

Hold Everything!

This morning while I was outside in the garden, I noticed a little face looking out the opening of the bluebird house. Stop everything! .....runs to get camera.

So, I slowly walk up to the bird house and snap a few photos of the tiny Wrens about to leave the nest. One by one, they flew off into the world. I was half tempted to follow them into the garden, but mama Wren was SO loud. It sounded like I was trying to eat them. So I let them be and wished them well.

Until next time.....

Sunday's Peace

Backyard Bird Update

Here's an update to this blog post, as promised. Like in real life, things don't always go as planned.
Out of the five nests, two of them hatched and went out into the world without a problem.

All four Robin eggs hatched. I took a few photos of them in nest, but tried to stay away. Mama Robins are very protective and I didn't want to upset her.

The House Wren eggs hatched safely too. That was a given. After all, she did build her nest in a bluebird box! I took one picture of the babes. They're still in there. I'll try to get another if I see them when they come out of the box.

Something got the eggs in the Chickadee and Thrasher nests. We're thinking that it was a snake because the nests weren't disturbed.

One night, something got into the Red Finch nest. We woke up to find the nest on the ground. I have some ideas as to what happened to them.

I've got my eye out for more nests. If I find them, I'll be camera ready.

Until next time.....

Wordless Wednesday

Yellow Squash

We ate our first batch of yellow squash last night for dinner. There was a time, a little over a month ago, that I didn't think we'd have any squash this year. But their hills rose above the flood waters and survived the heavy rains that washed the rest of the garden away.

That first meal of squash is heavenly. It's by the 12th picking or so, that I start to tire of those yellow beauties! When that happens, I slice, blanch and freeze quart containers full of summer squash to use in casseroles in the dead of winter, when a splash of yellow is once again treasured.

Until next time.....

Sunday's Peace

Help the Gulf Coast

I ran across this thread in the Etsy forums last night. HelpTheGulfCoast is a collective Etsy shop to help the gulf coast recover from the massive BP oil spill. Etsy sellers have donated their items so that 100% of the proceeds can be given to charity.
Please consider donating something from your Etsy shop or making a purchase.
If you're passing through the Etsy forums, please stop by the thread and bump it up so it remains visible. xoxo

Special thanks to Kate from flapperdoodle for coming up with this idea and setting up the shop.

Sugar Magnolia

Sugar Magnolia, blossoms blooming


Heads all empty and I don't care

Saw my baby down by the river

Knew she'd have to come up soon for air

~lyrics to Sugar Magnolia by Grateful Dead

I never knew how beautiful magnolias were until I moved down south!
Have a great weekend!
Until next time.....

Dear Pensacola Beach

With each passing day, my heart gets heavier. I heard on the news last night that oil was a few miles from your shore. You have some of the whitest sand that I've ever seen and your waters are crystal clear aqua blue. I've spent a lot of time on your beach and love it dearly. I couldn't bare to turn the TV on this morning. My thoughts are with you and everyone on the Gulf coast.

Wordless Wednesday